The inaugural Olympic Esports will happen in 2025 in Saudi Arabia after the International Olympic Committee approved the proposal by its Executive Board to launch the competition. Although the IOC doesn’t want violent games to be featured in the event, it is still unclear if the wind will change before the start of the competition. The Olympic Esports Games will be held every two years in between the Summer and Winter Olympics starting next year.
Olympic Esports Games 2025
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The first-ever Olympic Esports will happen in Saudi Arabia in 2025 after the International Olympic Committee unanimously approved the proposal of its executive board to have a standalone tournament for esports. The 106 members of the International Olympic Committee are currently meeting in Paris, France ahead of the 2024 Olympics.
The games that will be played at the inaugural tournament are yet to be determined since, as mentioned, the IOC didn’t want violent first-person shooting games in the tournament. In a previous report, the IOC stated that games like Counter-Strike, Dota, League of Legends, and Valorant will ‘never be part of Olympic Esports’ as they involve ‘visible violence.’ However, without clear guidelines, there are still gray areas when it comes to games that will be played like Capcom’s Street Fighter 6.
Olympics Esports Series 2023
In June 2023, the first, and apparently last, Olympic Esports Week happened in Singapore. The 10 games played in the main competition were Tic Tac Bow (Archery), WBSC eBaseball: Power Pros (Baseball), Chess.com (Chess), Zwift (Cycling), Just Dance (Dance), Gran Turismo 7 (Motorsport), Virtual Regatta (Sailing inshore and Sailing offshore), Fortnite (Shooting), Virtual Taekwondo (Taekwondo), and Tennis Clash (Tennis).
Aside from these ten, popular Esports tiles such as Rocket League, Street Fighter 6, and NBA 2k23 were played as exhibition events. However, the Olympics Esports Series 2023 was met with criticism for not including traditional and popular Esports titles such as Counter-Strike, Dota, League of Legends, Valorant, and Mobile Legends.
Esports in International Sporting Events
Six video games were already featured, although only as a demonstration event, at the 2018 Asian Games. Arena of Valor, Clash Royal, Hearthstone, League of Legends, Pro Evolution Soccer, and StarCraft II were played in the event with 131 athletes from 18 nations competing. At the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in Manila, history was made when Esports became a medal event in a multi-sport competition sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee. Dota 2, Starcraft II, Hearthstone, Tekken 7, Arena of Valor, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang were played in the tournament.
At the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, esports officially became a medal event at the regional meet. The games played during the tournament were Arena of Valor, Dota 2, Dream Three Kingdom 2, EA Sports FC Online, League of Legends, Peacekeeper Elite, and Street Fighter V. The Commonwealth of Nations has also introduced esports to their tournament where Rocket League, eFootball, and Dota 2 were competed.
Esports World Cup 2024
The Esports World Cup 2024, the first edition of the annual international esports events, is currently taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Organized and run by the Esports World Cup Foundation, funded by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, the Esports World Cup 2024 features 22 events in 21 different video game titles. The game will have a whooping US$60 million combined prize pool, the largest in esports history.
The games included in the Esports World Cup 2024 are Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Call of Duty: Warzone, Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, EA Sports FC 24, Fortnite, Garena Free Fire, Honor of Kings, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, League of Legends, Overwatch 2, PUBG: Battlegrounds, PUBG Mobile, Rainbow Six Siege, Rennsport, Rocket League, StarCraft II, Street Fighter 6, Teamfight Tactics, and Tekken 8.
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