Olympic Committee Embraces Esports Before Tokyo Torch Is Lit
- Virtual competitive play is gaining wider audience and cachet
- Olympics organizers get a promo outlet in a world of lockdowns
The International Olympic Committee is inaugurating its first Olympic Virtual Series today, kicking off more than a month of competitive play across video-game simulations of baseball, rowing, sailing, cycling and motorsport.
This embrace of esports may prove the IOC’s least controversial move this year as the organization prepares to stage the delayed 2020 Olympics under a cloud of doubt about its safety with the Covid-19 pandemic. It lets the organizers promote the summer games without risking the health of athletes, and builds on several key objectives of their recently adopted Olympic Agenda, including an explicit urging to “further engage with video gaming communities.”