The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to suspend the work of its division focused on electronic sports. According to information released by the Japanese newspaper Livedoor, the activities of the IOC eSports commission have been paralyzed, as the organization’s current presidency has chosen to focus its efforts almost exclusively on traditional sports.
Internal sources indicate that it is highly unlikely that the issue will be reviewed again under the current administration, reflecting a strong disagreement behind the scenes about the real recognition of virtual competitions as official sporting disciplines.
Why the IOC eSports Commission closed its activities
The emptying of this initiative began in January, when Kirsty Coventry, president of the IOC, sent a letter to members suggesting a major strategic reassessment of how games would fit into the entity’s vision.
Since then, representatives have indicated that the group’s work is largely over.
For Dmitry Smit, president of the Russian eSports Federation, the committee realized that sports simulators would not bring the expected financial return and audience, especially when compared to the famous shooting or RPG games, which dominate the current market.
“The International Olympic Committee has never seriously considered true eSports programs such as Dota 2 and Counter Strike 2,” Smit said in an interview with the TASS news agency.
He also detailed the behind-the-scenes and the initial vision of the sports entity. “The IOC initially considered integrating sports simulators, which were generally about cycling, sailing, baseball, archery and taekwondo.
It is now evident that they realized that such formats would not provide them with a significant audience increase as well as financial benefits.”
The break with Saudi Arabia and the project’s history
The current work stoppage marks another major setback for the digital category.
Last year, the sport’s highest governing body had already refused to hold the long-awaited eSports Olympics in Saudi Arabia.
At the time, both parties treated the decision as a mutual agreement and chose to follow different paths to develop, above all, their own ambitions in the world of games.
That break was accompanied by an official statement that the committee planned to develop a new approach to the competition.
The formal intention to hold the virtual tournament was officially announced in June 2024.
Before that, the organization promoted a week of testing and created the aforementioned working group in September 2023, a major expansion project that now appears to have come to an end.
