The 2022 Asian Games is set to be held in Hangzhou, China and will mark the 19th anniversary of the event. The Olympic Council of Asia revealed that eight esports titles will make their debut at the Asian Games. This will be the first time that an esports, let alone eight, will be a medal event in the event. Last year, esports were played as a ‘demonstration’ sport though have since been upgraded to a fully recognized sport.
The eight esports titles included in the 2022 Asian Games are Arena of Valor, Dota 2, Dream Three Kingdoms 2, EA Sports FIFA, Hearthstone, League of Legends, PUBG Mobile, and Street Fighter V. The Asian Games will have their own version of Arena of Valor and PUBG Mobile to be played competitively.
This may be a first for the Asian Games, but esports have been a medal event at a previous international multi-sports competition. The 2019 Southeast Asian Games, another event sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee, previously featured games such as Tekken, Starcraft II, Hearthstone and more.
There has been increasing dialog about adding esports into ICO events. Every four years, these discussions seem to raise around the Olympics. Though esports has yet to be included in this major event, the industry seems to be gaining momentum in this regard. The 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou will start on September 10th and run until September 25th.
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