The answer to that question is the main topic of a meeting to be held July 21 at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. The International Olympic Committee and the Global Association of International Sports Federations are meeting (AP) next month to hear from eSports experts, sponsors, and athletes and to discuss the possibility of the phenomenon becoming a part of the Olympic schedule.
The committee has already confirmed that games featuring violence, killing, and explosions (i.e. PubG, Street Fighter, or Fortnite) are off the table. The focus will mostly be on sports games such as FIFA. Fantasy games could be a grey area, though, so it’s too soon to say what we could see, if any at all, at the 2024 Olympics.
What Parents Should Know
eSports is a big big deal. It’s a big money industry and there’s no way it will be fading out any time soon. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Any time we create a way to compete against each other we will find people who enjoy watching the best compete on a public stage.
Really, the next inevitable phase was for eSports to make it into the regular sporting world. These competitions boast large viewership online and very high sponsorship dollar totals. Of course, this is very appealing to any sporting organization including the Olympics. And there are many gamers now who make their living by playing their favorite games. Whether it be competitively or for entertainment or combination of the two.
Fortnite Player, Ninja was recently rumored to make approximately $500,000 per month from his streaming channel on Twitch. It’s no surprise many kids and teens now tell their parents they want to grow up to play video games for a living. With the attention eSports is getting from athletic organizations such as the Olympic Committee don’t expect them to change their minds anytime soon.