Olympics will host esports week in 2023

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that the inaugural Olympic Esports Week will be taking place in Singapore between June 22 -25, 2023.

This announcement marks a major step in support and development of esports within the Olympic Movement. The Olympic Esports Week will reportedly exhibit the best of “virtual sports” which, according to IOC, is a “hybrid of physical and simulated sports”.

The event will be held in partnership with the Ministry Of Culture, Community and Youth, Sport Singapore, and the Singapore National Olympic Committee (SNOC).

According to IOC’s official release, the four-day festival plans to include panel discussions, education sessions, and show matches along with an expo of the latest improvements in technology. The highlight of the week will be the finale of the Olympic Virtual Series, a global competition in virtual stimulated sports such as motorsport, cycling, sailing, rowing, and baseball. The series was first introduced last year, and DreamHack Sports Games was in charge of handling its marketing and production. The event attracted more than 250,000 participants from across 100 countries. 

IOC previously attempted to explore esports on multiple occasions, including the Esports Summit back in 2018 and its collaboration with the European Olympic Committee (EOC) during Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, where multiple esports titles were featured as medal disciplines.

France leads the way

This announcement was made a day after the European Parliament passed the vote to recognise and fund esports, following in France’s footsteps. Previously, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that he wanted esports to take part in the 2024 Olympics which will be held in Paris. Even though the chances for that to happen looked slim during the time of the statement, now it looks like it could become closer to reality. 

Change of faith

Although no major esports titles involvement has been publicly disclosed yet, we know that during a press conference back in 2018, the Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach expressed his general dislike for esports, titling it as “killer games”.

It seems that the IOC President has changed his mind during these four years given how much the esports industry has grown and will continue to do so in the coming years. In his statement regarding the upcoming esports week in Singapore, he said:

“The first Olympic Esports Week marks an important milestone in our ambition to support the growth of virtual sports within the Olympic Movement. We believe the exciting new format of our virtual sports competition, with live finals to be staged for the first time, is an opportunity to collaborate further with esports players and to create new opportunities for players and fans alike. It is a perfect opportunity to be partnering with Singapore, which has a history of supporting innovation in the Olympic Movement, hosting the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010, so we are looking forward to working together closely.“

Although no involvement of major esports titles has been announced, enthusiasts are hoping that this will change before the event, with the hopes of connecting to gamers and esports fans.

Further information about the Olympics Esports Week, including how to sign-up, will be announced in early 2023.

Header: Twitter/ IOC MEDIA