E-sports becomes part of Asian variant Olympic Games

E-sports will be part of the Asian variant of the Olympic Games, the Asian Games. In 2018 and 2022, e-sports will be included in the program. It is not yet known which games will be part of the e-sports program.

E-sports will be part of the Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018 and in Hangzhou in China in 2022 through a collaboration between the Olympic Council of Asia and Alisports, the directors of both organizations announced on Monday. It is unclear whether e-sports will remain a permanent addition to the Asian Games after 2022.

The Olympic Council of Asia is the organizer of the Asian Games and Alisports is part of the Chinese internet giant Alibaba. Alisports entered into a partnership with the International e-Sports Federation in 2016 and the company will invest approximately 140 million euros in the e-sports sector in the coming years. Both organizations want to establish e-sports more and more as a regular sports sector. For example, Alisports wants to build special e-sports stadiums in China.