MUMBAI - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is looking at creating an Olympic E-sports Games, it was announced on Saturday.

“I have asked our new IOC eSports Commission to study the creation of Olympic E-sports Games,” said IOC president Thomas Bach, during the opening ceremony of the 141st IOC session on Saturday in Mumbai, India.

The German noted there are three billion people playing e-sports and gaming around the world.

Estimates suggest over 500 million of those are interested specifically in e-sports, which include virtual sports and sport simulations.

“What is even more relevant to us: a majority of them are under the age of 34,” added Bach.

“In 2021, the IOC developed the Olympic virtual series. It was the IOC’s first pilot venture in e-sports.

“Building on the learnings from the Olympic virtual series, we then launched the Olympic e-sports week in Singapore earlier this year,” said Bach.

“In Singapore, we saw proof that our holistic approach is working. We successfully brought together the Olympic and the e-sports communities.”

Including the qualifiers, the Olympic E-sports Series attracted over 500,000 unique participants, generating more than six million views of live action over all channels, with 75 per cent of views from people aged 13 until 34.

“This was a promising start. But it is just that: a start. It is like in any sport: after the promising start, the real race still lies ahead,” Bach said. AFP