The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced a partnership with the National Olympic Committee of Saudi Arabia to host the first-ever Olympic Games for esports in a press release on July 12. The proposal for the games will be made ahead of the Paris games this year.
While we’ve seen the IOC involved with esports in the past, most notably for 2023’s Olympics Esports Series, this will be the first official Olympic Esports Games and kicks off a 12-year partnership between the IOC and the Saudi Olympic office. It is not known at this time whether the proposed Games will be held outside of Saudi Arabia in future years. “We are very fortunate to be able to work with the Saudi NOC on the Olympic Esports Games because it has great if not unique expertise in the field of esports with all its stakeholders,” IOC president Thomas Bach said in a July press release.
The dual proposal will be made at the IOC Session on the eve of the launch of the Paris Olympic Games on July 24, where, if the proposal is passed, dates and a host city will be named. Also to be discussed are the titles we’re likely to see at the Games as well as the list of nations who will be considered for inclusion. Those nations who are “already engaged in an e-version of their sport” will be at the front of the line.
The proposal comes a month after the IOC announced its intentions to explore the addition of esports to the Olympic Games. Interest at the committee level spiked after the smaller Olympics Esports Series took place in Singapore last year, which was missing a few key titles many esports fans actually call proper esports like League of Legends or Counter-Strike.
The partnership comes as the Esports World Cup, also held in Saudi Arabia, enters its third week on Monday. If passed, the Esports Olympic Games will join a fast-growing list of sporting tournaments and events to be held in the country in the coming years including the FIBA Asia Basketball Cup in 2025 and football’s FIFA World Cup in 2034, among others.
Many esports fans have likened Saudi Arabia’s encroachment on the esports space to “sportswashing,” with many seeing the country’s massive investment into the genre as a means to improve how Saudi Arabia is portrayed. From its $1.5 billion purchase of ESL and FACEIT to six-figure payments for organizations to join the “EWC Club Program” and an Overwatch 2 partnership sparking debate among the LGBT+ community, many are skeptical of Saudi Arabia’s endgame in esports.
We’ll know more about 2025’s Esports Olympic Games in a fortnight at the IOC Session.
