Almost half of gamers don’t want esports in the Olympics, according to a new survey by PC memory brand Ballistix.
When asked whether esports should be an event in the Olympics, 46% said no, 35% said yes and 19% were undecided.
Ballistix surveyed more than 1,000 gamers across the UK, France and Germany for the study.
Splitting the results across each country showed that 35% of UK gamers, 31% of German gamers and 38% of French gamers were in favour of esports being part of the Olympics.
More than one in 10 respondents (12%) participate in esports and two in five (40%) say they watch esports.
“In my view, the reference to the Olympics should be seen as a benchmark that esports competition is reaching levels similar the Olympics.”
Wouter Sleijffers, Fnatic CEO
Talk of esports potentially being included in the Olympics has been ongoing for a while now.
While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have been considering it, president Thomas Bach previously said: “We cannot have in the Olympic program a game which is promoting violence or discrimination. So-called killer games. They, from our point of view, are contradictory to the Olympic values and cannot therefore be accepted.”
This irked parts of the esports industry. Some are still positive about the idea of esports in the Olympics, while others like well-known esports host Paul Chaloner have been more critical. He believes the likes of the IOC need esports more than it needs them.
Some violent/dangerous sports at the Olympics:
Boxing
Archery
Shooting
But CS:GO and COD can’t be part of the Olympics because they are “killer games”.
Where is the science that shows these games cause as much death and suffering as those three sports @Olympics.#OutOfTouch— Redeye (@PaulChaloner) September 3, 2018
The International Esports Federation said that they are in talks with Paris 2024 Summer Olympics organisers about including esports as a demonstration sport.
Esports was also supposed to be included in the 2022 Asian Games, but this is now up in the air.
Patrick Soulliere, global esports and gaming marketing manager at Ballistix, commented: “The next Olympics will take place during 2020 in Tokyo and by that time the esports industry is expected to have grown by 44%. Despite the ongoing debate and controversies surrounding the topic, it’s great to see a strong presence of gamers who are eager for esports to be included in the Olympics.
“Esports is becoming much more mainstream and, as it continues to do so, it’s likely only a matter of time until it becomes part of the Olympics.”
Wouter Sleijffers, CEO at Fnatic, added: “In my view, the reference to the Olympics should be seen as a benchmark that esports competition is reaching levels similar the Olympics.
“Similarly, esports has many different ‘disciplines’, has a global following and only the ‘top of the top’ achieve competitive success as we know from the Olympics.
“However, it’s also a unique competitive scene where some competitive gaming events can already be considered as an Olympic event, World Cup or Champions League in their own right.”
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
