Photo: AFP
Videos games have now become a high school sport in eight states of the US.
Those who play video games can now make thousands of dollars a year and get millions of dollar as prizes in competitions.
The schools in Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island adopted video games as an e-sport in the fall of 2018. A few months later, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas also joined, CNN reported.
Related: Craze for video games unhealthy in children: experts
In Atlanta, a new e-sports arena was opened in February as a project of the Johnson STEM Activity Centre.
CNN was invited to see a face-off between students of North Atlanta High School and Grady High School in a video game competition. Two teams comprising six players each faced off in a video game ‘Smite’ and fought as gods and mythological creatures.
According to a research firm Newzoo, the global e-sports market will generate more than $1 billion in 2019. The audience for e-sports would reach 454 million this year.
The centre said that a regular esports season will begin at the end of April and the finals start in May.
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