The University of Mississippi Esports team has been restricted from practicing certain games following a Mississippi ban on the use of software created by Tencent on government devices.
Effective July 1, Senate Bill 2140 requires state universities to discontinue the use of TikTok and other applications developed by the China-based companies ByteDance and Tencent. The bill also requires prevention of access to these applications from university-owned devices and university networks.
In a letter to the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services, Governor Tate Reeves attributed the restriction of the software to cybersecurity concerns.
“Applications and websites such as TikTok can provide the Chinese Communist Party the technology to gain access to information stored on such devices including location services and browsing history,” Reeves said.
In response to the bill, Ole Miss restricted the practice of Tencent-owned games Valorant and League of Legends on university networks on September 1, two of the largest titles in the current esports scene.
Matthew Denton, a sophomore computer science major at Ole Miss and Valorant game coordinator for Ole Miss Esports, said students living in dormitories cannot practice and the team cannot hold tryouts in their on-campus esports facility.
“That cuts off a large amount of our incoming player base that I would be hoping would come try out – they can’t really do that anymore,” Denton said. “It’s hard to imagine what it would be like without new players coming in because that’s what we that’s what we thrive on.”
Denton said that League of Legends is one of the most significant games to Ole Miss Esports, with several collegiate world champions on the team.
“We were all blindsided. No one knew that something like this could even happen. Completely unaware — we just woke up one day and tried to open the game and wouldn’t open,” Denton said.
John McDermott, esports director at Ole Miss, said that despite the ban, the future is bright for Mississippi esports.
“It’s very disappointing that our students, who have demonstrated remarkable success on a national stage, have had their seasons interrupted by factors beyond their control,” McDermott said. “We will continue to compete in these games and are actively exploring options that allow us to do so that comply with state law.”
Mississippi State University Esports has not yet been affected by the bill. Raj Patel, assistant systems administrator in the MSU Department of Computer Science and Engineering, said the MSU Department of Information Technology Services is actively reviewing software related to the bill.
MSU Esports president Colin Klein, a senior in software engineering, said that some of the best players in the nation moved on from MSU Esports. Klein said that a restriction of Tencent-owned games would have negative effects on MSU Esports.
“If it did affect us and if we did abandon the Valorant and League team, we would lose our number one most played game at State… as well as our most popular with League of Legends which features five of the best players we’ve had in years,” Klein said.
MSU Chief Information Officer Steve Parrott said MSU is committed to complying with state law.
“Since the inception of Mississippi’s prohibitions against the use of several technologies on state-owned devices and networks, Mississippi State University has to the best of our abilities complied with state law and will continue to do so,” Parrott said. “As it relates to esports, we will closely monitor guidance from the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services and other officials. Our desire is to comply with state law while at the same time doing all we can to help our esports students remain competitive.”
The Esports Egg Bowl is an annual tradition in which Ole Miss and MSU esports teams compete in a tournament. It is the largest esports event of either program and provides exposure to players as well as the support of multiple sponsors.
Denton said he’s optimistic that Ole Miss Esports will be able to compete in the sixth annual Esports Egg Bowl on October 14. If the Egg Bowl is affected, he is hopeful that the exposure will lead to compromise.
“I could definitely see it as some sort of like ‘call out,’” Denton said. “Having such a big event with so many people under a message of like, ‘unban these games,’ whatever. I can definitely see it being pretty helpful towards the cause if there is a cause when the Egg Bowl is happening.”

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Courtesy Photo | Madison Sherrill

Viewership of the Esports Egg Bowl peaks during the League of Legends tournament. The game is popular among the student body.