FISU Secretary General-CEO (right) and Director of ISSUL (left) in FISU HQLast week, FISU signed a contract with the ISSUL (Institute of Sport Sciences of the University of Lausanne) to run a research programme on the impact of digital games on the student community. The conclusions of this research will be delivered to FISU by the end of 2022.
The ISSUL Professors will address key points such as current initiatives being developed by national university sports federations, the attitudes of university students towards eSports as well as the patterns of usage within the university student population.
This research proposal aims to give a better understanding about eSports interest around the world at a national level as well as at an individual level and will help lead discussions surrounding the potential development of eSports at the university level.
The research project comes as eSports continues to take up more and more space in the sports entertainment industry, attracting a larger share of audience as each year goes by.
According to data from Newzoo’s 2020 Global Esports Market Report, the global games live-streaming audience is expected to hit 729 million in 2021 with a 10% increase from last year. In comparison, the FIFA football World Cup reached a record breaking 3.6 billion people in 2018 and the US Super Bowl attracted 96.4 million viewers this year.
