Sports Big Business No. 2886, welcome to pay attention to the leading sports industry information platform
Wen | Kouyong
Sports big business reporter
As one of the links in the e-sports ecosystem, virtual sports have become an important bridge connecting e-sports and traditional sports in recent years. Under the promotion of the International Olympic Committee, emerging fields such as VR and meta-universe have become one of the best carriers to promote e-sports to the public.
According to the IOC website, the IOC and the Singapore Olympic Committee are exploring the possibility of hosting a virtual sports and games festival in early 2023. In 2021, the IOC has successfully hosted the inaugural Olympic Virtual Series (OVS), a series of five virtual sporting events in baseball, cycling, rowing, sailing and motorsport that attracted more than 250,000 participants from more than 100 countries and regions.
After the success of the Olympic Virtual Series, the IOC wants to establish an annual competition. The new event will work closely with international sports federations and game publishers to reach out to new communities with unique experiences based on the promotion of virtual sports, promoting innovation and the dissemination of Olympic values throughout the Olympic Movement.
The International Olympic Committee and the Singapore Olympic Committee are discussing the holding of virtual sports and games festivals
The Olympic Virtual Series pioneered "virtual sports" events
Looking back on the past, the development of e-sports is inseparable from the rapid development of technology and the Internet, and technology has unlocked more diversified scenarios for e-sports.
Decades ago, people did not have the concept of "virtual sports", and they still stayed in public sports places such as gyms and stadiums. With the development of time, more and more traditional sports such as football and basketball have begun to compete online, and the progress of science and technology has made people who truly love sports no longer be constrained by space.
In the past two years, traditional sports events have begun to embrace e-sports, of which the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games has made e-sports an official competition.
In February 2021, the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) also released the Olympic Agenda 2020+5, clarifying that the future development of e-sports will focus on "virtual sports", the so-called "virtual sports" is the e-sports category that simulates traditional sports.
The Agenda, which is the IOC's specific response to the pandemic and the environment, explicitly mentions the need to "strengthen digital interaction with audiences, encourage the development of virtual movements, and further engage with the video game community." The holding of OVS is the most important step taken by IOC in the field of e-sports so far.
From this point of view, sports e-sports projects are undoubtedly the best stepping stones to enter sports events. Earlier, Huo Qigang, chairman of the Asian Electronic Sports Federation, said, "In essence, the sports spirit of hard work, teamwork, and fair competition pursued by electronic sports and traditional sports is in the same vein." ”
In 2021, the IOC organized the first virtual sporting event. The event consists of five major sports: baseball, cycling, rowing, sailing and racing. The IOC also cooperates with five individual international sports federations and game publishers in charge of baseball, cycling, rowing, sailing and racing.
The five sports agencies and game publishers each correspond to five OVS projects, namely: the racing game GT Racing, the competitive sailing game Virtual Regetta, the baseball game "Live Power Baseball 2020", and the cycling game Zwift and virtual rowing competition.
IOC President Bach said the Olympic Virtual Series is designed to enhance relationships with virtual sports enthusiasts and further encourage young people to participate in competitive sports.
Based on smart devices, the first virtual sports event opened up a new scene of digital sports. At a micro level, sports esports is creating more possibilities for competitive sports. In the context of the global epidemic, many traditional sports events have been forced to stop. But even against such a grim background, e-sports events can still maintain their operations and radiate more vitality.
Michael Payne, former IOC marketing director and consultant, said: "The biggest opportunity for the Olympics is to build a fan base around digital content and media, whether in different regions or around individual sports. "The idea of the IOC to launch the Olympic Channel earlier was great, and while there were some problems in the early days, now it's evolving and it's becoming an overall hub and gateway for content engagement and distribution."
The Olympic Virtual Series creates a stage that connects the world of sports with virtual and simulated sports game communities, provides an opportunity for esports players to participate in the Olympic Movement, and symbolizes that the Olympic Virtual Series is an epoch-making milestone as the first virtual sports collection event.
Virtual sports have become a bridge between e-sports and the Olympic Games
In October 2017, the IOC first recognized esports as a sport at its sixth summit, followed by the Esports and Games Liaison Group (ELG) in 2018 to oversee esports and Olympic-related matters.
Nowadays, e-sports has officially become an official sport of traditional sports events such as the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games, and at the same time, it is constantly exploring the Olympic Games in the form of virtual sports. To some extent, esports will become possible in the future.
But IOC President Bach has also said that most games are contrary to Olympic values and should not be accepted by the Olympic spirit. At the same time, Bach also said that the Olympic virtual series brings a new digital experience and encourages more young people to participate in sports and promote Olympic values.
In the past few years, the e-sports industry has not found a suitable "way to enter the Olympic Games". As an important bridge connecting the e-sports industry to sports, VR e-sports itself has the ability of "sports virtualization" to a certain extent, which has brought new solutions.
VR squash game Racket: NX officially recognized as a "global sport"
Recently, the International Racquetball Federation (IRF) announced that the VR squash game Racket: NX under vr game developer One Hamsa has been voted by the IRF as an officially recognized "global sport", which officially took effect on April 1 this year.
In addition, Shanghai is speeding up the construction of the "International Sports Event Capital" road, and now has international events including the F1 Grand Prix, the Tennis Masters, the Snooker Masters and other international events, as well as the city's own brand events such as the horse and the boat. In the development of virtual sports, the F1 e-sports China Championship has also become the top domestic e-sports event in recent years, and has made a good attempt to hold virtual sports comprehensive events.
Data from data analytics firm Nielsen shows that since its inception, the number of spectators, the number of participants and the value of all-media have increased year by year. Under the premise that the 2021 season has not yet ended, the number of spectators has exceeded 120 million, the number of participants has reached 60,000, and the all-media value realized through channels such as broadcasting, social media and offline venues has also exceeded 418 million yuan last season.
The boom set off by F1 e-sports has a positive boosting significance for the promotion of the F1 brand and the development of china's motorsports. At the same time, by creating a high-quality event IP, it leads the development wave of virtual sports.
Table tennis Olympic champion Deng Yaping experiences an F1 esports simulator
In fact, the Olympic Virtual Series, in cooperation with its five individual international sports federations in charge of baseball, cycling, rowing, sailing and racing, as well as various game publishers, can also be seen that the IOC has a more positive attitude towards "virtual sports projects", in the spirit of promoting peace and non-violence, especially non-virtual sports.
From the perspective of the development of the Olympic Games, hosting the OVS is undoubtedly an important step for the IOC. Perhaps, virtual sports events can have their own Olympic trials and Olympic teams in the future, just like all kinds of traditional events in reality, and everyone has the opportunity to stand out from them. The combination of traditional sports and digital life will also open a new journey for the development of sports in the future.
Note: The images used in this article are from the Internet