Under Pressure: Floor-to-stage Heart Rate Differences in Elite Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Players

Background: The growing Esports industry features high stakes competition and large-scale viewership. Competitors in titles such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (SSBU) may experience increased performance anxiety indicators like elevated heart rate especially when placed into spotlighted stage matches, both live streamed and recorded in front of a live audience. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if heart rate elevations differ between competitive play on stage relative to the floor of a double-elimination style tournament bracket. Methods: Four internationally ranked SSBU players (24±1y; 4M) wore chest-based heart rate monitors throughout a double-elimination bracket.A 2-way (Bracket [Winners, Losers] x Location [Floor, Stage]) ANOVA w/ repeated measures tested differences between heart rate assessments at a significance level of p