Olympic Video Gamers? The Olympics Have Created An Esports Games To Start In 2025
The Esports Games will feature a variety of virtual sports and games, with an expected focus on those that are not violent.
Olympics Esports is now a thing.
On Wednesday, July 24, the International Olympics Committee unanimously voted to create Olympic Esports Games, dedicated to video game competitions.
The first edition of the games will be held in Saudi Arabia in 2025, with the games scheduled to be held every two years in between the Summer and Winter Olympics.
The Esports Games will feature a variety of virtual sports and games, with an expected focus on those that are not violent.
The IOC have been dabbling with esports since 2018, holding the first Olympics Esports Week in Singapore in 2023.
Although the list of games has yet to be confirmed for the Esport Games, it is expected to include titles that were in the 2023 Olympics Esports week.
These include Tic Tac Bow (archery), WBSC eBaseball: Power Pros (baseball), Chess.com (chess), Zwift (cycling), Just Dance (dance), Gran Turismo 7 (motorsport), Virtual Regatta (sailing), Fortnite (shooting), Virtual Taekwondo (taekwondo) and Tennis Clash (tennis).
The IOC said in a statement that it would begin working on selecting a city, venue, the timings, as well as the game titles and the qualification process for players.
It also created an Esports Commission to examine how to serve "the interest of the esports community while respecting the Olympic values" and "to promote" gender equality and engagement with… young audiences.”
“This is truly a new era for the IOC. With the confirmation by the IOC Session of the creation of the Olympic Esports Games, we are keeping up with the pace of the digital revolution.” IOC president Thomas Bach said.
The esports initiative has been met with criticism as the IOC is collaborating with Saudi Arabia, which ranked 127th out of 144 countries in the 2022 Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum.
There have also been an accusations of Saudi Arabia “sportswashing” by investing in sporting related events, teams or players to divert attention from its human rights violations.
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Steph Lu
Steph Lu
