On November 5, 2021, Beijing time, the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee held a special press conference at the 4th China International Import Expo, officially announcing the specific settings of the 8 sub-sports events of the Hangzhou Asian Games: League of Legends, Glory of kings (Asian Games version), Peace Elite (Asian Games version), Hearthstone, Dota 2, Dream Three Kingdoms 2, Street Fighter 5 and fifa online 4 were jointly selected.
The 8 official competition projects involve Tencent, Riot Games, ea sports, Blizzard Entertainment, capcom, Soul Network and Valve, a total of 7 manufacturers. Among them, Dream Three Kingdoms 2, Dota 2, Fifa Online 4, Peace Elite (Asian Games version) and Street Fighter 5 are all selected for the Asian Games for the first time.
The Asian Organizing Committee officially said that the setting of e-sports minor events has been consulted by the Asian E-sports Federation, the Olympic Council of Asia, and the State General Administration of Sport, "comprehensively considering the fairness of the competition rules, the value orientation of the content, the international influence and publicity and promotion and other factors."
This is the first time that eSports has become an official event at the Asian Games, and the medals generated by the event will be counted in the national medal table. At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang, esports first appeared at the Asian Games as a demonstration event. Chinese e-sports players have achieved 2 gold and 1 silver in the 3 e-sports they participated in.
The Hangzhou Asian Organizing Committee also expressed its hope that through the addition of e-sports, break dance and other projects, it will "promote the integration of traditional sports and emerging sports, show the Internet characteristics of the host city, and enhance the attention of the young group of the Hangzhou Asian Games" through the addition of e-sports, break dance and other projects. It is worth mentioning that breakdancing also became an official event of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in December 2020.
In fact, rejuvenation and urbanization have always been a trend in the development of large-scale international comprehensive sports events in recent years, and the discussion on the possibility of "e-sports entering the Olympic Games" in the future has never stopped. On 9 April 2020, current IOC President Thomas Bach mentioned in an open letter titled "The Olympic Games and the Coronavirus" on the official website of the International Olympic Games that while respecting the red line of Olympic values, the IOC is more encouraging all stakeholders to more eagerly consider how to manage their electronic and virtual forms of sports and explore opportunities for collaboration with game publishers.