August 13, 2018

The British Esports Association reports that there has been some chatter for a while about esports possibly being included in the Olympic Games in some form in the future. Accordingly, in July, an Olympic Esports Forum was held, hosted by the IOC with the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

A range of esports industry representatives attended, from players to publishers, tournament organisers and more.

Subjects discussed included: esports being accepted into the Asian Games; opportunities for collaboration between esports and the Olympics; and gender equality in esports. There were also roundtable discussions on investment, the players’ perspective, reaching fans via broadcasting and the media and more.

Bill Sweeney, CEO of the British Olympic Association, said: “We need to understand the impact esports has and can have moving forward so that we can have a meaningful and informed debate about the risks and opportunities that this growing sector represents.”

Following the Forum, the IOC and the GAISF will now establish an Esports Liaison Group to continue communication and engagement between the Olympic Movement and esports and gaming stakeholders, in a bid to “identify areas of potential collaboration.”

The IOC will invite members of the new Esports Liaison Group to present at the Olympism in Action Forum in Buenos Aires in October 2018 and other events. The IOC president Thomas Bach will also put esports on the agenda for the next Olympic Summit to be held in December 2018. To read the British Esports Association’s press release in full, click here.