IOC holds fire on electronic gaming

The IOC says governing bodies will continue meeting gaming industry officials. Photo / 123RF

The International Olympic Committee has slowed its support for recognising electronic gaming as a sport.

After an Olympic leaders' meeting yesterday, the IOC says "discussion about the inclusion of esports/egames as a medal event on the Olympic programme is premature."

Enthusiasm has seemed to dim since the IOC hosted a July conference with esports organisers and players. Sports bodies are now advised to "continue to engage with this [gaming] community, while at the same time acknowledging that uncertainties remain."

The IOC rules out co-operation with violent games, and suggests virtual and augmented reality could become more popular with young people. "Commercially driven" gaming was also compared unfavourably with "values-based" sports.

"Some egames are not compatible with the Olympic values and therefore co-operation with them is excluded," the IOC said in a statement.

"The industry is commercially driven, while on the other hand the sports movement is values-based. "For all these reasons, a discussion about the inclusion of esports/egames as a medal event on the Olympic programme is premature."

The IOC says governing bodies will continue meeting gaming industry officials "to explore jointly collaborative projects."

A global survey of sports industry executives in September showed 57 per cent oppose Olympic status.

To the PwC survey's question: "Is esports an Olympic sport?", 28 per cent said "no, because esports does not qualify as 'sport",' and 29 per cent said esports should grow independently of the Olympics. A further 26.7 per cent said esports must first unify under a single governing body, and 10.4 per cent said esports should join "as soon as possible". Almost 6 per cent did not know or abstained.

Duane Mutu, the director of Let's Play Live, told the Herald in February "it was absolutely a sport" with professional gamers demonstrating skills at the same level as Formula One.

"Research around the fact that a lot of the top PC players [shows] ... reaction times are just as good as F1."