The world of esports is a billion dollar market - over $1.8 billion - and some of the biggest esports teams are sponsored by big name energy drinks. Drinks such as G-Fuel, Redbull, and Monster are featured in personal streams and large tournaments bringing in lots of revenue for these companies. These drinks are often used to boost energy before a workout or to increase overall alertness. When esports are played virtually, why do so many gamers use these energy boosting drinks?
Energy drinks focus on gamer markets because gamers use them to boost their overall performance. While these gamers may not be physically playing a high contact sport, gaming still requires high cognition, reaction time, and attention. Energy drinks boost all of these things and also provide fatigue resistance which is necessary for peak performance– even if it’s only virtual performance.
The reliance on energy drinks for gamers is similar to how athletes use pre-workout drinks in their routines. While these two groups rely on different drinks, they both are looking for the same performance boosting ingredients in order to boost their performance. Some of these ingredients are things like caffeine, taurine, and creatine. Caffeine increases physical endurance, increases information processing, and boosts metabolism. These other amino acids work to increase stamina and energy, and prevent damage during high energy activities. Preworkout tends to have more amino acids that help to prevent damage to cells during exercise, so it makes sense that more athletes tend to use these drinks while gamers stick to energy drinks.
With gamers using energy drinks so much and plugging them in their streams and tournaments, more and more young people are starting to consume these drinks as well. Energy drink companies are making millions off of their sponsorships to large teams, and revenue is only continuing to grow. With 331.4 million viewers of esports each month, there is a large market of people that energy drinks companies can market to. If big name esports teams are benefitting from the use of energy drinks, so can the average gamer! Learn more about energy drinks in the infographic below: