Disputa na Copa Mundial
de eSports no dia 21 de
julho, na Arábia Saudita. / Reprodução de vídeo. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that the first edition of the Esports Olympic Games will be held in 2025. The IOC has reached an agreement with Saudi Arabia for the country to host annual editions of the event for the next 12 years.
The gaming market is currently valued at 300 billion dollars (around 1.6 trillion reais) and brings together more than 2.5 billion players worldwide. Around 40% of this industry is already controlled by Saudi Arabia.
The Middle Eastern nation encourages electronic sports and is studying investing 38 billion dollars in the sector (208.4 billion reais) by 2030.
In addition to the Olympics, Saudi Arabia is hosting the Esports World Cup, which began on July 1 and runs until August 25, with a total prize pool of 60 million dollars (329 million reais).
The events are part of the Saudi Vision 2030 program, led by Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, which aims to diversify the country’s economy away from oil.
| It all began… The first professional videogame competition took place in 1972. The Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics (computer space battle game) was created by Stanford University and had about 20 participants. |
Sources: Olimpíadas, CNN and The News.
