IOC Statement on the Olympic Esports Games

30 October 2025 – The initiative of the Olympic Esports Games has created a great deal of excitement amongst all stakeholders of the Olympic Movement and in the esports community, who are all looking forward to the first edition.

In the last year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee (SOPC) have discussed the concept of the Olympic Esports Games at length in line with the partnership they announced in 2024.

Recently, the two parties and the Esports World Cup Foundation sat down again and reviewed this initiative. They mutually agreed that they will end their cooperation on the Olympic Esports Games. At the same time, both parties are committed to pursuing their own esports ambitions on separate paths. The IOC, for its part, will develop a new approach to the Olympic Esports Games, taking the feedback from the “Pause and Reflect” process into account, and pursue a new partnership model.

This approach will be a chance to better fit the Olympic Esports Games to the long-term ambitions of the Olympic Movement and to spread the opportunities presented by the Olympic Esports Games more widely, with the objective of having the inaugural Games as soon as possible.

The overwhelming feedback received from the Olympic Movement stakeholders and the esports community shows that there is a great desire and considerable support for the initiative.