Dr. Adolfo Gracia Vázquez
Associate Professor of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of the National Autonomous University of México (UNAM). He serves as the head of the Division of the System of Open University and Distance Education of Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, UNAM. His research focuses on esports, digital culture and online advertising.
Email: adolfogracia@politicas.unam.mx
In the media-fragmented space, the IOC’s bet to increase its media production and double down on digital media channels paid off; Paris 2024 reached audience records all over the world. As reported by the IOC the Opening Ceremony broadcast in France reached a total of 23.4 million viewers; while in the USA, NBC Universal, reports an audience of 30.6 million viewers 82% more than Tokyo 2020. As more data becomes available it will become clear if the strategies applied by the IOC, such as the “enhancing the youth vibe” by including breaking, BMX freestyle, skateboarding and 3X3 basketball to Paris 2024 sports line up worked out to attract younger audiences. These younger audiences are a focal point for the long-term profitability of Olympic Games as attracting and engaging this demographic that will soon have more spending power, is going to be key to securing sponsorships and media partnerships for the future.
According to McKinsey and Company, Gen Zers consume sports through gaming, digital media and adjacent entertainment, and only one in five don’t watch live sports. It is in this context that following the Olympic Agenda 2020+5 that the that the IOC took actions to capitalize on the new trends in the ways that sports are consumed and practiced. The biggest announcement in this regard was the 12 years partnership between the IOC and Saudi Arabia National Olympic Committee (NOC) to hold the Olympics Esports Games in 2025, ratified unanimously in the 142nd IOC Session. No doubt that this move attempts to capitalize on the popularity of esports, especially with younger demographics, as the expected total audience is expected to surpass 640 million people worldwide in 2025 according to NewZoo.
Even when at first glance, this might be a moment to celebrate the acceptance of esports as a recognized sport by the IOC, the announcement comes with several questions and points of concern. First, the selection of the host country’s record with women’s and LGTBQ+ rights are in stern opposition to values that the target audiences are passionate about, and with those of Olympic Games. Even the IOC recognizes that credibility plays a big role in engaging with younger generations stating in their own agenda that these demand purpose from organizations and business. In the same order of ideas esports have an inclusion debt as they have little female representation in professional leagues. To illustrate this the first female athlete according to esports earnings appears only in the 538th place in the highest overall earnings ranking.
On the other hand, esports include a wide variety of videogame genres and a plethora of publishers and developers. Thus, the organization and selection of the esports that will be featured in the Olympic Esports Games will include complex negotiations for media rights with all the actors involved in the esports industry. Even when, at the moment of writing neither the IOC or the NOC have released a potential list of games to be included, there are concerns that Shooters due to their nature might not be considered in the first edition. This a genre that includes popular games like Counter Strike Global Offensive, Valorant among other esports. According to Newzoo’s Global Games Market Report 2024 Shooters represent 17% of the market share in PC and 16% of the market share in console; and a big following in the esports scene. Added to this, there also the question of what versions of the games are going to be used and if there’s going to be any censorship to accommodate the host country’s laws and other restrictions in other regions of the world.
The success of the event will not only depend on the IOC capacity to address all the logistical and planning challenges esports represent, but it’s also contingent of how the event can find a market share in an already packed esports scene. Added to this, there are the looming concerns of the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia and how this will influence or not the participation of publishers, teams and esports athletes and gamers. Whether the Olympic Esports Games can really become the promised new era for the Olympics, where new ways to practice and enjoy sports are embraced or it ends up being regarded as an opportunistic move to sportswash Saudi Arabia’s image and as an attempt to capitalize on esports popularity by the IOC remains to be seen.
