April 12th, 2024, Lesley Simeon
The International Olympics Committee’s decision to explore Olympic Esports Games, which could launch as early as next year, provoked concern, confusion and cheer. While some called the move a ‘game-changer’, some expressed confusion over the esports titles included in the Olympics Esports Series last year and others simply didn’t deem esports ‘traditional’ enough to claim a spot at the Games.
In this piece, we gauge perceptions towards video gaming at large and see whether people from across 17 international markets see video gaming as a real sport.
Findings from the survey reveal that 17% respondents across markets say they view video gaming as a real sport, with men far more likely than women to say so (21% vs. 12%).
A majority (75%) disagree, and don’t see video gaming as a real sport.
By country
Respondents in India (30%) and the UAE (30%) are the most likely across markets to say they see video gaming as a real sport, followed by those in Singapore (23%), Hong Kong (23%) and Australia (21%). In Europe, Danes (17%) are the most likely to share this opinion about video gaming. Spain (9%) and Canada (9%) are right at the bottom of our list of markets where consumers are most likely to say video gaming is a real sport.
Respondents in Spain (86%) are the most likely across markets to say they do not view video gaming as a real sport, followed by those in Great Britain (83%) and Canada (82%).
Zeroing in on Great Britain, a piece we published on esports listed factors Britons consider essential to award the tag of a ‘real sport’ - physical skills, physical exertion, scoring system and strategic elements topped the list.
Similar proportions of Italians (81%) and French (81%) and Germans (80%) are of the same opinion. In Asia, nearly three fourths of Indonesians (74%) don’t see video gaming as a real sport - the most likely in this region to say so.
Americans account for the largest proportion of fence-sitters on the topic of video gaming being a real sport of not - 13% of them don’t know. A majority of them (75%) don’t view it as a real sport, while 12% of them do.
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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 500 and 2040 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in January 2024. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.