For the first time ever, Esports will form part of a Commonwealth Games when gaming addicts go head to head in Birmingham in 2022.
The newly branded Commonwealth Esport Championships will be implemented in a bid to attract a younger audience to the Games, and while there will be no Gold, Silver, or Bronze up for grabs this time around, that could all change if the new addition proves a success.
A report by Sportsmail revealed that whilst it will only serve as a pilot event next year, provisional plans are in place to have competitors playing for medals in 2026.
Details of what games will be involved are yet to be confirmed but DOTA 2, a multiplayer online battle arena game, is expected to be one of the three titles to feature.
The announcement is likely to be divisive and risks alienating traditionalists, although the move also embraces the growing worldwide popularity of online gaming.
The organisation committee for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris have had discussions with the IOC about the possibility of incorporating eSports into the programme, and whilst it was decided against having such events in France, the prospect of people playing for medals in 2030 was not ruled out.
And in December 2021, the IOC confirmed its Olympic Virtual Series (OVS) will also return in 2022. The first edition, which ran from May 13 to June 23 last year, featured nearly 250,000 participants and had more than two million entries.
Last September, the Olympic Council of Asia announced eight eSports games will officially debut as medal sports for the 2022 Asian Games in HangZhou, China.
The agreement between organisers for Birmingham and the Global Esports Federation follows comments from new Commonwealth Games Federation CEO Katie Sadleir that the event could undergo ‘dramatic change’ across the next decade.
"We have been thinking about the creative ways we could pivot the Games to make sure it still captures the hearts and minds of the future," she told the BBC.
The event in Birmingham, the first time the city has hosted the Games and the first time they have come to England since Manchester in 2002, will run from July 28 to August 8 this summer.
Durban in South Africa had initially been selected as the venue, but withdrew due to financial constraints.
