Olympic Esports Games

[NearPup 3,035]

It is official in all but the rubber stamping: there will be an Olympic Esports Games.

 

https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-eb-proposes-creation-of-olympic-esports-games-to-ioc-session

 

I believe I am the biggest (only?) esports fan on this forum. One might think that I'm happy about this news, but I'm honnestly completly disgusted. Not because I don't think esports deserves to be in the Olympics in some form of fashion, but because of the disgusting lack of respect for esports the IOC is displaying.

 

Just going through the announcement:

 

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Building on the learnings from this Olympic Virtual Series, the IOC then launched the Olympic Esports Week in Singapore in June 2023, which brought together the Olympic and esports communities. A highlight of the Olympic Esports Week was the thrilling live finals, created in collaboration with the International Sports Federations (IFs) and game publishers. Over 130 players from across the globe came together to compete in the Olympic spirit on the global stage, in 10 mixed-gender category events. Players were cheered on by a full house of fans in Singapore, with all the action streamed online. Including the qualifiers, the Olympic Esports Series attracted over 500,000 unique participants and generated more than six million views of live action over all channels, with 75 per cent of views from people aged 13 to 34.

I really hope this is PR spin, because the event was widely seen as a complete flop among the esport community. Notable names ignored it, no notable esport was included and the viewership numbers were simply not impressive. Many of the "esports" that were included are considered complete jokes by the community and simply do not have competitive scenes.

 

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Nevertheless, the IOC EB emphasised that IFs already engaged in an e-version of their sport that is considered for inclusion in the “Olympic Esports Games” would be the IOC's first go-to partners. The same will be true for National Olympic Committees that include esports in their activities.

This essentially limits us to... chess and motorsports. That's it. No other IF has an "e-version" of their sport that has a significant competitive scene (I mean, zwift I guess, but that's... I mean that's just biking but indoor, and somehow still managed to create one of the dumbest cheating scnadal in the history of esports). FIFA is the closest to a third IF, but they no longer have control of the most popular Football game, and e-Football is a relatively minor esport anyway.

 

Quote

 

The IOC has been engaging with esports since 2018 in a holistic way. It has chosen an approach that allows the organisation to be successful in the esports space while staying true to the values that have guided the IOC for over a century. “With respect to esports, our values are and remain the red line that we will never cross,” the IOC President said.

This is going to be the death nail. All the popular esports "fail" this test.

 

There will be no MOBA (League of Legends / Dota 2), no tactical shooter (CS2 / Valorant), no RTS (StarCraft), no Rocket League, no fighting game... there is just not going to be anything of what makes esports, well, esports. It's just going to be worse versions of real sports, and chess.

 

The IOC is just way too out of touch with people under the age of 75 for this to work.

Edited August 16 by Sindo

[Josh 10,463]

I’m happy, because with that, it means the IOC won’t add any mind games (“sports” if you can really call it that) to the Olympics in the future  

 

If CBC Sports (Canadian Olympic broadcaster for anyone wondering) had even a single minute of chess on I might lose it 

[NearPup 3,035]

I also think there is a real reputational danger for the IOC here. People love to bang about how athletes don't take Olympic golf, tennis of men's football seriously. There is a real danger of this being even moreso the case in esports, there is a real risk that the Olympics are not just considered not the pinacle but in fact somewhat of a joke event that people don't take seriously even as a minor competition.

[NearPup 3,035]

 

https://x.com/iocmedia/status/1811720478697881848

Edited July 12 by NearPup

[NaBUru38 208]

"Saudi Arabia" and "gamers" don't rhyme.

 

The FIA should partner with Rocket League.

 

Basketball should be no issue.