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Esports will continue to be an official medal event in international Olympic-recognized events as the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Organizing Committee (AINAGOC) announces that esports will be included as one of the nine new sports to be added in the 2026 Asian Games, the Asian Electronics Sports Federation reports.
As of press time, the exact titles that will be included in the esports events have not yet been revealed.
Also called XX Asian Games, the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 has been confirmed to include esports as one of its medal events. The AINAGOC decided upon this after the recently concluded 42nd Olympic Council of Asia General Assembly held in Bangkok, Thailand. While not the first Asian Games to have an esports event included in its activities, esports being part of the 2026 Asian Games shows that the sport is now already cementing its place in the Olympics sphere. The upcoming 19th Asian Games, which will be held in Hangzhou, China from September to October this year, will also be including esports, with 8 medal events and 2 demonstration events, including Arena of Valor, Dota 2, Dream of the Three Kingdoms 2, EA Sports FC, Hearthstone, League of Legends, PUBG Mobile, and Street Fighter V.
It is also worth noting that the International Olympic Committee has also started warming up to esports becoming a part of Olympics festivities, albeit in a different form and with caveats. For one, esports is held with its own event called the Olympics Esports Series, whose first event happened last month in Singapore called the Olympics Esports Week. Unlike the games played in the Asian Games, the Olympics Esports Week had an odd selection of events in tow: Digital Taekwondo, Just Dance, Chess.com, Gran Turismo 7, and Tic-Tac Bow, to name a few. The International Olympic Committee also maintains that albeit esports are now being included in Olympics-recognized events, esports events will not be medal events in the Olympics, and winners will instead be awarded trophies instead of medals.
