If you have aspirations of becoming a professional gamer, start counting your pennies: a vocational school will be opening next year in Osaka to train you for the rigors of eSports.

According to a spokesperson for the school, which is being established by the Jikei Gakuen Group, students will train as rigorously as professional athletes. The school will be a part of CCA Osaka Design and IT College in Nishi Ward, Osaka City.

The roots of eSports kicked off in the late 1990s, with gaming contests running in the U.S., Europe, and South Korea. Now, eSports are a worldwide phenomenon, with a market of approximately $8.92 billion worldwide in the last 16 years (according to Super Data). The world of pro gamers is expected to spread more and more as time goes on.

Attendees of the new school will study all aspects of a career in eSports -- not only the games themselves, but also refining reflexes and interview etiquette. The three year program, which will consist of more than 900 hours of classes per year, will cost students 4.56 million yen (about $40,662) in total.

The Tokyo School of Anime received its own eSports training department in April 2016.

Source: Otakomu

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Kara Dennison is responsible for multiple webcomics, blogs and runs interviews for (Re)Generation Who and PotterVerse, and is half the creative team behind the OEL light novel series Owl's Flower. She blogs at karadennison.com and tweets @RubyCosmos.