The great debate over the merits of esports and whether they should be considered on a par with real-life, physical sports has raged for years now, but with competitive esports events gaining traction and an impressive amount of sponsorship money, it appears that other entities are starting to take notice. The International Olympic Committee, an institution that has previously opposed the inclusion of esports, now looks set to change its tune.

Since the historic postponement of last year's Tokyo Olympic Games, there has been a lot of pressure on the organizers to get things up and running again for the new dates in a few months' time. Somehow, though, the IOC has found the time to plan and announce the Olympic Virtual Series, "the first-ever, Olympic-licensed event for physical and non-physical virtual sports."

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The event will run ahead of the Olympics themselves, from May 13th to June 23rd, and aims to connect the physical sporting world with the virtual sports community through five virtual sporting events. The aim seems to be to encourage mass participation around the world using these simulated versions of real-life sports, including Konami's eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020 and Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo.

Each event will be different from the others in some key respects, as they are each run by their respective International Federation. Viewers can expect to see baseball, cycling, rowing, sailing and motor racing represented.

It's certainly an exciting development, coming from such a huge organization, and there are already suggestions of future expansions of the event. Other International Federations, including FIFA and the International Basketball Association, have expressed interest in being part of the OVS in the future in the event of its success.

While it's not quite the whole-hearted embrace of esports that gamers might be clamoring for, this announcement clearly shows a general movement in a positive direction. The IOC's agenda for the next few years includes a point to "encourage the development of virtual sports and further engage with video gaming communities," so fans might see Olympic-level Street Fighter and Fortnite competitions earlier than they think.

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Source: International Olympic Committee