Competitive Gamers Puzzled at the Choice of Games Featured for the Singapore Olympics eSports Week

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ESports has long been derided as "not a real sport". But now, an Olympic-organised event is being dismissed by competitive gamers as not real eSports. Many long-time backers of big-money digital contests, which are edging their way towards elite-level recognition, are puzzled by the choice of games at the inaugural Olympics Esports Week that kicks off in Singapore on Thursday.

Instead of well-established gaming titles, it will feature 10 simulated sports, among them archery, baseball, chess, and taekwondo. Aficionados are concerned with the choice of virtual sports — that is, digital recreations of real-world events — rather than eSports, which are essentially video games played at an elite competitive level.

With popular video games such as Counter-Strike and DOTA 2, eSports has been booming over the past decade. It has penetrated pop culture and social media, its tournaments filling stadiums and pulling millions of online viewers.

Matthew Woods from eSports marketing agency AFK said the disappointment over the Olympics Esports Week "spawned from the fact that none of the games selected were games that anybody in the industry really considered to be eSports".

Malaysian professional eSports coach Khairul Azman Mohamad Sharif agreed, saying he found the list baffling. "I don't think these sports games should be highlighted at the competition compared to top eSports games, considering these types of sports are already physically contested," he said.

The only saving grace for some is that the shooting event will involve the globally loved Fortnite, but in a version without its kill-or-be-killed Battle Royale mode. That modification is because the International Olympic Council (IOC) cannot feature titles that go against