What Are Phygital Sports? How Popular Are They?
The Games of the Future in Astana, Kazakhstan, is well under way, with Chinese outfit 17 Gaming crowned PUBG Champions. The tournament will also see champions crowned in MOBA PC (Dota 2) and MOBA Mobile (Mobile Legends: Bang Bang) events. All pretty standard for an esports tournament.
But there are also a handful of other events – phygital football, phygital basketball, phygital shooter, phygital dancing, and phygital fighting. Which is a lot of phygital.
Phygital sports are emerging as a popular genre of competition. Below, we take a look at what they are, as well as their history, popular tournaments, and other details.
What Does Phygital Mean?
Phygital combines physical and digital. It was first coined as a marketing term in 2007, by Chris Weil of Momentum Worldwide, to describe interactive marketing that combines both real-world and digital elements.
Since then, it has been used in retail and commerce and, most recently, in gaming.
How Do Phygital Sports Work?
Phygital sports are events in which players compete in physical and digital versions of a given sport. In phygital football, for example, players will usually compete in rounds of EA FC or eFootball. The same players also compete in 5-a-side football games. The scores from the two events are combined to give an overall phygital football winner.
John Jackson, CEO of Esports Wales, said of the format: “Phygital sports create a powerful bridge between traditional sport and esports, combining physical activity with digital competition to engage new audiences, develop modern skills, and bring communities together in entirely new ways.”
The Games Of The Future And Other Phygital Sports Tournaments
While events were held earlier, the first global multi-disciplinary phygital tournament was 2024’s Games of the Future. The first event was held in Kazan, Russia, and it has grown over the past few years, although some teams, players, and organizations have distanced themselves from the Russian-organised tournaments.
While some teams have swerved the Games of the Future, it has seemingly lit a spark under the phygital events world. New tournaments and events have started in the past couple of years.
The World Phygital Community runs regional and national events around the world. And most countries have some national organisation that have put on events. In the US, there’s Phygital Sports USA that offers pop-up events and tournaments. In the UK, Esports Wales offers regional competitions that act as feeder events for the likes of Games of the Future. However, activity from both national groups has declined, with no recent local tournaments.
Esports Wales postponed this year’s event, but have said they hope to pick it up in the future when there’s most interest.
