Paris Games Week: the craze for e-sports is confirmed year after year

Thomas Guigueno / Photo credit: Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP 12:45 p.m., November 05, 2023

The 2023 edition of Paris Games Week ends this Sunday at the Porte de Versailles in Paris. The opportunity to discover the craze for e-sport. In other words, video game competitions where players compete alone or in teams against other players from a console or computer. Europe 1 went to the French video game show.

In the corridors of Paris Games Week, thousands of people make their way to the hall where there is an arena. On the program, a tournament of an emblematic game, Rocket League, mixing cars and football, where two teams compete to score the most goals in five minutes. In front of them, a crowd of supporters in an atmosphere worthy of a Ligue 1 match.

"Players who are almost considered athletes"

Today, e-sport is a sport in its own right and is developing rapidly with the multiplication of tournaments and events, but also with the construction of dedicated stadiums, such as the one planned in Évry next year. According to streamer LifeIsCool, a reference in match commentary for several years, it's not just the infrastructure that is evolving. "We have players who are now considered almost like athletes because they are forced to have a specific nutrition, a sleep rhythm that is also very regulated, with strategic mental coaches as well. We really have a whole ecosystem that is ultimately very similar to sport," explains the commentator.

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Proof of its evolution, e-sport now goes beyond events such as Paris Games Week. This week, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire even called on France to become a European leader in the sector.