When you strip it down, isn't capitalism the most Olympic of sports?Įither way, eSports are the real deal. There's money in eSports and what color does the IOC love more than gold? Green. How did eSports get into the Asian Games? There was a push from Alibaba, the Chinese online behemoth (think Amazon). Where there's money, there's advertisers. (The key words there being "might" and "down the road.") And that, ultimately, is why eSports might get into the Games sometime down the road. Top earners can make as much as $2 million and 100 gamers have made more than $450,000 in prize money. Spectators have sold out arenas throughout Asia and on the American coasts - at Madison Square Garden and Staples Center. There's no quibbling with the last point. At least 43 million people watched some part the 2016 League of Legends World Championship with 15 million watching at its peak during the final match. (Archery, shooting, curling and diving come immediately to mind.) That, combined with the fact that there's an untapped market waiting for the Olympics, makes eSports a no-brainer. There are plenty of Olympic sports that aren't physically taxing and require skill, precision and mental strength. The eSports crowd would say it isn't (and that their game is a lot more popular). How's that so different than a pole vault or bow-and-arrow? They're legit competitors who happen to wield a joystick. The eSports guys (and they are almost exclusively guys) look like college kids banging out their thesis at the library. The image of the couch potato sitting on a '70s-era couch and playing some Final Fantasy while drinking Mountain Dew from a two-liter bottle is a crude caricature. It takes dexterity, intelligence, reflexes and coolness under pressure to succeed in gaming. This isn't an insult to gamers nor does it besmirch the activity at which they excel. Competitive eating sounds good too but at the end of the day it's just people stuffing their faces with hot dogs. Wrap it up however you want, moving a joystick simply has no athleticism, physicality or exertion - anything that makes something a sport. It's an impressive effort to call playing video games "eSports." It's like a shot-in-the-dark hope that saying it enough will convince people it's actually a sport. If the discipline is ever added to the Olympics, it'll be a dark day for the Games not seen since that time Ryan Lochte went clubbing. They have no business in the Olympics, even with the IOC focused on youth - hence the X-Gamesification of the Winter Olympics and the addition of skateboarding, surfing and climbing to the programme. diving, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming). ESports are neither a sport nor an activity that vaguely resembles a sport (e.g.
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