The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Saudi National Olympic Committee have announced that they will end their partnership on the Olympic Esports Games, according to a joint statement released on Thursday.
The inaugural edition of the event was originally set to take place this year in Riyadh, but it was postponed in February. Under the initial deal announced by the IOC in July 2023, Saudi Arabia had been granted hosting rights for 12 years beginning in 2025.
Former IOC president Thomas Bach had been instrumental in launching the initiative, though leadership has since passed to Kirsty Coventry. The IOC had previously organized smaller virtual competitions under the Olympic Esports Series in 2021 and 2023, which were criticized by the gaming community for omitting major traditional esports titles.
“Recently, the two parties, along with the Esports World Cup Foundation, revisited the project,” the IOC said in its statement. “They have mutually agreed to end their collaboration on the Olympic Esports Games. However, both organizations remain committed to pursuing their esports goals independently.”
Saudi Arabia has meanwhile hosted the first two editions of the Esports World Cup, which features some of the world’s most popular games, in 2024 and earlier this year in Riyadh. The tournament is organised independently by Saudi Arabia. The country will also host the Esports Nations Cup starting in 2026 in Riyadh, a biennial event aimed at national teams.
“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 IOC added.
Over the past 12 months, the IOC and the Saudi committee continued to discuss the Olympic Esports Games initiative. In June, the IOC hosted a Publisher and Developer Forum to help design a framework for the event. The organisation said it will now take feedback from a so-called ‘Pause and Reflect’ process into account as it develops a new approach and partnership model for the Games.
With the end of the partnership, the Olympic Esports Games now must start from scratch, without a host country or a fixed timeline. Organisers face a series of challenges in integrating esports into the Olympic framework, including negotiating with game publishers, establishing national teams, and implementing anti-doping programmes. The IOC’s ‘non-violence’ criteria also restrict the use of many popular games, adding further complications.
