The International Olympic Committee has announced Saudi Arabia will host the 2025 Olympic Esports Games. General fans as well as industry veterans aren’t thrilled by the news.
The governing body revealed the news in a social media post and press release, which features a quote that’s getting panned by both those who work in esports and those who are fans of them.
“By partnering with the Saudi NOC we have also ensured that the Olympic values are respected, in particular, with regard to the game titles on the program, the promotion of gender equality, and engagement with the young audience, which is embracing esports,” said IOC President Thomas Bach in the press release.
“Yeah Very nice joke,” said one esports fan in response to the quote.
The IOC has partnered with the National Olympic Committee of Saudi Arabia to host the inaugural Olympic Esports Games 2025 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This follows the IOC’s recent announcement to establish the Olympic Esports Games. More: https://t.co/by155ZBxfn pic.twitter.com/l7GimbPzZj
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) July 12, 2024
Some called the statement hypocritical, as the Middle Eastern country has a history of restricting women’s rights and that the event furthers its sportwashing agenda.
“The Olympics needs esports more than esports needs the Olympics. This is another shameless cash grab further perpetuating sports washing by the Saudi Government. What a waste,” League of Legends esports veteran Myra Davis said on social media.
Kevin Hitt, an esports reporter for Sportskeeda, has claimed that the IOC is censoring response to the announcement.
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IOC media is censoring posts from some X users that are posing political and gender questions as it relates to the event and esports in general. https://t.co/gYNQZjLD0g
— Kevin Hitt (@Kevin_Hitt) July 12, 2024
The IOC has long had a controversial take on esports. Many in the industry criticized its choice of games for its Olympic Esports Week in 2023, which did not feature any titles that fans would expect like Counter-Strike, League of Legends, or Dota 2.
Instead, the event hosted games like Tic Tac Bow and Just Dance while Rocket League, Street Fighter, and NBA2K were given exhibition matches.
The decision to host the Olympic Esports Games 2025 event in Saudi Arabia has been in the works for a while, as members of the kingdom have gotten close to the IOC through collaborations with the Esports Leadership Group.
The specific times, dates, and featured esports have not been specified at the time of writing. However, French outlet L’epuip reported that the publishers behind League of Legends, Rocket League, and Street Fighter are having conversations with the IOC about appearing at the event.
This announcement comes as the Esports World Cup is still marching on in Riyadh with almost every major competitive title seeing play at the massive event.