March 2023 Check In With The Chair

The Olympic Esports Games

Earlier this month, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the details of the Olympic Esports Series to take place in June 2023 in Singapore. As is typical when non-endemic brands strive to engage the global community of gamers, even with the best of intentions, the plan missed the mark.?

The disconnect is common coming from the perspective of traditional sports teams and leagues. The IOC’s misstep is viewing esports through the lens of sports rather than gaming. This is clear when seeing the precursor to the selected games, “The initially confirmed featured games across nine sports are:”. Never mind the list that follows, the initial premise is off. The well-meaning effort here is to fit the square peg of competitive gaming into the round hole of traditional sports.

There is an assumption that youth who decline participation in conventional forms of media and athletics desire to compete in digital versions of the same games that their generational predecessors enjoyed physically. One can understand how these miscalculations can be made when you look at annual video game sales numbers - Madden, NBA2K, and FIFA are at the top of sales charts each year. It makes perfect sense that these competitive titles would facilitate the largest esports leagues. However, with FIFA being an outlier (which is another column for another time), the reality is that the majority of competitive gamers are not inspired by traditional sports simulators, but rather by aspirational games with intriguing storylines and great gameplay. The first question you’ll get from any gamer when asking if esports should be included in the Global Games is, “Which titles would be played?”. Perhaps one, or none, of the IOC’s recommended games would be included in the debate.

As is true for other niche subcultures, esports is best served when plans are made by gamers for gamers. Many in our community would argue that esports deserves to be included in the Olympics, but this often comes from a desire to have our passion validated on the same level as the traditional sports that celebrated the athletes, earned the accolades, and received the funding that our leagues did not growing up; rather than stating that esports fits naturally within the same structure as Olympic sports.

My answer is this: If our community desires an “Olympics of Esports”, let’s do it ourselves. The various titles we play that make up esports are nearly as diverse as the Olympic Games themselves. Our games span genres and demographics across the globe. Our industry already hosts events that promote titles from multiple publishers. It’s merely the scale and additional buy-in that are necessary. Many argue that the Olympics need esports more than we need them. If that is the case, then why rely on an outside source for the facilitation and validation of that which we know best? The best result will be by gamers for gamers - Citius, Altius, Fortius.?