The executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will propose the creation of the Olympic E-sports Games to the IOC Session taking place during the Paris Olympics this summer.
"The IOC is already in advanced discussions with a potential host, and an announcement can be expected very soon after the last formalities have been finalized," the body said after the executive board meeting on Friday.
The proposal will be voted by the IOC members during the IOC Session on July 22-24.
"With the creation of Olympic E-sports Games, the IOC is taking a major step forward and is keeping up with the pace of the digital revolution," said IOC president Thomas Bach, who has previously hinted at his opposition to the inclusion of e-sports in the Games programme.
The IOC had already launched the Olympic Virtual Series in 2021 and the Olympic E-sports Week in Singapore in June 2023. At the time, the competition included 10 games with a sports background: baseball, archery, motorsports, cycling, chess, shooting, sailing, taekwondo, dancing and tennis.
Including the qualifiers, the Olympic E-sports Series attracted over 500,000 participants and generated more than six million views of live action over all channels, with 75% of views from people aged 13 to 34, the IOC said.
