Plans to stage the inaugural edition of the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Esports Games in Saudi Arabia later this year have been shelved, SportBusiness can reveal.
The IOC signed a 12-year agreement with the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee six months ago for the country to host the Olympic Esports Games “regularly” over the duration of the partnership. Saudi Arabia was due to host the inaugural edition this year, likely in November, a timeframe already described by many in the esports industry as “tight”.
Various factors have now played a part in the mutual decision to push the Games back at least 12 months. No official announcement over the delay has been made from either the IOC or local Saudi organisers.
International federations are expected to be informed within the next few months as to whether the first Olympic Esports Games will be staged in 2026 or 2027.
With a Winter Olympic Games and summer Youth Olympic Games already in the calendar for next year, 2027 now appears a more likely target, a move that is likely to appease game publishers.
One told SportBusiness there had been “general dissatisfaction” among the publishers talking to the IOC and Saudi authorities over the slow pace of preparations and lack of information. The esports calendar is set out years in advance and many were not able or willing to bend their schedules to suit the IOC.
International federations and various publishers are understood to have made their pitches to the IOC last November in Lausanne. However, the game titles and esports programme have still yet to be defined, while there has been no announcement on the host city, venues, exact dates or qualification methods.
In a statement to SportBusiness, the IOC indicated that the sheer scale of organising the competition and the establishment of a different model for its financing meant more time was needed.
An IOC spokesman said: “The planning for the inaugural Olympic Esports Games is ongoing. As announced from the outset, a new organisational model for the Olympic Esports Games needed to be created. It is different than the organisational model for the Olympic Games. A joint committee of the IOC and the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee has been set up and has met. There was great unity in this meeting.
“As critical as the planning of the actual Olympic Esports Games, is the development of the road towards the event, which will need to build the awareness, promotion and engagement for these Games.
“Discussions in the joint committee are still underway with the aim of making the inaugural Olympic Esports Games a landmark event in both the world of esports and within the Olympic Movement.”
The IOC announced plans to create event in June 2024, at the time saying it was in “advanced discussions” with a potential host. The fact that Saudi Arabia was later awarded the contract came as little surprise given the country has positioned itself as the dominant force in the esports industry in recent years. Riyadh staged last year’s Esports World Cup.
Organisations “already engaged” in an e-version of their sport that is considered for the Olympic Esports Games were the IOC’s first go-to partners, as were National Olympic Committees that already include esports in their activities.
Violent titles that deliver the bulk of the esports audience will definitely not be part of the Olympic Esports Games, with the IOC continuing to shy away from such games. President Thomas Bach, whose 12-year tenure ends this year, reiterated that stance last year, stating that there is a “red line that we will never cross”.
The Olympic Esports Games will build on the Olympic Virtual Series, which launched in 2021 in collaboration with the World Baseball Softball Confederation, the International Cycling Union (UCI), World Rowing, World Sailing and the International Automobile Federation (FIA). The series’ inaugural edition attracted a unique audience of only 240,000 worldwide.
In the summer of 2023, the IOC held the inaugural Olympic Esports Series, a global virtual and simulated sports competition that culminated in Singapore. That series was created by the IOC in collaboration with international federations and publishers. Nine sports featured: archery, baseball, chess, cycling, dance, motorsport, sailing, taekwondo and tennis.
Only last month, the IOC made a key hire to the Olympic Esports Games project, naming Zeynep Gencaga Dechelotte as its first esports associate director. Gencaga Dechelotte, who has previously worked for video game developers Riot Games and Ubisoft and was a member of the first IOC Esports Commission, is tasked with overseeing the review and planning of the competition with internal and external partners.