The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has proposed Saudi Arabia as the host country for its inaugural Olympic Esports Games in 2025.
IOC President Thomas Bach said the partnership would tap into Saudi Arabia’s know-how in the Esports tournament domain.
Saudi Arabia is currently hosting the first edition of the Esports World Cup, featuring 22 events across 21 different video game titles, which replaces its Gamers8 tournament which ran for two editions.
“We are very fortunate to be able to work with the Saudi National Olympic Committee on the Olympic Esports Games, because it has great – if not unique – expertise in the field of esports with all its stakeholders. The Olympic Esports Games will greatly benefit from this experience,” said Bach.
The duration of the partnership between the IOC and the Saudi National Olympic Committee (NOC) will be 12 years. The proposal will be presented to the IOC Session on the eve of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, which kick off on July 26.
The announcement is likely to provoke push back from human rights orgs, who accuse the country of investing in sports and entertainment to divert attention away from a poor human rights track record.
Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last year publicly dismissed allegations of “sportswashing” saying his country’s investment in sport was part of its 2030 strategy to move its economy away from a reliance on oil.
Bach said the IOC had secured assurances from Saudi Arabia that the games would respect Olympic values, which support the practice of sport without discrimination.
“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 programme, the promotion of gender equality and engagement with the young audience, which is embracing esports,” said Bach.
The IOC, which announced its plans for an Esports Olympics last month, has been engaging with the Esports sector since 2018, and ran a pilot Olympic Esports Week event in Singapore in June 2023.
The event gathered 130 players who competed in 10 mix-gender category events, with the online games spanning Tic Tac Bow (archery), WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS (baseball), Chess.com (chess), Zwift (cycling), Just Dance (dance), Gran Turismo (motorsport), Virtual Regatta (sailing), Fortnite (shooting), Virtual Taekwondo (taekwondo) and Tennis Clash (tennis).