Olympic Games in eSports? Committee should examine the possibility

By admin On Oct 15, 2023

Will eSports athletes soon be on the hunt for Olympic medals? The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, is pursuing the idea of integrating eSports into competition. A committee should examine this.

Will eSports be included as a discipline in the Olympic Games?

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In 2018, IOC President Thomas Bach ruled out video games at the Olympic Games. In the near future, the turnaround could finally be completed. The 69-year-old asked the International Olympic Committee commission responsible for eSports to examine the possibility of an Olympics in this area. Bach said this at the opening of the 141st IOC session in Mumbai.

Of the three billion gamers worldwide, more than 500 million are primarily interested in eSports, said the IOC President. The inclusion of eSports in the Olympic Games is the way to continue to be successful in the race for the target group of gamers and eSports enthusiasts, said the IOC President. After all, “the majority of them are under 34 years old.”

Olympic Esports Week: A “promising start”

The IOC already approached eSports in 2021 when the Olympic Virtual Series started. This continued in 2023 with the Olympic Esport Week. Although this was a “promising start,” Bach said, the real race still lies ahead of the IOC.

The 69-year-old left it open to what extent eSports should be included as a discipline in the Olympic Games. However, it is unlikely that popular titles such as Fortnite or Counter-Strike will be selected. After all, shooters were a main part of the argument at the time as to why eSports and video games didn’t fit into the Olympics. Games of this type were also not taken into account in the aforementioned spin-offs. In general, there was a lot of criticism regarding the selection of disciplines at the Olympic Esport Week.

But not only are the planned games open, it is also still unclear which Olympics could start. The next Summer Games will take place in Paris from July 26th to August 11th, 2024. Short-term admission seems to be out of the question. The next Summer Olympics will take place in Los Angeles in 2028. Possibly with medal awards in eSports.