The esport industry is emerging and constantly changing. The pandemic has had a significant impact on esport and its markets and has affected the whole ecosystem. The focus of this paper, besides esport, is simracing: due to the limitations on physical events, motorsports have had to convert their races to the digital world. The aims of the article are: (1) to identify the changes in the esport and simracing world and markets caused by the pandemic, (2) to examine the difficulties and challenges that the industry is facing, and (3) to explore the opportunities for the further development of the business. Our research methodology involved in-depth interviews with industry professionals from different backgrounds. The results show that esport and simracing need to become more economically sustainable, and changes are required in all related markets. This article identifies such opportunities. Despite the difficulties, esport will continue to be a major player in the digital world and in the world of sports.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.