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from the it-worked-for-judo-and-beach-volleyball dept.
Alibaba is venturing out of e-commerce and further into esports.
Esports will appear at next year's Games in Indonesia as a "demonstration," Alibaba said, but will be an official medal sport in China's 2022 Games. The Asian Games are recognised by the International Olympic Committee, meaning in 2022 esports will be an official Olympic sport.
Esports is a growing market that is expected to garner 191 million global enthusiasts by the year's end, according to research firm Newzoo. As of last April, the industry was worth over $450 million -- a number expected to grow to $1 billion by 2019.
That growth is manifesting in many ways. Not only is esports now technically an Olympic sport, the NBA will soon be creating its own esports league, and there are gaming schools to groom the next generation of pros.
Can't decide--is this exciting, or sad?
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Thursday April 20 2017, @05:40PM
Neither of the above. Luck and random chance does not play a large part (to my knowledge) in any current Olympic competition, and it's generally minimised or controlled wherever possible (e.g. starting order when going down the ski slope). I just wanted to flag that absence of random chance isn't a suitable criteria for the exclusion of video games.
I would not argue for OpenTTD or any other video game to be included in Olympic competition: I don't see them as being very equivalent or compatible. (My personal opinion is against the likes of chess, too.) I think gamers would be better served by developing their own top-flight competition instead.
Given the effort required by the International Rugby Board to get a form of rugby included in the Olympics (when it had already been included until 1924!), I don't think the IOC waving e-sports in through the side door is good practice.