J Gambl Stud https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-018-9763-1 1 3 REVIEW PAPER The Psychology of Esports: A Systematic Literature Review Fanni Bányai 1,2  · Mark D. Griiths 3  · Orsolya Király 1  · Zsolt Demetrovics 1 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Recently, the skill involved in playing and mastering video games has led to the professionalization of the activity in the form of ‘esports’ (electronic sports). The aim of the present paper was to review the main topics of psychological interest about esports and then to examine the similarities of esports to professional and problem gambling. As a result of a systematic literature search, eight studies were identiied that had investigated three topics: (1) the process of becoming an esport player, (2) the characteristics of esport players such as mental skills and motivations, and (3) the motivations of esport spectators. These indings draw attention to the new research ield of professional video game playing and provides some preliminary insight into the psychology of esports players. The paper also examines the similarities between esport players and professional gamblers (and more speciically poker players). It is suggested that future research should focus on esport play- ers’ psychological vulnerability because some studies have begun to investigate the difer- ence between problematic and professional gambling and this might provide insights into whether the playing of esports could also be potentially problematic for some players. Keywords Esport · Professional video gaming · Competitive video gaming · Gambling · Poker · Video games · Gaming motivations * Zsolt Demetrovics demetrovics.zsolt@ppk.elte.hu 1 Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Izabella utca 46, Budapest 1064, Hungary 2 Doctoral School of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary 3 International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK