Japan is favored to host the inaugural Olympic Esports Games in 2026 according to local reports.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has reached out to Japanese officials to escalate discussions in 2024 says a Kyodo news report citing sources familiar with the matter.
In October International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach announced the creation of the Olympic Esports Games, leveraging experience from the Olympic Virtual Series held online in 2021 and the inaugural Olympic Esports Series in Singapore last June that staged 10 events featuring both digital and hybrid sport simulations.
Working with Japan could help improve Olympic morale in the nation after Tokyo’s 2020 Games were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic then held in 2021 without fans in attendance. In November Sapporo’s bid to host the Olympic Winter Games was dealt a blow when the IOC lined up the French Alps, Salt Lake City and Switzerland as sole contenders for the 2030, 2034, and 2038 editions respectively leaving the northern Japanese city in the cold for the next two decades.
The IOC has been struggling to remain relevant among young people and has been warming up to esports as a means to reach the quickly growing demographic. Bach said hundreds of millions of people participate in esports worldwide.
The IOC Esports Commission led by French IOC member David Lappartient was created in September this year to develop the project that will be a standalone global event separate from the mainstream Olympics. When asked earlier this year IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell said no decision had been made on the frequency of the event, but hinted that it could be staged every two years.
Bach said the event would encompass Olympic values by including only non-violent game titles recommended by existing sport federations that would simulate physical sports. That model has created disinterest in the gaming community that the IOC is working so hard to reach because it distances many of the most popular titles.
The Olympic event will compete directly with existing popular esports world championships staged by the International Esports Federation (IESF) and the Global Esports Federation (GEF), both that include popular titles and famous esports athletes and award significant prize money.
The 2024 IESF World Esports Championships set to take place in Riyadh in November could have the largest prize pool in esports history according to industry reports.
The currency offered to Olympic Esports champions will be medals and the prestige of being an Olympian, but that may not measure up while competing outside of the mainstream Olympic Games. Esports is already a regular sport on the Asian Games program and has begun to appear that way at other regional Games.
The Asian Games will be staged in Aichi and Nagoya Japan in 2026 with esports on the program, so a possible synergy could help bolster an inaugural Olympic Esports Games.
