Demystifying: The rise of eSports

What are esports and why are they growing so fast?

Mitch Reames, Will Partin and Max Foxman speaking at the University of Oregon in early 2020

esports are growing fast. According to Deloitte, “over $4.5 billion was invested in the industry in 2018 alone.” Meanwhile, Business Insider projects an increase in audience, “from 454 million in 2019 to 646 million in 2023… that puts the audience on pace to nearly double over a six-year period, as the 2017 audience stood at 335 million.”

But what are esports? And why are they gaining popularity so quickly?

To find out, we asked three experts — Mitch Reames,Will Partin and Professor Maxwell Foxman to join us, as part of the University of Oregon’s Hearst Demystifying Media Series.

Here are a few extracts from our conversation, edited for flow and clarity.

The full transcript of our conversation can be read below.

What are esports and why are they growing so fast?

Mitch Reames: “esports are quite simply competitive video games. The ecosystem around it is much…