Several key stakeholders from various parts of the eSports infrastructure descended upon the 2016 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference last Friday to discuss the industry’s growing popularity and evolving landscape.
The facts and figures put forth by the assembled panel were mind-blowing — almost unbelievable — but they help to explain why sponsors, colleges and, soon enough, the general public will be forced to take notice, even if some initially have reservations about video game competitions reaching heights once reserved solely for traditional sporting events.
“The psychological characteristics of a spectator sport, if you watch an eSports event, you look to your left and your right, you’re going to see somebody that has adrenaline, that’s passionate, that’s screaming about the game — all the same kind of characteristics you would get sitting on the couch watching the Super Bowl,” Steve Arhancet, co-owner of Team Liquid (one of the largest eSports teams in the world), said Friday.
“And that really is what defines eSports for video games. It’s the same kind of psychological concept that makes this work. That you can actually watch a game and enjoy it without actually having to play the game every day.”
via NESN