The headset wearing, controller wielding sleeping giant: Looking at the future of Esports and into the new Esports arena at St Mary’s University
On September 19, the computer science team at St Mary’s University unveiled their brand new, state of the art, Esports arena on campus. The lavish arena is equipped with sixty desktops, with top of the line specs and equipment such as headsets, keyboards and gaming chairs to create the optimum immersive gaming experience.
This creation is the brain child of the BSc Computer Science subject lead- Prins Butt, who envisioned opening this arena as a crucial step forward for not only his Computer Science department, as this arena and its many features will be incorporated in the teachings within the department, but also for the university as a whole as he hopes this will inspire a new generation of Esports players and eventually a team that can go on to compete in international events.
Speaking to Gordon Neill, a technical instructor in the Computer Science department and one of the main minds behind the arena, he displayed a strong sense of enthusiasm to “rapidly expand” the popularity of Esports at the university and in turn the arena, by consistently hosting Esports events to identify talent for the university’s Esports team.
But it begs the question, is Esports an ‘actual’ sport? Disregarding what qualifies as a sport and what doesn’t, it is undeniable that Esports has a massive global following, with a well established base in Asian countries, most particularly within China, who have recognised Esports as an official sport since 2003, and hold the majority of fans and even participants in global events.
In the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Esports made its debut at the multi-sport event, which saw 476 Esports athletes from 30 different nations participating in the event. This step led to the creation of a regular Olympic Esports Games, an event officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which is set to begin in 2025 and will be held every two years in between the summer and winter Olympics.
Besides the recognition from some of the biggest global sporting bodies, Esports brings enough traction on its own, as events are estimated to generate around 322.7 million viewers in 2025 globally (Via Statista), as the events are often easily accessible, free of charge on video and streaming platforms such as Youtube and Twitch. And these events feature the same level of professionalism, rewards and glamour in its organisation just as any other popular sporting event, such as a cup final or a pay-per-view boxing match.
A great example of this is the Fortnite World Cup in 2019, that was held in the Arthur Ashe stadium in New York, known for hosting the US Open Grand Slam. The event saw the entire 23700 capacity venue being completely sold out, and the event was viewed by 2.3 million people on an average across multiple streaming platforms across the two days it occurred. The event offered a prize pool of $30 million, with the winning individual in the solo event- sixteen year old, Kyle Giersdorf earning $3 million for the top spot. For context, the IOC offered a total prize pool of $2.4 million for winning athletes in track and field events at the Paris 2024 games.
Though the difference in the pay gap does not necessarily mean Esports is definitively a sport, it does show that there is a certain competitive aspect that is very much in line with professional sports. In a conversation with Arafath, an avid Esports enthusiast and follower who visited the Esports arena at St Mary’s, who provided an intriguing angle towards the notion that Esports isn’t an official sport, by stating that it depends on how one would “dictate” a sport, and that it is the lack of a “physical” aspect that many draw their argument from.
However there are many parallels he mentioned, such as the “level of intensity”, need for a “strong mentality”, and even a level of training as one needs to compete at a professional level, one would have to play for “10 to 14 hours a day” else you can “lose your ability or consistency”. And with many Esports events being team based, there is a sense of “camaraderie” in these events as teams “win together or lose together”, just as in any other sport.
It is without a doubt that the rise of Esports is one that is truly astonishing, and something that deserves more appreciation from the mainstream. With the creation of the Esports arena at St Mary’s, it is clear that there are some high ambitions and thought that was put into creating such an incredible space to attract aspiring gamers and educating them about the lucrative world of Esports, which is still largely untapped, and hopefully turning this into a successful endeavour by producing an international level team.