Although not everyone is aware, recent years have seen eSports taking the world by storm. With tournament prize pools topping $20m and viewing figures in the hundreds of millions, no other sports have witnessed such a dramatic rise in popularity – and it shows no signs of stopping. But is it just hype, or actually something to sit up and take notice of?

Here are 4 blogs that reveal that eSports is serious business and why star performers in the digital performance domain are just as impressive as professional sports athletes.‍

The Unstoppable Rise of eSports

Although it’s predominantly entertainment for young spectators, major eSports tournaments fill huge custom-built stadiums and have attracted over 100 million viewers in China alone. Professional teams now train in futuristic sports labs using the latest technologies. The best eSports athletes develop super-human mental abilities in processing speed, decision-making, working memory, fine motor-skills and action execution.

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What It Takes to Be a Professional eSports Athlete

Becoming the next big star in eSports needs a hell of a lot of dedication, talent, and then some. The recipe for success involves not just outstanding talent, but up to 16 hours a day training, huge amounts of experience from a young age, high emotional intelligence, and living with teammates year on year. The latest trend includes using cognitive training technologies to perform at the highest level.

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The Special Brains of Gamers

Neuroscience is discovering that elite gamers possess some extreme mental abilities. Studying these could help unlock secrets of human performance, as well as understand how video gaming can actually change the brain.

Research shows that gaming over time can physically change the brain regions responsible for attention, sensorimotor skills, and visuospatial skills, and make them more efficient. It also reveals processing speeds at 4 times a normal person’s rate, and that reaction times start to decline from just 24 years old.

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Should eSports be in the Olympics? 3 Debates

Accepted to be an official sport in the 2022 Asian Games, Paris is also looking to include eSports in the 2024 Olympic Games. This raises some polarized views. Firstly, on whether gaming is actually a sport. Secondly, whether eSports is something we want the Olympic Games to represent. And thirdly, simply if it’s an Olympic sport people would want to watch.

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