'This isn’t e-sports': Singapore gaming community questions inaugural Olympic event's lineup

SINGAPORE: Late in 2022, when Singapore’s Culture, Community and Youth Minister Edwin Tong announced on Facebook that the country would host the first-ever Olympic Esports Week in 2023, he made the point that “e-sports is not just about gaming”.

This drew a response in the comments from one Marcus Tan, whom eagle-eyed netizens would have recognised as one of Singapore’s top e-sports players, more commonly known by his alias Revenant.

“E-sports have primarily always been about gaming in the past 15 plus years,” said the two-time World Cyber Games champion in real-time strategy title Warcraft 3.

“To say that ‘e-sports is not just gaming’ and not include actual e-sports programmes seems to be overlooking the efforts of all the people in our nation who are immensely passionate about actual e-sports.”

In March, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) unveiled a lineup for Olympic Esports Week comprising mostly virtual recreations of physical sports. 

From Thursday (Jun 22) to Sunday at the Suntec convention centre, simulated versions of archery, baseball, chess, cycling, dance, sailing, tennis, taekwondo and motorsport will be contested by more than 110 players from across the world, with 17 representing Singapore.

Nowhere to be seen: Popular video games like Valorant, Dota and Mobile Legends, which typically headline major e-sports competitions around the world.

The Olympic selection has raised eyebrows among both global and local e-sports personalities, with several echoing Mr Tan's earlier remarks. 

He told CNA on Wednesday that the event seemed "tone-deaf" and "not an accurate representation".

A “DIFFERENT REALM”

Earlier in the year, in response to media queries on the lineup, the IOC said the primary goal of the Olympic agenda was to develop virtual sports.

“This is why we have focused first on virtual and simulated sports games in the Olympic Esports Series,” it added, referring to the tournaments leading up to the live finals at Olympic Esports Week in Singapore.

IOC also said it was important that the featured games align with Olympic values such as participation inclusivity and "avoiding any personal violence". 

But initial reactions across the globe were that of dissatisfaction and disappointment.

The co-founder of London-based e-sports agency AFK, Matt Woods, told the Guardian newspaper he was "a little embarrassed”.

“Instead of working with existing game publishers or well-established tournaments, it seems that the Olympic committee has instead decided to use this event as a marketing vehicle for brand-new, poorly thought out, unlicensed mobile games,” he added. 

Data released by market research company YouGov showed that 80 per cent of e-sports followers resided in the Asia Pacific, with the multiplayer battle arena game League of Legends (LoL) ranked as the most popular globally and in Asia.

None of the titles on showcase at Olympic Esports Week - such as the archery-influenced Tic Tac Bow - made it to the top 25 list of most popular games in Asia, according to YouGov.

“It’s a very questionable decision to use these games and call it the Olympic Esports Series,” said e-sports commentator Eugene Eu.

The 27-year-old, who has been live commentating since 2012, said the selection would be understandable if the IOC kept to its previous branding of the Olympic Virtual Series.

“That way, we can understand and draw some links from physical sports versus virtual sports,” said Mr Eu. “But to call it e-sports, that’s a completely different realm.”

Those in the community know that “this isn’t e-sports”, he added.

FIFA player Amraan Gani, for one, was shocked to find the popular football video game missing from the Olympic roster.

But he said he understood where the IOC was coming from, with the Esports Week lineup capturing the "essence" of the Olympics.

"These are actual sports that are in the Olympics and they want to translate it to e-sports as well," said Mr Amraan, who is representing Singapore at the FIFAe Nations Series tournament this year.

But e-sports is different and "you can’t compare it to real sports", he added.

The head coach of Singapore-based e-sports team Bleed Esports, Daryl Ng, said there seemed to be a “disconnect” between organisers and the e-sports community. 

“Our measure of e-sports has always been the classic Dota, LoL, and other first-person shooter titles,” said Mr Ng, whose team won a bronze medal at the 2021 Southeast Asian Games for another battle arena game, Mobile Legends.

LATE NITE ADDITION

Mr Roy Teo, co-chair of the local organising committee for Olympic Esports Week, told CNA938 in May that “everybody is still trying to define" e-sports.

He argued that the e-sports “universe" also encompasses combinations of physical and virtual elements like in the Virtual Taekwondo game.

With about two months to go before Olympic Esports Week, the IOC announced the inclusion of popular third-person shooter game Fortnite. 

“An International Shooting Sport Federation Challenge featuring Fortnite will be part of the roster for the inaugural Olympic Esports Series 2023,” said the committee. 

"Players will be tested on their target aiming accuracy, just as sport shooters would in competition."

Responding to queries from CNA, the IOC said on Thursday that one of its goals was to engage further with the gaming community - and the addition of Fortnite was a "further opportunity to achieve this".

Local e-sports personalities told CNA that Fortnite's addition was a positive and that organisers were listening.

“It’s probably the closest game to a ‘real’ e-sports game and actually tests the skills of shooting,” said Mr Ng, the coach, adding that he was looking forward to more of such titles at future Olympic events.

Apart from the main lineup, Olympic Esports Week will also feature exhibition matches in better-known video games like the iconic Street Fighter and basketball title NBA 2K.

FIFA player Mr Amraan described Fortnite as the type of game that would capture interest from audiences. 

The 28-year-old said he hoped the inclusion would attract more eyeballs to the e-sports scene to the benefit of players and the community at large. 

PROMISING BEGINNINGS?

Mr Eu, the commentator, said he had come to an understanding that the IOC was "not necessarily looking to do conventional e-sports for entertainment" but rather, putting forward their own interpretation of e-sports.

"It's not the e-sports that we know and love, but it doesn't take away the fact that it's an interesting take by the Olympics to try to include e-sports so that it works for them."

Others in the local community saw the inaugural Olympic Esports Week as a good start to furthering the industry in Singapore. 

E-racer Ar Muhammad Aleef, who will represent Singapore in motorsport at the event - through the Gran Turismo game - said seeing other titles like dance sport's Just Dance was “refreshing”. 

“Change can be scary, but it’s also fun to watch different genres,” added the 24-year-old, who has competed in 12 championships and five world finals. 

Mr Aleef also said new forms of e-sports also provided opportunities for new players to join the community.

On Tuesday, organisers announced that veteran national sailor and two-time Southeast Asian Games champion Colin Ng would represent Singapore once more - this time in the Virtual Regatta simulator at Olympic Esports Week.

The 44-year-old said he was looking forward to competing in a different format and “in front of a home crowd again”. 

The founder of e-sports events company Zenway, Lee Jian Ming, said the IOC needed to better understand what "proper" e-sports titles were compared with "digitalised" sports, which could differ from what mainstream gaming fans expect.

“(But) if the objective was about awareness and getting people to know about Olympic Esports Week this time round, I think they were successful,” he added. 

When asked about ticket sales for the event, a spokesperson from the local organising committee would only say that it is expecting more than 20,000 visitors.

“Ticket sales are still open and we foresee the demand to grow as we get closer to the event,” the spokesperson told CNA on Thursday.

Mr Tan, the Cyber Games winner among other accolades, also acknowledged efforts by organisers to include in the programme key local figures such as the Singapore Esports Association - the national governing body - and well-known professional player Daryl Koh, who goes by the alias iceiceice.

If it can help the general population “slowly understand” and view e-sports as a competitive, national sport, then Olympic Esports Week is a step in the right direction for the future of e-sports in Singapore, said Mr Tan.

What might that future look like? As he wrote in his comment on the minister's Facebook post last year: "An era where e-sports games are recognised as a traditional sport in the Olympics".