It’s time to start training, cyber warriors! Olympic video gaming may be headed to the 2024 Summer Games. Tony Estanguet, part of the Paris bid committee, made the announcement earlier today. Discussions are already underway.
Olympic Video Gaming in 2024
The hope is that eSports will become part of the 2024 Games due to the wild growth in popularity. The Asian Games has proved that eSports are popular including video games as a full sport by 2022. Estanguet believes that gaming needs to become part of the Olympics if it hopes to stay relevant going forward.
Fans don’t need to start training yet, however. Nothing will be done prior to 2019 when the first inklings of Paris 2024 begin to be realized. In addition, no new sports will be added until after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Interestingly, one of the driving forces behind the eSports move may be the rising cost of hosting Olympics. This year, Paris is the only contender for the 2024 Games. Several other cities dropped out of the “race” due to the spiraling cost to host. Los Angeles stuck it out but later agreed to take on the 2028 Games instead, leaving only Paris for 2024.
If you’d like to know more, head over to ESPN to check out their report.
