Aim: The present study explored the sources of stress experienced by competitive esports athletes. Methods and results: Cross-sectional survey. Participants were 270 esports athletes, ranked in the top 40% (determined by in-game rank) of one of five major esports: Rainbow Six: Siege, Overwatch, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, and Defence of the Ancients 2. Participants reported a stressor they had recently encountered as part of a stress appraisal measure (1). 11 sources of stress reported by traditional sports athletes were reported by esports athletes (2). Furthermore, four novel esports specific stressors were identified: Technical issues, balancing life commitments, anti-social behaviour, and critical moment performance. Similar to traditional sports, teammate stressors (53.7%) and performance stressors (26.9%) were reported by 79.2% of participants. Finally, esports athletes in the 99 - 100th percentile reported more performance-related stressors than teammate stressors, whereas esports athletes in the 90 - 99th, 80 - 90th, 70 - 80th, and 60 - 70th reported more teammate-related stressors than performance stressors. Conclusions: Results from this study could inform the development of psychological interventions for competitive esports athletes. Highlights There are similarities in the stressors experienced by competitive esports athletes and traditional sports athletes. Esports players reported novel esports stressors; technical issues, anti-social behaviour, balancing life commitments and critical moment performance. Elite esports athletes appear to report more performance related stressors, whereas sub-elite esports athletes report more teammate related stressors.
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