Alibaba wants esports at the Olympics

But some of the biggest games may not make it

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Esports fans often spectate in huge arenas like this one in Hong Kong. (Source: South China Morning Post).

Published: 12:30pm, 20 Mar 2018Updated: 8:20am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Fans of esports may be closer to seeing players compete at the Olympics — but some of the most popular games may be missing.

Major Olympics sponsor Alibaba says it will support esports as an official competitive sport at the games, but the company says it wants to focus on non-violent games related to existing sports — apparently ruling out League of Legends, Dota 2, and Overwatch. (Abacus is a unit of the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba.)

"For the first time [at the Olympic Games] and for a global audience that may not have known or watched esports before, having a focus on sports games or games that are less violent in nature will help with the public perception of esports," Jason Fung, global esports director at Alisports, told us.

Fung did not name specific titles, but other Alisports execs hinted to Bloomberg that football and motorsport titles were being considered.

But games based on existing sports like FIFA or NBA 2K -- the kind others have suggested could appear at the Olympics -- aren’t as popular as esports.

Instead, it’s games like Overwatch and League of Legends that fill stadiums, according to Derek Cheung, CEO of Hong Kong Esports.

Alibaba wants esports at the Olympics

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}But some of the biggest games may not make it

But some of the biggest games may not make it