Esports aesthetics and fashion industry. The passion for eSports affects various aspects of society, including fashion and design. Various bets on esports events and communication between fans in the news that you can do on play-score.com, spawned their own subcultures and artistic images. Contrary to popular belief, esports today is not just “shooters”, but a very serious element of modern digital culture. Now you can even study esports at the university, and the number of jobs in this industry is growing every day.

Often, amateurs arrange cosplays – they dress up in costumes of video game characters, which they sew to order or sell ready-made. They want to imitate them in everyday life, and the team “Team Liquid” is releasing the second fashion collection of clothes in the style of the video game “Naruto“.

In 2019, Natus Vincere ordered a line of designer uniforms for their players with the hashtag “BornToWin”. Quotes from famous game characters were also placed on sweatshirts, jackets and overalls.

Esports also affects design:

• souvenirs;
• dishes;
• gadgets.

The famous company Valve presented a set of merchandise dedicated to Dota 2 in 2024. Baseball caps, mugs, water tanks, and scarves were decorated with branded logos. But the T-shirts came out with the best fan art. Joint creativity popularizes e-sports as a way of personal expression. Such moves attract fans and stimulate the financial and economic activity of investors that invest in electronic sports.

Additional income for manufacturers of electronics and souvenirs

Figurines with heroes of cybersport games, branded mice, keyboards, key rings, flash drives, decorative pillows with symbols of cyber athletes and clubs are in demand. But things autographed by pro gamers are especially appreciated. Often they are sold at auctions. So, posters on the theme of Overwatch were put up for sale signed by members of “Blizzard Animation”.

Artbooks are being implemented, in which designers show in detail how they developed paraphernalia, artifacts of legendary strategies, and shooters. They are useful for emerging artists, design students, inspiring them to create unusual creations for eSports and related fields.

Trends and tendencies

Esports has most strongly influenced streetwear – street style. Fans like jerseys and long sleeves like the pros. And the companies that produce them, in particular Supreme, cooperate with the brands Louis Vuitton, Gucci.

The admiration for esports is leading to a gradual fusion of youth and high fashion. At the same time, opportunities for fashion designers and not only are expanding. Young people also acquire such clothes.

What sparks interest in esports?

It would seem that it is a common thing to play a game, but the broadcasts of professional championships gather hundreds of thousands of viewers. Despite the fact that the games themselves are held in the digital world, the scale of international championships is often impressive: “arenas” are the envy of football stadiums, and millions of fans watch online broadcasts.

The big interest in esports comes from the fact that people enjoy watching someone else do something better than themselves. As with traditional sports, people like to watch competitions first and foremost, and over time people develop idols and favorite teams to watch.

The development of technologies, such as streaming services, opens up access to mass viewing of competitions with the involvement of sponsors, investments and modern digital opportunities. Esports is becoming more and more attractive day by day.

According to research, more and more people prefer watching esports competitions to traditional sports disciplines, and esports players themselves are equated with “real athletes”.

How the coronavirus has affected esports

Tournament operators are having a really hard time right now because the events have been canceled. And even if we held without spectators, the players couldn’t come either. For example, we have an event in Berlin. We need to bring the Chinese there, at least, because the Chinese teams are an important part of the coverage. If you do not bring the Chinese, then China does not look at you and you lose a lot. Today you will not bring anyone anywhere. Therefore, unfortunately, this affects negatively in terms of eSports events. As a result, there is less content. Fewer opportunities to make money on it. That is, everything that is connected with events, it loses.

Of course, people have more free time, they spend more free time at home. I think they will consume more online content from different streamers, play games. I think that for developers in general, this is a plus. As they say that when they sit at home, they spend more, because you need to do something, then I think that the number of players will definitely increase. And views in general, visits to some entertainment sites, including Twitch, will definitely increase.

For the players, the problem is that they are often from different countries, but in order to train well, they must sit together, and not apart. And now there are problems with logistics. In addition, the competitive component itself may suffer: there are special people at the tournaments who watch the players so that they do not use cheats or other tricks. Now when everyone sits at home and plays, you never know what the player can resort to.

Esports is no longer just a game

Do not equate the concepts of “gamer” and “cyber sportsman”. Gamers play video games for their own enjoyment, not with the goal of being the best. Esports players are gamers who have brought their gaming skills to a very high level through constant training. For these people, high self-organization, discipline, stress resistance and the desire to win are important. It has long been worthwhile for our society to understand that esports is not just “toys”.

Many underestimate the scale of the esports industry. After all, in fact, in addition to the competitions themselves, a new type of event has appeared, where the tournament organizer creates a high-class show with the integration of brands, the use of a huge amount of equipment and the attraction of serious investments. It’s worth looking a little deeper into this industry, seeing what esports looks like today, and I’m sure parents will begin to support their children’s esports passions more.