The subject has long been topical. He is no longer. Gathered over the last weekend in Lausanne for an Olympic Summit, the main thinking heads of the international sports movement settled the case of eSports for good. They don’t want the Games. At least not for now.
Last July, the IOC gave the impression of opening the door to electronic sports, to their hundreds of millions of practitioners, and to their thriving industry. By organizing a forum in Lausanne dedicated to the phenomenon, the Olympic organization said it was open to everything. Including, why not, the entry of eSport into the decor of the Games.
Saturday December 8, 2018, the Olympic summit chaired by Thomas Bach postponed the deadline. eSports will have to wait. Certainly, the IOC recognizes that it does not want to ignore the spectacular growth of electronic sports. He also admits that “ competitive electronic gaming involves some physical activity that can be compared to more traditional sports. »
There is no question, however, of blindly attributing the attribute of sport to all its components. “ The use of the term “sport” as it relates to eSports and electronic gaming needs further dialogue and study,” nuances the IOC, careful to keep electronic leisure games out of its sphere of influence.
The question of a few hundred million dollars remains: the entry of eSports into the Olympic Games. The IOC has decided: the answer is no. “ NFew games are not compatible with the Olympic values, and therefore cooperation with them is excluded. Furthermore, the sector is evolving rapidly, notably with the fluctuating popularity of specific games. A discussion about the inclusion of eSports in the Olympic program is premature. »
The IOC's decision does not come as a surprise. Thomas Bach had given a taste of it the previous week, at the end of the IOC Executive Board meeting in Tokyo. The German leader had suggested that it would be complicated to accept a particular electronic sport, which could just as easily go out of fashion in just a few months. “ How to choose ? » asked Thomas Bach. Before continuing: “ If we decided to include an electronic sport today, perhaps players would explain to us in 2024 that it is now played by their grandfather! » Unfortunate, indeed.
