IOC fillip for ESports, inaugural edition to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2025

New Delhi: In a move aimed at promoting ESports globally, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has entered into a partnership with the National Olympic Committee of Saudi Arabia to host the inaugural edition of Olympic ESports Games.

This comes after the Olympics Executive Board proposed the creation of the ESports Games.

Abhishek Issar, Founder, UNIV Sportatech and Founding Member, FEAI (Federation of ESports Associations India), said, "Today, every country will look at ESports as an Olympic medal winning opportunity - this is a game changer for the industry.

"As India witnesses a strong performance at the Paris Olympics, our appetite for growth in the sector corresponds the country's highly commanding Geo-economic status in the world." Players in the ESports category grew four-fold between 2021 and 2022 (from 150,000 to 600,000) and future projections estimate this number to reach 15,00,000 by the end of 2027.