The inaugural Olympic Esports Games set for 2025 have been postponed

Announced in July 2024, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Saudi Arabia confirmed that they would organize what would be the first-ever Olympic Esports Games set to be held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2025.

The announcement meant that we would finally see esports on a global scale as an Olympic event and have the opportunity to witness athletes from multiple games around the world recognized for their talents in their specific games.

Unfortunately, confirmed on January 27, 2025, the inaugural Olympic Esports Games has now been postponed for at least a year – but up to two years.

With February fast approaching, no details of venues, qualifiers, or game titles have been seen from the IOC or the host country's NOC. The radio silence has led many to believe that the planning for such a monumental event was not up to scratch.

This has been further exasperated by many having doubts about the host country in general. That said, Saudi Arabia has been a big player in the esports scene recently, creating teams in multiple regions and funding huge tournaments.

Over and above this, the IOC would need to prioritize the adaptation of esports into an Olympic-worthy event. While it may seem easy to just have multiple different tournaments for many different games at a specific venue, the logistics of making it feel as though it were part of the Olympics are much more complex.

The delay brings with it major timing issues, with esports itself already having a packed schedule year-round. As the Winter Olympics are set to take place in 2026, this realistically leaves 2027 as the next open period to schedule the esports event.

The change could also affect teams, players, or organizations who could have been planning their year around the Olympic Esports Games – which will now fall through.

This becomes a huge setback for the future of esports at the Olympics, but with the trajectory of gaming and esports in general, it should still work out. For now, no official statement has been made by the IOC regarding this, and we will wait to see just what comes from this delay.

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