The Potential of Physiological Monitoring Technologies in Esports

This scoping review examines whether physiological monitoring technologies, such as wearables and clinical-grade sensors, can be meaningfully integrated into professional esports. The authors argue that esports has grown rapidly, with revenues exceeding $1 billion in 2019 and rising investment in player training, coaching, and support staff, yet physiological monitoring remains largely absent from routine practice. The stated aim is to survey the available devices, identify barriers to adoption, and propose a collaborative model linking esports organisations, academia, healthcare professionals, and industry to guide implementation while limiting wasted resources.

The review searched PubMed, ResearchGate, Google, and Google Scholar in May 2020, covering literature from 1946 onward, and retained only devices that were validated against gold-standard measures, commercially available, and usable during play without obvious hindrance. Based on these criteria, the authors compile a table of roughly a dozen wearable systems that measure parameters such as heart rate, heart rate variability, electrocardiogram signals, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, and skin temperature. Cardiovascular and respiratory measures are highlighted as relevant to cognitive and physical load during gaming, and some evidence links heart rate variability to stress and internet gaming disorder. Key barriers identified include interference with fine motor control and concentration, the limited reliability of optical heart rate sensors during exertion, rapid product obsolescence, potential misuse for competitive advantage, wireless congestion in dense equipment environments, and high costs.

The authors conclude that multiple market-ready technologies are viable for esports teams and anticipate that monitoring will become an essential part of performance assessment, injury prevention, and team management. They also propose a six-stage implementation model running from problem identification through trial, debrief, and response, and speculate on future applications such as live spectator integration, eye tracking, and team modelling.