This article has three objectives: (1) to synthesize the literature regarding the challenges in the esports industry, aiming to establish a comprehensive understanding of the industry challenges; (2) to identify the relationship between these challenges and esports stakeholders and their roles in addressing the challenges and (3) to provide future research directions.
A scoping review of the literature on the challenges in the esports industry was conducted. A descriptive analysis identified the bibliographic and methodological patterns of this literature (N = 213). A thematic analysis elucidated the challenges and their relationships with esports stakeholders.
Six themes captured the industry challenges: (1) lack of universal regulations, (2) legal challenges of esports, (3) esports integrity, (4) unstable careers of esports athletes, (5) esports-related gambling and (6) health risks of esports. The interrelationships among these challenges and their relevance to esports stakeholders were clarified.
This scoping review is the first to holistically examine the challenges facing the esports industry and corresponding research trends. Through the lens of stakeholder theory, this review elucidates the relationships between these challenges and the esports stakeholders, as well as the roles each stakeholder plays in addressing them. By presenting research gaps and future research directions, we further provide the opportunity to advance esports research by applying theories and knowledge from sport management.
