The International Olympic Committee announced that Saudi Arabia will host the 2025 Olympic esports competition. Both casual fans and industry veterans are not thrilled with the news.
The governing body announced the news in a social media post and press release that included quotes condemning both esports officials and their fans.
“Working with the National Olympic Committee of Saudi Arabia, we have also ensured that Olympic values are respected, particularly when it comes to the titles of the Games, by promoting gender equality and engaging a young audience interested in interested in eSports.” This was announced in a statement as follows.
“Oh, that’s a really good joke,” one eSports fan responded to the quote.
Some called this statement hypocritical since this Middle Eastern country has a history of restricting women’s rights and this event promoted sportswear.
Legends eSports veteran Myra Davis said: “The Olympics need the Olympics more than eSports. This is another shameless money laundering that will further perpetuate sports laundering by the Saudi government. What a waste.”
Sportskeeda eSports reporter Kevin Hitt claimed the IOC was censoring reactions to the announcement.
The International Olympic Committee has long taken a controversial stance on eSports. Many in the industry criticized the game selection for the 2023 Olympic Week because fan-anticipated titles such as Counter-Strike, League of Legends and Dota 2 were not included.
Instead, the event featured games like Tic Tac Bow and Just Dance, as well as friendly games from Rocket League, Street Fighter and NBA2K.
The decision to host the 2025 Olympics in Saudi Arabia has been on the table for some time, as members of Saudi Arabia seek to get closer to the IOC by working with the Esports Leadership Group.
Times, dates and specific eSports have not yet been determined at the time of writing this article. However, French media L’epuip reported that the publisher of League of Legends, Rocket League and Street Fighter is in talks with the IOC about participating in the event.
The announcement comes as the eSports World Championship continues to take place in Riyadh, with almost all major competitive titles in action at the major event.