Brain development is a new bet for the future of eSports

Maintaining just the routine of several hours of training a day is insufficient for a player to be competitive in eSports​—say experts from Team Liquid, one of the most important teams in this discipline, according to which the crucial thing is to think about brain development.

At the team’s training center in Utrecht, Netherlands, coach David Tillberg-Persson looks intently at the canvas. With the help of the keyboard, he must recognize shapes and “pick up” red dots. Anticipate, see, react. All this faster and faster.

Also known as “Fuzzface”, Tillberg-Persson is a 28-year-old former Swedish player who took part in the test of a new training program. It was then made available to Team Liquid teams that compete in the main professional eSports leagues, video game competitions.

Today, the image of an overweight teenager locked in his room is far from the reality of this sector, which has experienced rapid professionalization, with teams and competitions generating millions of dollars. His players lead an exemplary lifestyle, without excesses.

With a talent pool that continues to grow, thanks to the incorporation of new generations, competition is increasingly balanced. In this new context, teams are looking for ways to optimize the cognitive aspect, considered essential in a field where every millisecond matters.

‘Revolutionary’

Described as “revolutionary” by Team Liquid, the new training program, dubbed “The Pro Lab”, was also launched in California, where the team is based.

“We believe that the Pro Lab will cause a sensation in the eSports industry and beyond,” said Dutchman Victor Goossens, founder and one of the leaders of Team Liquid, quoted in a statement.

“The Pro Lab is a unique training space, supported by the science of eSports, that fundamentally changes not only the way athletes train, but also the way they grow and evolve in the industry,” the team explains.

Team Liquid players, young people living in different parts of the world, will be subjected to cognitive tests and relatively simple games. Afterwards, the results will be analyzed to detect possible gaps and verify their qualities.

The tests fall into four main categories: attention, memory, control, and anticipation.

“We seek to use technology and data to make the training we know, which is to be behind a PC for eight hours”, playing games and analyzing them with a “coach”, explains Team Liquid’s sports director, Brittany Lattanzio.

In “very, very high level” eSports — the 32-year-old Canadian tells AFP — “the smallest detail can make your team better than the rest.”

The objective is to determine training activities for each player, with the mission of improving concentration, reaction speed, or memory.

‘Vanguard’

“All Team Liquid athletes will play and based on that we will get a lot of data to create profiles”, explains Rafick de Mol, 28, an analyst at BrainsFirst, the Dutch company responsible for the Pro Lab.

“This is a fairly recent development, and we’re at the forefront of it, which can be an advantage as it provides information that other tests, or conversations, don’t,” says De Mol.

“This is part of the future of eSports,” he adds.

Coach of a team that plays PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), a multiplayer combat survival video game, “Fuzzface” is impatiently awaiting the release of the first results.

“Historically, eSports training has only focused on performance in the game”, explains this coach, who is part of a group of veterans from a “very young” sector.

“The cool thing about video games is that you really get involved with technology, a world that is constantly evolving,” commented Brittany Lattanzio, adding that “there are more tools that can be used on a computer than there are that can be used in a field. of football”.