The rising importance of esports in the education space is not a surprise. In fact, many higher ed institutions are investing in esports programs to improve recruitment and retention numbers. 

Here's a wild number for you: 97% of adolescents play at least one hour of video games per day. As a 47-year-old, I remember a time when there wasn't an hour's worth of video games to play.

My age and recollection of a youth spent outdoors shooting each other with water guns instead of controllers that have more than a joystick and one red button is neither here nor there. 

What is important is that according to a recent report from eSchool News, esports is one of the five biggest trends to watch in 2023. This is something we here at AV Network have been preaching for some time. Ashley “AJ” Jones, director of membership sales and services for the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE), was the keynote speaker at our 2022 AV/IT Summit, our own Cindy Davis and Mark J. Pescatore hosted "The Esports and Education Virtual Conference 2022," and Pescatore later pondered if it was time to get serious about playing soccer with cars.

It's nice to see something that we have invested so heavily in is coming to the forefront of education. In fact, there is an entire esports school in Japan... but that's a story for another time.

Check out what eSchool News has to say about the five biggest educations trends for 2023 here. 

This article was written by Wayne Cavadi from AV Network and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive Content Marketplace. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.