Managing the boundaries between sports, gaming, and esports is no mean feat, but when it comes to pushing esports into the mainstream, the Olympic movement has forgotten about the long-standing competitive titles and moved towards a "virtual sports" system that will replicate the real-life events from within niche games.

Today the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that nine titles will be played during the Olympic Esports Series week in Singapore, with most titles being based on pre-existing Olympic sports.

Archery (Tic Tac Bow), Baseball (WBSC eBaseball), Chess (Chess.com), Cycling (Zwift), Dance (JustDance), Motor Sport (Gran Turismo), Sailing (Virtual Regatta), Tennis (Tennis Clash), and Taekwondo (Virtual Taekwondo) will make up the lineup for the weekly festival in Singapore between June 22 and 25.

Commonwealth and Olympic esports needed saving

Previous attempts at embedding esports into the Olympics and Commonwealth Games have been sub-par. 

The most recent Commonwealth Games highlighted the disconnected approach from high-standing aristocrats, with the organisers choosing to implement Rocket League as their main title, but scheduling it on the same week as the esports' Major Championships, meaning the best players from the represented countries couldn't play.

Not only did it struggle to compete for talent, but the committee also chose to broadcast the event on Twitch, rather than other available avenues, trying to pull Rocket League fans away from the main circuit, failing to attract wider esports fans with Call of Duty League Major III and VALORANT Champions Tour: Last Chance Qualifiers ft. Shroud schedules on the same day, and again gatekeeping Commonwealth sports fans away by choosing a medium that is inaccessible to them.

Previously, the 2021 Tokyo Olympics saw Rocket League be featured through the Intel World Open, and while the second-tier country-based tournament was quite well received by pre-existing fans, it again failed to capitalise on the aura of the Olympics to drive a movement into the mainstream media. Much of the inside industry saw through the ESL-designed event, which lacked many nuances for such an established event 

Leading up to the Olympic Esports Week 2023, Singapore, the push to make esports recognised as an Olympic event needed much heavier input from people within the day-to-day industry rather than overhead figures who have failed previously, yet this hasn't been the case.

IOC explains 'virtual sports' approach to Olympic esports

Instead of having any pre-existing tier one or tier two esports, such as Rocket League from previous events or even non-tactical shooters like League of Legends, the IOC decided to lean into a "virtual sports" angle.

One of the main reasons for adopting a virtual sports approach appears to be in liaison with International Federations, as the IOC confirmed this was a criterion that needed to be met this time around, which then pushes out any esports that aren't based on actual sports and work in tandem with their governing bodies.

Vincent Pereira, Head of Virtual Sports and Gaming for the IOC, told GGRecon, "We have chosen the games based on the International Federations games publisher proposal. They came to us with a proposal based on the popularity of games, engagements, accessibility, and diversity."

"It allows us to have the electronic versions of games that are already in the Olympic Games and also some that haven't been in, like Chess, but have recognised federations. This gives us an opportunity to bring those esports into an Olympic environment," added Kit McConnell, IOC Sports Director.

"The Olympic Esports Series itself is focused on sports. That's what we're about as the Olympic movement, promoting sports and physical activity, and using these gaming versions of sport to reach out to these new audiences."

Why have they chosen JustDance over the like of FIFA and Madden?

The addition of titles such as Tic Tac Bow and JustDance stretches the definition of "esports", with the competitive gaming industry discounting these as esports titles, compared to the stalwart games, and even those sports titles that have made a success out of an official esports circuit.

FIFA, for example, is the most well-received sporting title that meets the IOC's criteria of having a sports focus and an International Federation, yet hasn't made the cut for the Olympic Esports Series 2023. 

When quizzed on the omission of FIFA, NBA 2K, Madden, and other bigger sporting titles, Pereira said, "We've had some good conversations with them. It's not that we haven't chosen them but for this year, the timings and the way that we envisioned the competition, it was not working very well."

"We have the exhibition side of things where we will showcase other games, and we're in talks with Madden, the NFL, and the International American Football Federation to possibly have some games. The same goes for FIFA, and FIBA for NBA 2k, so we have had these conversations with them," he added.

How does esports grow into the Olympics in the future?

With the Olympic Esports Series, Singapore, being the first esports week governed by the IOC - they previously had the Olympic Virtual Sports week but rebranded it to include the "esports" tag - the executives have confirmed to GGRecon that they want to have a closer tie with the Olympic committee and implement this virtual sports thematic as a "long-term" plan.

So far, there are no public plans for the likes of ESL to jump in and run an auxiliary esports event in partnership with Paris 2024, akin to the Intel World Open in liaison with Tokyo 2021, but instead, Pereira has claimed that they are already in talks to be hosting the Olympic Esports Week in Paris, shortly after the Olympics has finished.

There are discussions for FIFA and Madden to appear in future years, but it remains a mystery as to what the future holds for established esports such as Rocket League and even bigger competitive non-sports-focused games like Counter-Strike and League of Legends.