On August 29, 2018, in Jakarta, Indonesia, the Chinese League of Legends led by UZI (Jane proud) won the championship successfully in the Asian Games final. This is another great achievement made by China’s e-sports. Although the e-sports competition only exists in the form of performance competition in this Asian Games, but at that time, many e-sports fans were looking forward to the emergence of e-sports in the Olympic arena.
However, today, nearly two years later, e-sports has not only failed the next two Olympic Games, but even failed to be selected as the official event of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. E-sports is very popular among young people, but from the current situation, it will take some time to hold hands with the Olympic Games.
It is difficult to formulate industry standards
at its 134th plenary session, the International Olympic Committee agreed in principle to add four major items: break dancing, skateboarding, rock climbing and surfing in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, however, e-sports, which had a high voice before, was not listed. Although the voice of e-sports entering the Olympic Games is very high among the younger generation, the IOC led by Bach still rejected the request of e-sports entering the Olympic Games.
At this stage, although e-sports has received high attention, it has not been recognized by mainstream sports. When the Chinese delegation won the championship in the League of Legends of the Asian Games, e-sports fans could only seek non-smooth live broadcast signals through the Internet.
In addition, there is no international e-sports organization recognized by the International Olympic Committee at present, and the establishment of this organization is a key step for e-sports to enter the Olympic Games. After all, as an emerging industry, e-sports still has many industry standards to be formulated. Neither the International League of e-sports, which has attracted 60 members, nor the International Federation of e-sports, which was just established last year, has been recognized by the International Olympic Committee. If e-sports wants to succeed in the Olympic Games, it must select a leader who can satisfy the vast majority of people.
Finally, behind e-sports, the interest disputes of game manufacturers are even more complicated. If e-sports enters the Olympic Games successfully, it is a headache to choose which games will enter the stage of the Olympic Games. However, the International Olympic Committee has stated recently that it will encourage the development of virtual and electronic forms of sports. Under the situation that the international sports world is completely suspended due to the epidemic, e-sports may have the opportunity to emerge suddenly.
E-sports is expected to self-organize the “Olympic Games”
In fact, although e-sports occupies an increasingly important position in today’s sports charts, the International Olympic Committee also recognizes the status of e-sports as a sports sport, however, the position of e-sports in the field of sports is still awkward. In the eyes of a considerable part of the public, e-sports, which seems to be just sitting in front of the computer and playing games, is not a real sport, and it is impossible to enter the “elegant hall” like the Olympic Games “.
In the eyes of e-sports fans, they don’t seem to care what traditional sports practitioners and the public think of them. After all, the attraction of e-sports today has reached a very high level. It is undeniable that, as the largest comprehensive event in the world, the influence of the Olympic Games in recent years does have a downward trend, while e-sports is like a rising star. According to official data, a total of about 99.6 million spectators witnessed that IG team from China won the 2018 League of Legends finals, which is a rather “horrible” number.
In recent times, more and more voices have been mentioned about whether “e-sports enter the Olympics” or “e-sports enter the Olympics. The so-called “entering e-sports” means that e-sports projects are organizing their own e-sports Olympics and absorbing as many e-sports projects as possible. Judging from the audience ratings of various e-sports events, the e-sports market still has great potential to be tapped. In the case of not being recognized by the International Olympic Committee for the time being, more and more e-sports people have agreed with this proposal.
For the IOC, the current initiative seems to still be in their hands. After all, it is still the dream of many practitioners and players to hope that e-sports will enter the Olympic Games. However, the IOC also needs to open its heart to accept e-sports as a new industry. After all, the future of e-sports is bright today when more and more young people like e-sports. When the e-sports industry is determined to start again, the Olympic Games will lose a good opportunity to win more attention again. You should know that the so-called “OlympicGames” is only a “Game” after all.
Yangcheng Evening News reporter Hao Haoyu