The culture surrounding competitive video game playing, known today as esports, has burst into the mainstream in recent years, now well-ingrained in the tapestry of pop culture and a full-fledged industry in its own right, on track to surpass $1 billion with most market researchers suggesting a steady CAGR of 9%.
 
The emergence of competitive gaming into mainstream culture was catalyzed by a number of trends: social media platforms began to serve as a means of allowing competitive gamers, celebrities, and other public figures to efficiently stream their own live gameplay to online audiences; media outlets dedicated to more conventional sports began providing coverage of team-based and solo tournaments for specific games; and tickets to high-profile in person events have reached incredible demand, with certain events gaining enough traction to fill arenas with casual gamers who enjoy seeing games played at the absolute peak of competition.
 
One tournament, The International 2019, brought together a global bracket of the world’s greatest players of the game “Dota 2,” and was said to have the largest single-tournament prize pool of any esports event in history, with the winners receiving a crowdfunded prize pool of $34 million. Other events, such as the 2018 Mid-Season Invitational Tournament which covered the game “League of Legends” topped the charts in audience size, having a recorded 60 million unique viewers (out of the hundreds of millions of esports fans), including several thousand who were in physical attendance.
 
Beyond gaming companies, certain brands and manufacturers of computer hardware, technology, energy drinks, foods and beverages, and more have become key sponsors for esports teams and tournaments. Several colleges and universities have already established varsity scholarship programs for inter-college esports leagues, though the NCAA has passed on taking video games under the umbrella of its regulations.
 
The Time for Esports Nutrition is Now
According to those on the ground floor of formulating products tailored to the needs of gamers, the time is now for the nutraceuticals industry to ditch preconceived notions that those who spend hours per day playing video games aren’t preoccupied with their health.
 
Like other competitive athletes, “e-athletes” express interest in nutrition, and in products that will optimize their performance and health in ways that high caffeine concentrations can’t. A less-than-flattering stereotype still exists that gamers subsist off of heavily-processed snacks, sodas, and energy drinks, but the truth is that in order for professional gamers to function at peak condition for several hours, a proper nutritional regimen both through healthy eating patterns and possibly supplementation is in order. For esports athletes, this type of macronutrient ratio and profile of health benefits could look pretty similar to that adhered to by athletes in general. However, prolonged screen time and long periods of sedentary behavior present unique health challenges and risk for numerous chronic diseases that most conventional athletes don’t face.
 
The gaming supplement market is already garnering the interest of leading brands, but there are also a number of brands specifically launching product portfolios for an exclusive esports audience, such as Advanced or Skinz.gg, marketed as made by gamers for gamers, with a full focus on this micro-category rather than broader macro-market health targets.
 
Furthermore, the social distancing requirements and stay-at-home orders imposed on a global populace have only further boosted the already-burgeoning marketplace of competitive video gaming, an activity which many have resorted to as a safe source of recreation and entertainment whose infrastructure is already almost entirely online.  
 
Most estimates place roughly 2.5 billion people in the category of “gamers,” and a rising tide of supplement users and nutritionally-aware consumers likely has significant overlap in the gaming population, leaving out gamers who could tentatively become new supplement users given the right formulation or marketing outreach.
 
Those on the front lines of a burgeoning new category of nutrition have begun to lay out a framework of some of the nutritional needs which are in demand for those playing video games at a professional level, including a combination of cognitive and physiological need states.

Focused Solutions
Front of mind for many esports nutrition manufacturers are the appeals of improving focus, energy, endurance, and cognitive performance. For these reasons, many key ingredients would translate well from the nootropics category, a space typically occupied by those seeking solutions to stress management, work performance, long-lasting energy, low moods, and memory issues associated with aging.
 
Esports nootropics focus most on performance-based qualities, in an effort to offer a better alternative to caffeine-based energy drinks which provide short-term alertness, but a quick crash-and-burn effect shortly thereafter. Nootropics on the market in line with these qualities tend to offer a combination of cognitive-boosting herbal and botanical extracts, brain health vitamins (with a heavy lean on the B family), and minerals associated with broad neuronal patterns, such as magnesium. With peak performance becoming a mainstream goal among the entire U.S. supplement consumer base, especially through the use of all-natural, clean-label ingredients, many well-known brain health ingredients will integrate well into the gaming space. Already, nooLVL, a dietary ingredient from Nutrition21, is marketed specifically for gamers, and this bonded arginine silicate-insolitol complex was clinically substantiated for benefits through clinical trials which specifically included gamers as participants.
 
Other health aspirations that esports supplement manufacturers are speaking to include the more physiological side of things—long-term gaming sessions take a toll on joints, with common ailments including neck pain, “gamer’s thumb,” and more. For these reasons, citrus-based flavonoids manufacturer Ingredients by Nature has launched Eriomin Esport, a potent antioxidant targeting low-grade inflammation and balancing blood glucose levels more optimally, in a way which may help gamers recover faster. Additionally, collagen brand Gelita reports that it will be targeting both serious gamers and casual enthusiasts (a group which represents a significant portion of the esports market), with collagen peptides that might have a role in preventing gaming-related wear-and-tear in the body’s naturally-depleting collagen stores, through the repetitive usage of keyboards, mice, and controllers.
 
The harm that chronic blue light exposure can cause to vision is something that has been well-documented for decades, and those who spend a great deal of time playing video games experience inordinate exposure to the harmful rays known to cause macular degeneration. For these reasons, gamers could do well to supplement their diet with nutrients, such as the carotenoids zeaxanthin and lutein, along with other nutrients found in the NIH-funded AREDS trials, in order to preserve their vision.
 
Lastly, while there are few clinical trials examining the impact of hydration directly on gaming, plenty of studies indicate that mild-to-moderate dehydration can have immediate reductions on cognitive performance in tasks which require attention, psychomotor, and short-term memory skills. For these reasons, functional beverages with a decent water content will likely be an ideal delivery format for gaming supplements.
 
With little research having been done on nutraceutical interventions specifically on gamers, and performance-based parameters specific enough to garner gamers’ interests, and only a small few companies working outright to captivate an esports-based audience, many believe that a game-playing consumer base is rife with opportunities for marketing innovation, product development, and other collaborative endeavors with the esports community.