The Olympic Esports Series will feature 'Just Dance,' 'Gran Turismo' and chess

engadget.com:

The International Olympics Committee has laid out more details for the upcoming Olympic Esports Series, which will take place in Singapore in June. The lineup features facsimiles of real-world competitive events rather than what many people may think of as traditional esports, such as real-time strategy titles, fighting games and first-person shooters.

The initial batch of nine games connect to disciplines overseen by international sports federations. They include Just Dance and online chess from Chess.com. Some titles that have appeared at previous IOC-sanctioned events are returning, including Gran Turismo and Zwift, which requires participants to physically pedal on a stationary bike. Archery, baseball, sailing, taekwondo and tennis games round out the list. Qualifiers for the various titles, which include mobile games like Tennis Clash, start today.

"The Olympic Movement brings people together in peaceful competition," David Lappartient, chair of the IOC Esports Liaison Group, said. "The Olympic Esports Series 2023 is a continuation of that, with the ambition of creating more spaces to play for both players and fans of elite competition."

The Esports Series follows on from the Olympic Virtual Series, which took place in 2021 in the lead up to the Olympic Games in Tokyo. That esports event featured baseball, cycling (on Zwift), rowing, sailing and motorsport. The IOC says the series drew in more than 250,000 participants from 100 countries.

Although the organization is still just warming up to the idea of bringing esports into the Olympic Games proper, the series is part of the IOC's efforts to engage with younger people and perhaps provide a gateway for them into sport. A strategic plan (PDF) approved by the IOC in 2021