The Washington Post reports that Paris is considering the inclusion of eSports in its 2024 Olympic program. The inclusion of video gaming is a sign of legitimacy for a sport that is growing more and more each year.
According to a report by Fortune, fans are expected to reach 145 million people in 2017. The Asian Games will debut eSports as an exhibition event in 2018 and add it officially in 2022. eSports is set to appear at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games next month. Four games will be featured next year: Dota 2, StarCraft II, Hearthstone and a sports game.
Last week, Dota 2, held its annual event at the KeyArena in Seattle. The tournament offered $25 million in prize money and fans flocked to watch on the big screens inside the Arena as well as those set up around the concourses.
Undeniably, eSports is a big business with massive opportunities for game developers, creators and, of course, players. It will be interesting to see how receptive eSports will be for an Olympic committee which has excluded baseball in the past.