As the esports industry continues to grow, both in terms of audience and revenue generated, it has caught everyone’s eyes. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is no exception. As the IOC aims to build its future with new-age sports, competitive video gaming is one of them and now, it has confirmed that it plans to create an Olympic Esports Games.

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The IOC has long been confused about how to go about with esports. On one hand, it saw esports as a way to engage with younger audiences, and on the other, it saw it as “violent” which violated the core IOC values. The answer to this was the announcement of the Olympic Virtual Series back in 2021. The initial announcement for this didn’t utilize the term esports anywhere. However, later the IOC realized the mistake and instead decided to call it the Olympic Esports Series in 2023.

The initial Olympic Esports Series happened earlier this year with 10 games, mostly indie mobile games and one of them was a toned-down version of Fortnite which only had target practice. Despite the backlash, the IOC is going ahead with esports in a similar fashion and now wants to create a proper Olympic Esports Games.

Read Also: The Olympic Esports Series is a mess, and does esports even need the Olympics?

Image Credits: IOC

What is in store for the Olympic Esports Games?

In the 141st IOC Session in Mumbai, the IOC president Thomas Bach spoke about the Olympic Esports Games. The president said that more than three billion people worldwide are playing esports and games, with more than 500 million of them interested in esports. Interestingly, Bach noted that the majority of them are under 34 years old.

“I have asked our new IOC Esports Commission to study the creation of the Olympic Esports Games,” Bach added.

It’s important to note that Bach didn’t suggest including esports in the Summer or the Winter Olympic Games. Instead, he said that they are considering the creation of a separate Olympic Esports Games. Thus, this will likely be a separate competition, which could happen similarly to the Summer or Winter Olympics, which is once every four years.

Image Credits: IOC

Top esports titles will likely not be included

Even if this were to happen, you wouldn’t be able to see the top esports titles of the world like MLBB, League of Legends, or Call of Duty being played. This is because the IOC requires a sporting federation to tie up with a game publisher to make an esports title. This means that the traditional sporting federations for different sports like archery, baseball, and cycling can tie up with a virtual sporting video game to include in the Olympics.

Fortnite was also included in the Olympic Esports Series 2023. However, the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) added the game to the series. Instead of shooting each, players could only target practice to achieve victory.

“We chose an approach that would allow us to be active in the esports space while staying true to our values that have guided us for over a century. With respect to esports, our values are and remain the red line that we will not cross. Our crystal-clear position is gaining more and more respect also in the esports community,” Bach said.

As the IOC sets its sights on the future of sports engagement, the goal for a dedicated Olympic Esports Games is to bring together the ever-expanding gaming community with the age-old traditions of the Olympic movement. However, its stance on violent games is a big hinder in that path. Only time will tell how the Olympic Esports Games do evolve.