◼ TECHNOLOGY Bloomberg Businessweek August 31, 202022
THEBOTTOMLINE Asschoolsembracegames,Robloxis on
tracktobooksalesof$1billionin 2020,doublelastyear’stotal,and
Minecraftwilljumpatleast25%,tomorethan$600million.● Asthestakesgethigher,teamsarebecoming
moreseriousaboutmentalandphysicalhealthPro E-Gamers
Hitthe Gym
DougGardnerspenttwodecadeshelpingathletes
attheBostonRedSox,theNFLPlayersAssociation,
andvariousuniversity teamscopewiththeir
innerdemonsandovercomethementalblocks
thatimpedepeakperformance.Thenin2017,he
shiftedfromfootballfieldsandbaseballdiamonds
toanemergingandlessunderstoodcompetitive
arena:theergonomicchairsandbig-screenmoni-
torsofe-sports,inwhichteamswieldvideogame
controllerstozaprivalsintooblivion.
Gardneranda growingcohortofathletictrain-
ers say e-sports can be every bit as taxing as more
physical endeavors such as basketball, baseball,
or boxing. While e-sports squads typically lack the
resources of big-league pro teams, they’re catch-
ing up fast. Top squads are hiring dietitians and
chefs, personal trainers, sleep specialists, and psy-
chologists to support players. And they’re build-
ing training facilities with gym equipment and
wellness rooms alongside the gaming comput-
ers. “These players are getting paid to perform,”
Gardner says. They need “the discipline that’s
required of an athlete.”
E-sports have become big business, with prizes
worth millions of dollars and scores of teams com-
peting in global tournaments of games such as
Fortnite, League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counter-
Strike. The biggest matches are played in arenas
with 50,000 or more spectators and streamed
around the world. Pro gamers will generate moreBoth platforms have been used for years in
classes, after-school clubs, and summer camps
built around computer-oriented content. In the
Covid era, they’re being adapted to teach every-
thing from physics to politics. Roblox Corp. says it
now has 150 million monthly active users, up from
100 million a year ago. And use of the school ver-
sion of Minecraft, which costs as much as $5 per
student per year, more than doubled this spring
and summer. Research firm Loup Ventures predicts
Roblox will see sales of $1 billion this year, dou-
ble what it made in 2019, and Minecraft will gener-
ate more than $600 million, up at least a quarter.
“Teachers are saying now is a good time to inte-
grate those tools,” says Brett Shelton, head of the
department of educational technology at Boise
State University in Idaho.
Video workshops that Roblox released during
lockdown on using the games to teach remotely
have racked up more than 1 million views. And the
company is creating content to increase under-
standing of digital safety, such as the appropriate
response to cyberbullying and a scavenger hunt
where students search a city for questionable or
potentially harmful information.
One of the biggest sources for Roblox content
is players themselves. The site’s games are mostly
developed by teens and young adults, who get a
quarter of the revenue from selling their creations
on the platform. Authors of those games are on
track to bank more than $250 million this year—
double what they did in 2019—as Roblox aims to
ensure a steady pipeline of new offerings. “We did
a lot of work at the beginning of Covid to make
sure we packaged up beginner classes to make it
super simple for kids to make games,” says Roblox
Chief Business Officer Craig Donato. “They can
totally do this by themselves.”
Some educators caution against overreliance
on gaming. Both Roblox and the mainstream ver-
sion of Minecraft are open social platforms, so
parents and teachers must keep their guard up
to protect students from predators, says Tanner
Higgin, a director at Common Sense Media, which
reviews educational software. And millions of stu-
dents lack the devices or internet access needed
for remote learning. “Minecraft, Roblox—they have
all this massive potential,” Higgin says. “But they
have the same potential pitfalls as anything else
ontheinternet.”
Still,schoolsareembracingtheconcept.In
Atlanta,wherekidshavebeengivencomputers or
tablets and will study online until at least October,
the school district has almost 12,000 licenses for
the education version of Minecraft, up from 5,000 ayear ago. More than half the teachers have used the
game, and students have created activities such as
a virtual amusement park and a biome, says Felisa
Ford, a digital-learning specialist at Atlanta Public
Schools. “You name it, we’re doing it in Minecraft,”
Ford says. “We don’t want static lessons. Everything
is about active engagement.” �Olga Kharif▼E-sportsindustry
revenue
2018
2020 estimate
2022 projection$1.4b$1.0b$0.8b