October 2018
Featured in this insight: IT & telecommunications, Sports & physical activity
72% of football and gaming fans prefer e-sports to the real thing: It’s a much-loved game the world over, but has the time come where real-life football is to be eclipsed by the digital version?
According to a survey by Plusnet, 72% of football and gaming fans said they preferred playing football console games rather than getting outside and kicking a ball around themselves.
Reasons given for having a preference to the video version of the game included being better at it than actual football (32%) and for 31% of respondents, playing as their favourite players was a key factor.
Almost two-thirds of respondents (63%) said they would choose to play a console version of the beautiful game over watching a match on television, with 43% citing being able to play as their favourite players as the main reason. For a third of respondents (33%) the experience was simply ‘more fun’.
Another interesting finding is that over half of those polled (56%) said they consider professional tournaments of popular games such as Fifa and Pro Evolution Soccer ‘real sport’, and almost six in ten (59%) said they would like to see eSports included in the Olympic Games. Survey respondents also said that they think of professional e-sports players as athletes, with 26% saying they can appreciate both the skill sets of footballers and digital sports players.
Doron Nir, co-founder and CEO of streaming platform StreamElements said:
“If you are a sports organisation and you’re not looking seriously into building your eSports presence, you are neglecting what is sure to be a major component of your future business.”
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