The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has announced that eight video games will be included as medaled events for the Asian Games 2022. The games will be Street Fighter V, Hearthstone, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile Asian Games Version, Dota 2, League of Legends, Arena of Valor Asian Games Version, EA Sports FIFA, and Dream Three Kingdom 2.
The Asian Games is a continental multisport event that is held every four years where athletes from Asia compete against each other in various sports for medals. It is very similar to the Olympics, however, it focuses solely on Asia. Video games have been part of the Asian Games in the past, but mainly were only demonstration events, so the medals won during these events were not counted toward countries’ medal total.
The Asian Electronic Sports Federation, or the AESF, will be the technical delegate of this new branch of the Asian Games. It will handle the operation and the management of the esports competition.
This will be the second time the International Olympic Committee will recognize esports as a medaled event. The Asian Games 2018 was the first time video games were entered as medaled events. The games for that event were Dota 2, Starcraft II, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Hearthstone, Arena of Valor, and Tekken 7.
The Asian Games 2022 will be held in Hangzhou, China, and will start this month.
