Esports in the Olympic Games 2024?
In July, the International Olympic Committee will host a variety of stakeholders related to the esports industry for a one-day summit. The idea of the summit is to re-enter a dialogue regarding whether esports can be included in the Olympics.
Esports and traditional sports have grown closer in recent years. In 2018, top sponsor Intel held a demonstration event at the PyeongChang Olympics. Esports will be featured as a demonstration sport at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, and will be a full medal event in the 2022 Games in Hangzhou, China.
Across the globe, esports is becoming more recognized as a real sport. More than 30 major sports organizations, including Philadelphia 76ers, Manchester City and Spartak Moscow field esports teams. As the esports audience continuers to grow, traditional sports ratings are falling. Olympics global audience is down 15%, NFL down 9% and Premier League down 19%. According to Newzoo, 76% of esports enthusiasts state that esports viewing is taking away time that they would otherwise spend watching regular sports.
In 2016 the final of esports most popular game, League of Legends, attracted a global audience of 43 million viewers. Five million watched that year’s Superbowl. More people play League of Legends than the population of the UK, France or Germany.
However, for esports to be considered for Olympic competition, alongside traditional sports, a number of hurdles must be considered.
The first is connected to the relatively short shelf life of games. Video games can come and go, while traditional sports change very little over the years. Video games are updated continuously. Counter Strike was first launched in 1999 (as Half Life Counter Strike) and has been improved incrementally and consistently ever since. The video shows how the game has evolved over the years.
Having an official esport organising body is important for esports to be recognised by the IOC. For snowboarding to be recognised by the IOC, they aligned themselves with the International Ski Federation. BMX aligned itself with the International Cycling Union. Esports had no comparable body.
In 2000, the Korea Esports Association, KeSPA, was formed and has since grown and evolved with the Korean esports ecosystem. KeSPA helps to preserve the competitive integrity of esports. They actively litigate against cheaters and match fixing, with the ability to ban players for life. KeSPA works with game developers to preserve the quality of life for esports players, by introducing regulations such as minimum wage and contract lengths. They also regulate internet cafes to combat internet addiction and promote the amateur esports scene.
In 2008, the International Esports Federation (IESF) was formed, with the main goal of making esports an officially recognized sport and with Olympic inclusion in mind.
Esports needed to overcome the perception that esports require little or no physical or athletic ability. In some peoples’ minds, there still exists the stereotype of the video games nerd, living on pizza in his parents’ basement. This is no longer the reality. Competitive esports requires incredible reflexes, resilience and fast real-time strategic thinking. Fitness and endurance are becoming important attributes of the pro gamer, quite simply because they are an important factor to win.
Olympic Gold Medal Winning Swimmer, Michael Phelps says “There’s absolutely no question to me the level of skill, training and devotion it requires to become a professional gamer”.
Last October, esports were discussed at an “Olympic Summit” in Lausanne. The outcome was that competitive esports were considered a sporting activity alongside regular sports. However, still the big sticking point is that to be included in the Olympic program, any esport cannot “infringe on the Olympic values”. i.e. Violent games will never be considered for the Olympics.
Although it could be argued that existing Olympic sports, such as boxing or Taekwando are as violent as video games, it seems that this condition is not flexible. Thomas Bach, president of the IOC, says, “we need to draw a red line and make it clear that violent games can never be part of the Olympic movement.”
The meeting next month is a formal step in bringing esport closer to the Olympic program. The International Esports Foundation is hoping for esports to be a demonstration sport in Paris 2024.
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