The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced details of the Olympic Esports Series 2023, a global virtual and simulated sports competition created by the IOC and in collaboration with International Federations (IFs) and game publishers.
The format of Olympic Esports Series builds on the IOC’s Olympic Virtual Series established in 2021, with input from the member federations, and this year will culminate in live, in-person finals for the first time.
The finals will be held at Singapore’s Suntec Centre between the 22nd and the 25th of June and will be streamed globally on Olympics.com and Olympic social channels.
The initially confirmed featured games across nine sports are:
- Archery (World Archery Federation, Tic Tac Bow),
- Baseball (World Baseball Softball Confederation, WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS),
- Chess (International Chess Federation, Chess.com),
- Cycling (UCI, Zwift),
- Dance (World DanceSport Federation, JustDance),
- Motor sport (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, Gran Turismo),
- Sailing (World Sailing, Virtual Regatta),
- Taekwondo (World Taekwondo, Virtual Taekwondo),
- Tennis (International Tennis Federation, Tennis Clash).
Both professional and amateur players from around the world are invited to take part in qualification rounds across a host of the featured games.
The format of the IOC’s virtual competition builds on the successes of the Olympic Virtual Series. The 2021 series, which took place ahead of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, attracted over 250,000 participants from across 100 countries to take part in competitions. The Olympic Esports Series 2023 marks another step in supporting the development of virtual sports within the Olympic Movement, as laid out in Olympic Agenda 2020+5, and continues its collaboration with the gaming and esports communities to create new opportunities for players and fans alike.
This follows the announcement that Singapore will host the first Olympic Esports Week 2023. Created in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, Sport Singapore and the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC), the four-day festival will showcase the very best of virtual sports – including technology exhibitions, show matches, expert panel discussions, and the first live finals of the Olympic Esports Series. The full programme and ticket details for the Olympic Esports Week 2023 will be revealed in April.
To receive details on additional featured games across sports that will be added to the Olympic Esports Series 2023, and how to take part, visit Olympics.com or sign up to receive Olympic news here.
