Olympic Esports Games delayed for smoother build-up says IOC President Bach

IOC president Thomas Bach talked about the two year postponement of the inaugural edition for the Olympic Esports Games in an interview with Xinhua, the official state news agency of China.

Esports games were officially announced to enter the IOC events portfolio last year during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. While no exact dates or host city was announced, the IOC revealed a 12-year partnership with the National Olympic Committee of Saudi Arabia and announced the first edition of the Olympic Esports Games to take place in 2025, with further editions held “regularly” in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

However, in early February 2025, the Olympic Esports Games got delayed until 2027 and the IOC named the Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) as a founding partner of the event. Leading up to the partnership with IOC, EWCF had already organised Saudi Arabia’s inaugural Esports World Cup (EWC) last year in Riyadh, featuring 21 game titles and a total prize pool of 60 million dollars split across all titles. The second edition of EWC is set to take place this year in Riyadh with multiple game titles already being revealed to have been introduced in the program.

In the meantime, IOC President Thomas Bach commented for Xinhua the following:

There were no obstacles in the progress. When we started the preparations, we came to the conclusion that it would be better there to take no risk with regard to this 'wow' effect and to have some events in the lead-up to these Olympic Esports Games.

IOC President also mentioned that the Olympic movement must align with the younger generation and embrace opportunities like digital technology and artificial intelligence for the future. "Let's start with tests, qualifications, and then make it the real Olympic experience for esports," he added.