The DXRacer RV131 is the choice of champions, says a salesman at the Tokyo Game Show. Crafted from the finest high-tech materials, contoured for performance and precision-built for victory under the most unforgiving conditions. To the uninitiated, however, it appears little more than a brightly coloured comfy chair.

Yet in the blistering crucible of esports, video game tournaments for professionals and amateurs where a $10m top prize can be won or lost on the click of a mouse, the right chair is as important to the superstar players of Overwatch or Dota 2 as Roger Federer’s tennis racket or Lionel Messi’s boots.

“Perception is everything,” says Alex Lim, secretary-general of the International e-Sports Federation, and point man for an audacious bid to have the genre recognised as an Olympic event by 2024. “One generation grew up kicking a ball in the back yard, the next grew up with choices that included games. We live in a digital culture that most people accept is redefining a whole range of things: sport is one of them.”