The inaugural Olympics Esports Week, organized by the International Olympic Council (IOC), is set to take place in Singapore from Thursday. However, the choice of games to be featured at the event has left many competitive gamers questioning whether it can be considered a true esports event. Instead of popular video games such as Counter-Strike and DOTA 2, the event will showcase 10 simulated sports, including archery, baseball, chess, and taekwondo.
Industry players have expressed concern over the choice of virtual sports, which are digital recreations of real-world events, rather than esports, which are essentially video games played at an elite competitive level. Many have expressed their disappointment, with Matthew Woods from esports marketing agency AFK stating that “none of the games selected were games that anybody in the industry really considered to be esports.”
Malaysian professional esports coach Khairul Azman Mohamad Sharif also found the list of games baffling, stating that “these sports games should not be highlighted at the competition compared to top esports games, considering these types of sports are already physically contested.”
The only saving grace for some is that the shooting event will involve the globally loved game Fortnite, but in a version without its kill-or-be-killed Battle Royale mode. The IOC cannot feature titles that go against Olympic values, so many popular video games with violence are out.
Despite the disappointment, the Singapore event will be a positive step towards eventually putting popular video games on the Olympic roster. The IOC officially recognized esports as a sport in 2017 and has been in discussions with industry players about inclusion on the most prestigious stage. The upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou will feature esports as a medal sport for the first time.
The IOC has opened new frontiers recently, with skateboarding at the Tokyo Games and breakdancing at Paris 2024. Vice-president of the Global Esports Federation and CEO of British Esports Chester King described the list of games as “a very sensible first approach” and believes that the Singapore event will be a positive step towards eventually putting popular video games on the Olympic roster.
IOC sports director Kit McConnell explained that the choices were made to support virtual sports. He added that selected games had to be inclusive with no technical barriers to entry and have gender equality, which is “often not yet the case in the field of competitive gaming.”
If popular video games do make it to the Olympic level with top players, the Games will stand to potentially draw millions of fresh viewers. However, a major challenge could be navigating intricate relationships with publishers of popular games. Publishers are commercial enterprises that own the IP that their games are built on and therefore have an unlimited amount of influence into who hosts events and how this is done.
While there are no concrete plans now for esports to be included as medal events at the Olympics, the Singapore event will be watched closely to see what sort of reception it garners. Woods believes that much of this will come down to the altered format of the games.
The choice of virtual sports over esports at the inaugural Olympics Esports Week has left many industry players puzzled. Despite the disappointment, the event is a positive step towards eventually putting popular video games on the Olympic roster, with esports officially recognized as a sport in 2017. The IOC has opened new frontiers recently and selected games had to be inclusive with no technical barriers to entry and have gender equality. The Singapore event will be watched closely to see what sort of reception it garners.
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