The Rise of eSports

Abstract

The availability and affordability of increased Internet bandwidth, video memory, and processing speed has enabled Electronic sports (eSports) to become a flourishing global sensation and college students are helping to drive this phenomenon. This mixed-methods study focuses on feedback from 159 college students regarding the eSports phenomenon across both gender and educational classification. Findings from the study include their eSports-related gaming and spending habits, and perceptions of personal and academic benefits of playing eSports such as social interaction, teamwork, and critical thinking skills. Included are the perceived risks of playing eSports that encompassed eSports gaming addiction, mental, social, emotional risks, lack of physical activity, and physical disorders associated with playing eSports.

Venture Capital Financing in the Esports Industry

“…China accounts for $2.9 Billion of funding, followed by the U.S with $1.7 Billion. The result presented in Table 4 represents a plausible picture of the eSports funding geographical distribution with APAC being the market leader, as described in several industry reports (NewZoo, 2020;Deloitte, 2019;Goldman Sachs, 2018). The results are in line with academic research on regional variations of VC funding (Colombo et al, 2019;Hege et al, 2009), suggesting that the sample is not biased or overrepresenting American companies.…”

“…3 New monetization opportunities are attracting the interest of traditional investors, among which venture capital funds (VC) are playing a key-role (Goldman Sachs, 2018). Indeed, the level of funding provided by investors to eSports firms has seen a strong growth globally with $4.5 billion invested in 2018, as well as 103.1% growth delivered between 2014 and 2018, and investors expect to see this steadily increasing (Deloitte, 2019).…”

eSports Events Trend: A Promising Opportunity for Tourism Offerings

“…By 2019, the Newzoo industry report revealed that the number of global audiences for eSports was 443 million, and the industry made USD 950 million [8]. Other reports have anticipated a USD 1.79 billion industry for 2022, with high expectations to be part of future Olympic games [9]. eSports, or electronic sports, can be introduced as a new form of sports, where digital games are played on any platform, online or offline, individually and/or as a team [10].…”

eSports Participation among Hong Kong Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A Qualitative Study

“…Unlike when playing other video games, the participants believed that eSports enhanced their body coordination, including brain-eye-hand coordination, because it required acting and reacting by pressing directional keys and the mouse rapidly and strategically. In terms of cognition, playing eSports enhanced the middle-aged and older adults' attentiveness and strategic thinking by motivating them to solve problems or think outside the box while playing games [26]. Moreover, keeping the mind engaged in cognitively demanding activities is essential for enhancing memory function in older adults [27].…”