When you think about gamers, do you think about nerdy teenagers interested only in video games, glued to their computers and indifferent to any form of social interaction? Well, it’s time you wake up and finally enter 21^st century. Because today’s gamers couldn’t be further from that picture, and everyday changes in eSports community guarantee us that that picture is going to change even more and even faster in the future.

We all know that the gaming industry is huge nowadays, eSports included. And if you are reading this, you are probably well aware of the huge community surrounding professional eSports players and organizations and that the community is ever-changing, and it seems it’s going to include more and more different aspects as it grows.

Changes In eSports Are Inevitable and All-Inclusive

While Covid-19 certainly did some damage to the industry, some of the numbers we’ve recently seen are stellar: Riot Games just announced LOL Worlds had record breaking viewership of a 23.0 million average minute audience (AMA), which is crazy. In the meantime, gaming and eSports stocks are some of the most solid in the market, remaining intact from the influences of the great Covid, but that’s just a part of it, since there have been many reports in the news about the fact that most gaming companies generate their revenue outside the competitive play, being more and more inclusive, and shifting their interests (and money) towards social media, streaming platforms, schools, production studios etc.

So if the industry is changing so much and becoming one massive devouring umbrella, it’s only reasonable that the players and organizations which are at its core are going to change with it. And that is exactly what we’ve been witnessing recently. For example, Fnatic, one the most recognizable European eSports brands, has recently decided to give their fans a chance to buy a part of their business. They are, in fact, certain that it will be a model eSports organizations are going to embrace in the future. Sam Matthews, Fnatic owner, claims this isn’t a way to look for a “financial injection”, but rather a way of including fans into their favourite organization: “This is democratizing access, we want to give them a place to voice their opinion, give a transparent view into what we’re doing, where we’re going and why”, he said for BBC.

And that isn’t the only way Fnatic is looking to improve, they’ve also decided to hire some “sport scientists” to help their players reach new heights. They’ve founded something called High Performance Unit, where they will extensively study how sleep and stress impact the performance of their players. The new approach will also include studying players’ alcohol, caffeine and cortisol levels and their connection to the performance. “It’s the first time we’ve had a sports science lab to figure out what actually makes the difference in a gamer’s performance,” said Matthews.

Gamers Today Are Not What You Think

Their latest move correlates with recent study published in Science Daily, where a survey which included 1400 participants revealed that contemporary gamers are breaking down one more stereotype: the one of fat and sedimentary gamer with bad health habits. The survey found that eSports players have 21 percent healthier weight than the general population: “As part of their training regime, elite esports athletes spend more than an hour per day engaging in physical exercise as a strategy to enhance gameplay and manage stress,” says Michael Trotter, QUT eSports researcher.

From Hong Kong, on the other hand, comes the news about esports being beneficial for students with learning disabilities. When implemented right, using esports as a part of rehabilitation process has proven to be so successful we could easily see it being a new trend in Hong Kong. So far it has only been used at a special school for children with moderate intellectual disability, but it has shown great result on students’ focus, creativity and general learning ability and therefore raised an interest in educational community.

So with all of that in mind, it’s safe to say that changes in eSports are not only coming, they are right at our doorstep. Are you prepared to see what future brings? If you are good at predicting, you are free to play our Pick6 at any time, there’s always something going on there. Play today!