The International Olympic Committee Announces 2023 ‘Esports’ Games
The Olympic games feature some of the most fierce competition around the world, with each country vying to be number one. However, now the competition will be taking a new shape in the terms of Esports.
As The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced earlier this week the list of games and events that will be held in the first-ever Olympic Esports Series (OES).
From Olympics.com the announcement of the first-ever virtual global sports competition also came with a set list of events that will be taking place during the competition.
Each sport has a video game attached to it meant to replicate the sport in some way shape or form. Some on the list are no-brainers like Archery, Cycling, and even Taekwondo.
While others are a bit of a surprise like Motor Sports and Chess. The full list of sports and games can be found below.
Your e-time has come! 🎮
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) March 1, 2023
The Olympic Esports Series is coming and this is your chance to participate! Are you up for the challenge?#OlympicsEsports #OlympicEsportsSeries pic.twitter.com/Igc0mMATyi
- Archery (World Archery Federation, Tic Tac Bow),
- Baseball (World Baseball Softball Confederation, WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS),
- Chess (International Chess Federation, Chess.com),
- Cycling (UCI, Zwift),
- Dance (World DanceSport Federation, JustDance)
- Motor sport (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, Gran Turismo).
- Sailing (World Sailing, Virtual Regatta),
- Taekwondo (World Taekwondo, Virtual Taekwondo)
- Tennis (International Tennis Federation, Tennis Clash)
Qualifications to participate in the OES are currently underway and welcome professional and amateur competitors alike for a chance to make it to the finals. That will be taking place at Singapore’s Suntec Centre from 22 to 25 June. This competition is a step up from when the IOC held a virtual series in 2021.
I mean this is just crazy to see how Esports is growing even on an international scale, though some are questioning why they are leaving out some of the most popular Esports titles like Dota 2, League of Legends, and even Tekken.
Perhaps we will see more Moba’s added in the future but for now, I’ll be looking forward to June with more updates.