Recently, the International Olympic Committee, in cooperation with the Saudi Arabian National Olympic Committee, announced the first ever Olympic Esports Games to be held in 2025, and following a unanimous vote in favor by the IOC Executive Board, the decision has now become official. Kind of like the meme of President Obama awarding himself a medal.

The Olympic Esports Games will be a “recurring” event, initially planned to run for 12 years; IOC President Thomas Bach said this shows that the IOC is “keeping up with the pace of the digital revolution.” He added, “The Saudi NOC will bring a great, if not unique, experience in the field of esports to this project. This partnership is based on the Olympic Charter and Olympic values.” More details to follow.

The IOC has been testing the waters with esports since 2018, holding an “Esports week” in Singapore last year (although there was no actual esports). The IOC Esports Commission was then instructed to devise how an Olympic esports competition could contribute to “the interests of the esports community” and “promote gender equality and engage with younger audiences, while respecting Olympic values.”

The latter may raise eyebrows, given Saudi Arabia's heavy involvement. Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Sports and Chairman of the Olympic Committee, stated: “Thanks to Vision 2030 introduced by His Royal Highness Prince Muhammad bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia esports already has a rich past, an exciting present, and a promising future.

Muhammad bin Salman does not care if people look at this and think Saudi Arabia is sportswashing its abysmal human rights record: “If sportswashing increases GDP by even one percent, I will continue sportswashing. I don't care.”

IOC member Princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud said of Bin Salman's Vision 2030 plan that it has “brought about a wave of more than 150 reforms that will transform society and empower women and youth.”

The IOC release notes that since 2015 Saudi Arabia's It touts the growth of women's sports and measures such as equal pay. It does not mention the recent 11-year prison sentence of women's rights activist Manaher al-Otaibi for “going shopping without an abaya [a garment that covers most of the body]” in protest of Saudi Arabia's guardianship law.

The confirmation of the Olympic Esports Games means that the process of selecting the host city and venue, the dates, the games to be included, and the qualifying process will begin; the IOC will also establish a new organization within the IOC to be responsible for the management of the Olympic Esports Games, which This is distinct from the Olympics in terms of both funding and organization.

Whatever the politics behind these things, the fact remains that Saudi Arabia has a very large amount of money and various interests in the gaming and esports industry. The Saudi Public Investment Fund has invested heavily in Electronic Arts, Embracer Group, Take-Two Interactive, Nexon, Capcom, Nintendo, and many others; in esports, it has acquired both leading esports organizer ESL Gaming and the acquisition of both tournament platform FACEIT is fresh in their minds.

The Olympic philosophy is to “build a better world through sport” and its values are “excellence, respect, and friendship. You are the judge.