Competitive gaming has gained major recognition: the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has officially confirmed Olympic Esports Games, which will be held for the first time in 2025 in Saudi Arabia.

Although the esports industry is booming, the IOC is challenged by the violent themes in many video games and the political situation in Saudi Arabia, which is hostile to the LGBTQ+ community.

The exact video games that will compete in the eSports Olympics have not yet been decided. Previous professional esports competitions have mostly been specific to certain games, such as “Worlds”, the world championship in League of Legends and “The International” in Dota 2. “Worlds 2023” had almost 7 million concurrent viewers in the final, and “The International” had 1.44 million.

The International Olympic Committee has been looking into esports since 2017, and last year the Olympic Esports Week was organized in Singapore. After that, the committee launched an initiative to create an official esports Olympics.

How did this decision come about?

The International Olympic Committee has prioritized attracting a younger audience, which has led to the introduction of new competitive events at recent Olympic Games. Surfing, skateboarding, and sport climbing were added to the traditional Games in 2020, while breakdancing will make its debut at this year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

The International Olympic Committee started looking into esports due to the aging of traditional sports audiences – a 2017 MarketWatch report found that the average NBA viewer is in their early forties, while the average NFL and MLB viewers are in their fifties.

“Years ago I said, ‘The Olympics needs esports more than esports needs the Olympics,’ and I still stand by that statement,” says Rod Breslau, an esports and gaming consultant. 

There is no denying that esports officially being at the Olympics, and even the creation of its own games, is another major stepping stone in establishing competitive gaming as a ‘real thing’ to the mainstream. Video games at the Olympics is validation for an entire generation of kids that grew up playing Street Fighter, Quake or StarCraft.

Rod Breslau