What Happens When… a Goldman Sachs Analyst Plays eSports with the Pros?

By day, Chris Merwin is a videogame and eSports analyst at Goldman Sachs Research. So what happens when he joins a team of professional gamers to play one of eSports’ hottest games? Merwin visited the Overwatch League’s Blizzard Arena to find out. He joined the Florida Mayhem for a practice match – and an epic beatdown ensued.

eSports is a growing phenomenon and one of the fastest-growing professional sports in the world. Driven by the immense popularity of survival-based games, growing prize pools for eSports tournaments, the rise of live-streaming, and improving infrastructure for pro leagues, eSports is on track to reach nearly 300 million viewers by 2022, according to Goldman Sachs Research. “eSports are so popular because you don’t have to be big, tall, and fast,” Merwin explained. “You can be an average person, and if you practice really hard, you can be one of the better gamers in the world.”