Gamers at the Games? Olympic committee forum to focus on esports

Olympic Movement will meet the world of
competitive video gaming

One-Minute Read

It may seem a long way off that happening but small steps have
been taken by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after it
announced it would host an esports forum in Lausanne, Switzerland on 21
July.

According to the IOC and the Global Association of
International Sports Federations (GAISF) the esports forum will aim
to “explore synergies, build joint understanding and set a platform
for future engagement between the esports and gaming industries and
the Olympic Movement”.

The forum follows the October 2017 Olympic Summit where the IOC and GAISF were
asked to explore esports “in a dialogue with the gaming industry
and players”. The BBC also reported in April that the Paris 2024 Olympic
organisers were “deep in talks” about including esports as a
demonstration sport at the summer games in six years’
time. 

GAISF president Patrick Baumann said: “We understand that
sport never stands still and the phenomenal growth of esports and
gaming is part of its continuing evolution.

“The Esports Forum provides an important and extremely
valuable opportunity for us to gain a deeper understanding of
esports, their impact and likely future development, so that we can
jointly consider the ways in which we may collaborate to the mutual
benefit of all of sport in the years ahead.”

Kit McConnell, the IOC’s sports director, added: “We are
pleased to be hosting our first Esports Forum, which is a great
opportunity for both the Olympic Movement and representatives from
the world of esports and gaming to begin a discussion, listen and
learn from each other, and understand the potential opportunities
for collaboration.

“The IOC and GAISF are closely following the rapid
development of esports globally, and we look forward to a really
engaging discussion.”

Rapid growth of esports

The growth of esports has been rapid in recent years and
according to Newzoo’s 2018 Global Esports Market
Report the worldwide esports economy will increase to $905.6m
(£688.4m) this year. That’s a 38% rise year-on-year. 

Newzoo also reports that the global esports audience will
reach 380 million in 2018, made up of 165 million esports fans and
215 million occasional viewers.

“On its current trajectory, we estimate the esports
industry will reach $1.4 billion (£1bn) by 2020,” Newzoo
says.