In the past few hours, the four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal shared his thoughts on eSports and the professional players who take turns in it with Jake Lucky: let’s find out together what he said
The world of eSports is a continuously growing sector, both internationally and also on the Italian front. A recent report by Nielsen and IDEEA revealed its growing popularity in Italy, a country where almost half a million people watch eSports, its competitions and tournaments every day. Organizations such as the OIES (we recently exchanged a few words with co-founder Luigi Caputo) and high-impact teams such as eSport Revolution, which has the famous Tony Tubo as co-founder, were born. In short: Will e-sports replace traditional ones? Most likely not, or at least not in the immediate future. However, they could work side by side and create a separate subsystem, renumerative and popular exactly like the traditional counterpart.
Speaking of this relationship between “tradition” and “novelty” was also a strong personality of the NBA, the four-time champion Shaquille O’Neal. The athlete, in a recent conversation with Jake Lucky, of Full Squad Gaming, has a little ‘gutted his thoughts on professional eSports gamers, placing his ideas in strong contradiction to many of his other “colleagues” and effectively defining them as athletes. This is because the term can refer to multiple concepts, but ultimately it is the “mindset” factor that determines who is or is not an athlete.
Only 15% of the game depends on the physique, everything else comes from the head. If you guys call yourself athletes, I believe you, because they can’t do what you do.
I asked Shaq if esports players are athletes
His answer was frikin beautiful pic.twitter.com/R5O0176nII
— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) May 25, 2022
Shaquille O’Neal and the relationship between traditional sports and eSports
O’Neal also made a comparison on the longevity of careers in both traditional and electronic sports, stating that in both cases the athletes have a rather short wait to be able to compete at high levels.
Even you guys don’t have a long life at the highest level, what they can be, from 3 to 5 years, maybe 6. It works the same way with the NBA and the NFL so yeah, you are definitely athletes.
Everything was born from a consideration that Shaq made starting from when he was involved in the making of Shaq Vs., a series in which, over the course of the 10 episodes that make it up, the NBA star had to challenge rather popular athletes and first in their sports. of reference. For example, he challenged Olympic champion Michael Phelps in swimming, considering it the hardest thing he has ever done in his life. This is because sport is not only physical, but also and above all “mindset”.
Shaquille O’Neal was also, in fact, one of the first traditional sports stars to get involved in the eSports industry. In 2016 he made an investment in NRG eSports and, in 2018, participated in the ELEAGUE Street Fighter 5 Invitational Celebrity Championship Showdown alongside baseball star Jimmy Rollins and WWE’s Eva Marie. Let us know what you think of these statements below in the comments, we will continue to keep you updated with all the news, guides and reviews on gaming and tech themes! And if you are interested in game keys at advantageous prices, we recommend that you take a look at the InstantGaming catalog!