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IOC’s Historic Decision to Create Olympic Esports Games
In a historic move, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to create the Olympic Esports Games at the 142nd IOC Session in Paris on July 23.
A proposal regarding the same was announced in June. For its organisation, the IOC has partnered with the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Saudi Arabia for 12 years. The first edition is scheduled to take place next year in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Incidentally, the first edition of the Esports World Cup is currently underway in Riyadh.
Critics have termed the Esports World Cup a ‘sportswashing’ tool used by the country to shift focus from its human rights violations. Further, the Kingdom’s investment in esports and stake in the total esports market has garnered attention.
The IOC began engaging with esports in 2018, which led to the successful Olympic Esports Week in Singapore in 2023. Building on this success, IOC President Thomas Bach asked the IOC Esports Commission to explore the creation of the Olympic Esports Games. The resulting project aims to merge the interests of the esports community with the core values of the Olympics.
According to the IOC’s press release, the next steps involve selecting the city and venue for the first edition, finalising the event schedule, determining the game titles to be featured, and establishing player qualification criteria. There has been much talk about the games that will be featured considering that games with violent elements will most likely be excluded.
Also, the IOC will focus on collaborating with International Federations that already have an e-version of their sport and National Olympic Committees that incorporate esports into their activities.
