Esports Week 2023 announced by the International Olympic Committee; Here are all the details including dates, events and more

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has just announced that it will soon be organizing an Olympic Esports Week. The news came yesterday as Singapore was revealed as the host of the first Olympic Esports Week. The IOC has been putting in the effort to bring esports and virtual sports to the forefront. Last year, the IOC organized the Olympic Virtual Series as a pre-game event leading up to the commencement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. This year, with the announcement of The Esports Week coming next year, the IOC continues to work on its commitment towards the same. The press release mentions that this marks “the next major step in supporting the development of virtual sports within the Olympic Movement”. Here’s more on the details of the Olympic Esports Week.

The Esports Week Details- When and Where?

The Olympics Esports Week was revealed by the International Olympics Committee yesterday, 16th November. The inaugural season has been scheduled for next year. It will be a 4-day long affair, starting on 22nd June till 25th June 2023. 
Singapore has been confirmed as the host of The Esports Week. The Singapore National Olympic Committee (SNOC), in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, Sport Singapore will be organizing the event. This news comes within a month of the Lion City, wrapping up its recent stint with The International 11 last month. 

What will The Esports Week include?

The Esports Week will be featuring the Olympic Esports Series, a competitive showcase of “virtual sports”- a term the IOC uses to refer to “hybrid physical and simulated sports”. It will be similar to The Virtual Series from last year, where competitions were held on multiple simulation games like Gran Turismo, eBaseball Powerful Pro, Virtual Regatta, and Zwift. The Esports Series 2023 is being brought together by multiple International Federations (IFs) from across the globe. Furthermore, The Olympic Esports Series will culminate with the first-ever in-person live finals.  
Additionally, The Esports Week will also be taking up the spirit of a four-day festival. It will include panel discussions, displays for some of the latest techs in the market, educational sessions, and show matches.   

The effort to promote eSports and include it as a part of mainstream sports has been actively taken up by a number of bodies across the world. Earlier this year, we witnessed eSports in the Asian Games itself. The Indian government too has revealed its intentions of developing an environment conducive to eSports to thrive in India. With the International Olympic Committee, pitching in with such events, we can hope to see some positive progress on these lines very soon.