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The Olympic Esports Games was announced in 2024 as a collaboration between the International Olympic Committee and the National Olympic Committee of Saudi Arabia, with events held “regularly” over a 12-year span beginning in 2025. But it now looks like that timeline may have been overly optimistic, as a SportBusiness report says the event has been delayed, possibly to 2027.
There are multiple reasons for the delay: SportBusiness said on X that “organizers require more time to establish a new hosting and financing model,” and that game publishers are also concerned about the “tight timeline.”
Thus far, no games, dates, venues, or qualifying processes have been announced: The Olympic Esports Games web page still says that “work will now commence on selecting the city and venue for the inaugural Olympic Esports Games, determining the event’s timing, the game titles to be included, and the qualification process for players.”
In a statement provided to PC Gamer, the International Olympic Committee declined to comment on the reported delay, saying only that “the organization of the first edition of the Olympic Games in esports is underway.”
“As announced from the beginning, there was a need to create a new Olympic Games esports hosting model, which is different from the Olympic Games hosting model,” an IOC spokesperson said. “A joint committee comprising the IOC and the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee was set up and met. The result was great unity.
“Organizing the Olympic Games of esports is just as important as developing a roadmap to the event, which will need to raise awareness of the Games, promote them and engage participants. Discussions within the Joint Committee are still ongoing, with the aim of making the first Olympic Games of esports a landmark event both for the world of esports and within the Olympic Movement.”
So it’s not official at this point, and the Olympic Esports Games web page still says 2025 is the go year, but at the very least it doesn’t sound as though work is moving ahead at a particularly swift clip. It’s still early in the year but with seemingly nothing nailed down at this point, I won’t be at all surprised if the delay is eventually confirmed. We’ll let you know if and when it happens.
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Kurt Indovina
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