No, esports haven’t been added to the Olympic Games

Esports, which are video game competitions, have grown in popularity over the last couple of decades. That growth in popularity has earned it the attention of some of the biggest names in sports, including the International Olympics Committee (IOC).

In 2020, the IOC, which organizes the Olympic Games, stated it planned to “further engage with video gaming communities.” With the start of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, “esports olympic games” has been a popular Google search topic, with people wondering if esports has been added to the Summer Games in Paris.

THE QUESTION

Have esports been added to the Olympic Games?

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

No, esports have not been added to the Olympic Games. Instead, the IOC has created a separate event called the Olympic Esports Games. 

WHAT WE FOUND

The IOC has not added esports competitions to the Summer or Winter Olympic Games. It does not appear on the Paris 2024 list of sports or on the Paris 2024 schedule.

However, the IOC has created a separate event called the OIympic Esports Games.

On July 23, 2024, the IOC announced the creation of the Olympic Esports Games in partnership with the National Olympic Committee of Saudi Arabia, with the first Esports Games planned to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2025.

The IOC and the National Olympic Committee of Saudi Arabia said work is now beginning on selecting a city and venue for the 2025 event, the specific timing of the event, the video games to be included and the qualification process. 

The largest, most watched esports events usually feature popular strategy games like League of Legends, shooters like Counter-Strike or Call of Duty and fighting games like Street Fighter.

The IOC has organized esports events before, including one hosted just last year in Singapore called the Olympic Esports Series. It featured nine games not typically associated with large esports events but based around traditional sports like archery, tennis and baseball.

One event in the 2023 Olympic Esports Series, shooting, did feature a more popular video game that has been a part of large esports events in the past: Fortnite.

Neither the IOC nor the National Olympic Committee of Saudi Arabia clarified if they planned to pick similar titles for the 2025 Olympic Esports Games.

Esports have appeared in conjunction with previous Olympic Games, but have never been an Olympic medal-awarding competition. In 2018, the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics hosted a major final for a Starcraft II competition. Starcraft II is a strategy game that has historically been popular as an esport.