Indonesia Ministry of Youth and Esports along with the National Sports Committee (KONI) in the country have officially recognized esports as a sport discipline during the 2020 National Conference of Central KONI held this week.
During the conference, the Indonesia government also appointed Indonesia Esports Managing Committee (PB ESI) as the only institution that can cover esports in Indonesia under KONI.
Esports recognition as a sports branch will bring the possibility of any esports tournament to be included in the nationwide official sports competitions, such as National Sports Week.
Indonesia now joins the governments of the Philippines and Malaysia as countries in Southeast Asia that have recognized esports as a legitimate sport.
Esports has been included as part of international multi-sports competitions, with games such as League of Legends, StarCraft II, and Clash Royale being played as demonstration sports in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, while the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines featured esports as a medal event for the first time.
