Finding opportunity for dietary supplements in esports

Gamers and esport athletes are always looking for ways to improve energy, endurance, cognitive health, eye health, dexterity, reaction times and accuracy during practice and tournaments. However, convenient delivery formats are key. So where does this leave dietary supplements? Jason Chung, Director & Esports Business Professor at New York University, said the answer to this is twofold.

“I think there's opportunity for everything, but it requires a lot of effort. So education obviously is one part of it, but the other part is really just telling the story–Why is supplementation important? What do companies need to do? What does the general public need to know about supplementation? Why should somebody want to do this as opposed to drinking something or just ignoring it all together? I think that story really could be told better,” Chung said.

In general, Chung said elite athletes are more than willing to do anything to increase their performance, but gamers in general are more prone to lean into convenience.

“When you talk about the broader ecosystem, they're interested more in drinks and beverages, something that's easy. But again, like I said onstage, it’s kind of like fish oil or anything else. As long as you tell people why it's beneficial, why they should take it, and make it part of somebody’s routine, I think there's room to do that. It's just that no nutrition company has actually managed to make it part of somebody's routine or explain why somebody should be doing this as opposed to just drinking something.

Chung said at the end of the day, gamers will be listening to their nutritionists and coaches to find any products that will help them level up their game.

“It's a real business. It's a real part of the sport industry, so they will be incentivized to find anything that works best for them.”