Skip to content

The Olympics don't want violent esports, just virtual sport esports

As backward as you'd expect from the IOC. President Thomas Bach (a former Olympic fencer) has said he's not against esports, as long as they're mostly

Seamus Byrne
Seamus Byrne
1 min read
The Olympics don't want violent esports, just virtual sport esports

As backward as you'd expect from the IOC. President Thomas Bach (a former Olympic fencer) has said he's not against esports, as long as they're mostly promoting real world sporting activities.

What would FIFA 17 or NBA 17 or SSX or whatever add anything to the IOC family? It's already represented. Would Rocket League serve this role, or is the car-based soccer concept too removed from 'real world' activities? And if boxing, karate, fencing and shooting are already Olympic sports, why not Tekken, or even Nidhogg?

There's many good reasons to not want esports at the Olympics. And how games are managed and have the awkward commercial associations of a 'sport' that is specifically owned by a company is weird in an Olympic context.

I mostly worry many games fans crave the validation, but it's better to build new institutions than desire the approval of old ones with as much baggage as the IOC.

GamesEsportsSport

Seamus Byrne

Founder and Head of Content at Byteside. Brings two decades of experience covering tech, digital culture, and their impacts on society.


Related Posts

Can Sunderfolk thread the needle to make RPG strategy fun for the whole family?

It's pretty, it's friendly, and you play it with your phone – but not 'on' your phone. Sunderfolk is shooting for an interesting Goldilocks zone for couch co-op we haven't really seen before.

People in a living room with a large TV. One is standing pointing at a hex-grid map on the screen. The others are sitting and looking at phones as part of how they're playing.

Which Way Up is full of fresh gravity bending mayhem

Australia's own Turtle Flip has just released its Galaxy meets Party game and it's a real treat.

Which Way Up is full of fresh gravity bending mayhem

Byteside gift guide 2024: fun, weird, wonderful, nerdy gift ideas

Lets skip the obvious and explore some clever ideas, shall we?

A pink gift box with gold ribbon photographed from above, with little golden heart glitter all over.