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Esports Athletes More Inclined to Pursue STEM Fields, New Study Finds
Analytics platform finds esports athletes likely to take a different turn from traditional athletes.

Press release:
FRANKLIN, IN – FEBRUARY 5, 2020 – Leading esports and gaming sabermetrics platform GYO Score has developed a new study correlating esports athletes and their interested college majors and collegiate preferences.

The report conducted on the GYO Score platform finds astounding results and shows 50.4% of esports athletes at the high school and collegiate levels are interested in pursuing a college major in the “Sciences” category (traditional STEM fields). The category includes computer science, nursing, engineering, applied sciences, etc.

“There has always been this assumption and stereotype by the esports community at large that if you’re into gaming and esports, you’re probably also into computers, science, and math,” said Shawn Smith, CEO of Harena Data and chief architect of the data survey.

“After nearly a year of recruiting players interested in pursuing esports scholarships, our data lays the foundation for these assumptions at an even greater rate than we had expected.”

Additionally, nearly 18.1% of esports athletes are interested in pursuing a college degree in “Arts” or “Business & Finance”. The statistics will surprise many as traditional athletes such as football, basketball, baseball, and hockey have historically pursued these two categories for their college majors in much greater numbers.

For comparison, a 2016 Bleacher Report study shows a much higher percentage of college football athletes gravitate towards business and social sciences (55%+) than STEM-related majors, with only 9% of athletes falling into the “Arts and Sciences” category of the study.

The GYO Score report found that arts (design, graphic design, fashion, acting, and others) account for 8.6% while business & finance (economics, accounting, finance, and others) account for 9.5% of surveyed respondents.

With the rise of gaming, 13.2% of surveyed athletes would be interested in a major related to gaming and esports. Notably, 5.7% of respondents do not know what they want to pursue and 2.2% have been categorized as “Other”.

For educators, the results resonate with what they are seeing from their students. “These results are pretty spot on. I’d say about 50% of my current athletes have majors in the STEM field,” said Ashley Jones, esports coach at Park University and chair-elect of the board of directors of the National Association of Collegiate Esports.

“Although Park does not currently offer esports degree programs, a few of my athletes have already expressed interest in pursuing a career in esports based on their experience in our varsity program.”

“While the data presented by GYO shows STEM majors are popular among esports participants, the rest of the data shows how inclusive the world of esports is. Every major presented in this study will be needed for the growth and stability of esports,” added Josh Steger, head coach for WVU Esports.

The original study findings can be found published here on GYO Score’s blog.

About GYO
GYO Score is an esports and gaming data analytics platform that seeks to support gamers and esports at all levels. With its game data analytics tools, team management, player profile, and league tool systems, GYO supports gamers and esports-enthusiasts of all competition levels to pursue their dream of esports stardom and community building.

To date, GYO Score has helped facilitate over 200 esports scholarship offers and boasts more than 25,000 players on its platform since it launched in September 2019. To learn more about GYO, please visit www.gyo.gg.

About Harena Data, Inc
Founded in 2017, Harena Data has developed GYO Score to be a data analytics, league development, and player management tool for the esports industry. The principals of Harena Data have a strong background in esports, event management, motion picture production, and telecommunications. In addition to GYO Score, Harena Data specializes in esports consultation regarding the development and deployment of esports venues, scholastic esports programs, and esports league concepts.

Jonas “O.J” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround