Olivia Mittak
Sports Editor
Just a few years ago, professional athletes and fans turned their noses up at the idea of including esports as a category of professional sports, let alone considering its participants actual athletes and professionals. Fast forward to 2020, esports have launched themselves into the mainstream due to the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming one of the few sporting options that was already fairly capable of switching to socially-distanced events without hassle. Thousands of people turned to Twitch, the most common streaming platform that esports are broadcast from, to find a source of entertainment while quarantining; in the process, they discovered a new hobby and helped push it into the public eye.
Esports’ influence during the pandemic has not just been limited to everyday viewers; NASCAR recently made the decision to cancel all of its in-person racing events, replacing them with professional esports-style racing competitions. The first of these virtual racing events, the inaugural eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, broke records for viewership on a televised esports program. The race, aired by Fox Sports, drew in over 900,000 viewers; quite an impressive number considering the niche label assigned to professional gaming events just a few years ago. While the NASCAR association certainly helped, the program stands as evidence that professional gaming is a type of sport that is flexible and adaptable, capable of satisfying the needs of people who might not normally find themselves watching a video game event.
The energy generated by the NASCAR events is starting to spread; Aston Martin, a British company known for their luxury sports cars, has announced a racing simulation machine they will be producing in the style of one of their cars. Aston Martin will produce 150 of these racing simulators, known as the AMR-C01, and will sell them for $74,000 a piece. The machines are luxuriously designed with customizable seats, adjustable pedal boxes, a high-tech steering wheel with twenty-one different dials and buttons, and a curved Quad High Dimension 32:9 aspect ratio monitor.
While some may still express doubts about the “validity” of esports as a profession, the interest of other sporting associations and high-end companies in the professional gaming industry is evidence that esports is beginning to be taken more seriously. The image conjured up when someone mentions a “professional video game player” is beginning to shift away from the boring, lazy and unemployed person sitting in their mom’s basement toward a more respectable place. Professional esports players now have huge followings on social media and are beginning to gain the respect they deserve as experts at what they do. Even celebrities like Post Malone are beginning to take an interest; the singer recently announced a partial stake in the ownership of Envy Gaming, a collection of notable esports teams.
Given the rapid growth and exposure esports is experiencing, it will be interesting to see if and when the College of Wooster decides to form its own professional esports team. Currently, 175 colleges across the United States have a team in the National Association of Collegiate Esports, including several schools in Ohio. Esports can cover a wide variety of video games, allowing for a variety of students to feel qualified to try out for a team; with the ever-changing landscape of the gaming industry, there are always new opportunities. It makes sense for the College of Wooster to begin discussions about forming its own Fighting Scots esports team as it’s popularity is only growing from here.