What Is E-sports?
E-sports, short for “electronic sports,” are video games that are played in a highly organized competitive environment.
E-sports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. The most common video game genres associated with e-sports are multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), first-person shooter (FPS), fighting, card, battle royale and real-time strategy (RTS) games
E-sports is quickly becoming one of the world’s largest entertainment industries. In 2021, Statista reported that the global e-sport market was valued at just over 1.08 billion U.S. dollars, an almost 50% increase from the previous year.
Sports including the NFL, NBA, Formula One, FIFA, AFL, and EPL are also diversifying into e-sports as a means to ensure their brands remain relevant to future generations of consumers. E-sports is now increasingly being recognized as a sport, with an International Olympic sub-committee recently approving e-sports as a sport for the 2022 Asian Games.
PROFILE OF THE GHANAIAN TERTIARY E- SPORTS CONSUMER
A survey carried out by E-sports Africa News (a platform to grow E-sports content and promote E-sports and associated activities on the African continent) on tertiary students about their knowledge and participation in e-sports revealed the following.
With a sample size of 100 randomly selected tertiary students, 92% of the respondents had an idea about e-sports or gaming. The other 8% of the respondents were in the dark regarding e-sports or gaming.
63 respondents of the 92 respondents who affirmed their knowledge about e-sports or gaming were males whiles 26 respondents out of the 92 respondents who affirmed knowledge of e-sport and gaming were females.
When asked how they got to know about e-sports or gaming, 68.87% indicated they got introduced to e-sports and gaming through social media while 29.35% got introduced through their peers and friends.
94% of the respondents on Instagram alluded to a career as an e-sport athlete as something they could consider while 6% had no interest in being an e-sport athlete. Respondents on Twitter when asked if they would consider a career in e-sport had 83% responded in the affirmative whiles 17% responded in the negative
Having a personal gaming console is essential in e-sports or gaming but not everyone can afford one. 63.04% of the respondent did not own their own personal gaming console while 36.96% of respondents owned a personal gaming console.
With reference to the amount of time spent on e-ports or gaming, the survey revealed that 56.52% of respondents spent between one to three hours playing games or e-sports, 14.13% spent between four to 6 hours playing, 8.7% of respondents played for about seven to nine hours while 20.65% of respondents played e-sports once a while.
When asked if any of the respondents would love to play e-sports competitively, 68.48% of the respondents responded in the affirmative whiles 31.52% responded in the negative.
There is definitely a growing interest in e-sports or gaming from the average Ghanaian and it is likely to see rapid growth as an industry in the coming years.
For all you esport enthusiasts and gaming lovers, you can follow the organizations below for up to date e-sports information and more.
1.Esports Africa News – media dedicated to the promotion of esports and associated business
2.Playtourney – An e-sports tournament management website for African esports tournaments
3.Tema esports club – One of the leading esports clubs in Ghana.
One of their athletes represented Ghana in Nigeria in March for the Gamr event
4. Team falcon – another leading esports team whose athletes have won many local tournaments in Ghana. They are currently contending in the ethrophy cup to represent Ghana in the efifa tournament to be held in Denmark.
Written by Lanyoh Selorm.
