Esports, Australianness and beating New Zealand: Portrayals of esports in the mainstream Australian news media

With the growing global popularity of esports, the practice is receiving newfound coverage in the mainstream media. The media plays an important role as an information disseminator for its consumers, setting the agenda of what to think about and how to think about it. While research has investigated the practice and spectatorship of esports, little is known about how esports portrayed in media representations. The Australian mainstream media provides an interesting case, reflecting the core sport values integral to the Australian national identity. With esports embodying values of both gaming and sport, a thematic analysis was conducted to investigate how esports was portrayed in the Australian mainstream media. Esports was portrayed in 6 main ways as: an investment opportunity, having societal impacts, sport-like, entering the mainstream, professionalised and underdeveloped in Australia.