Organizers of the upcoming Paris Olympics in 2024 are considering eSports to be part of their games even though the president of the International Olympic Committee doesn't agree with that.

How big of an industry eSports is?

eSports generated $493m in revenue with a global audience of about 320m people in 2016, the market research firm Newzoo reported last year.

While initially popular as a spectator sport in Asia – more than 40,000 people attended the 2014 League of Legends World Championship finals in Seoul – competitive gaming now draws tens of millions of spectators to online platforms and real-world venues, including New York’s Madison Square Garden, the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the MGM Grand Garden Arena on the Las Vegas Strip.

The International 2017, a Dota 2 tournament under way this week in Seattle, is offering a prize pool of nearly $24m.

Are all games the same ?

“We want to promote non-discrimination, non-violence, and peace among people,” he told the Morning Post. “This doesn’t match with video games, which are about violence, explosions and killing. And there we have to draw a clear line.”If he’s going to be a nonviolence purist then, yeah, this definitely means no Counter-Strike or Overwatch and probably means no Dota 2 or League of Legends. What would be acceptable? Esports resembling sports that are played in real life, such as soccer or basketball.

Are there going to be viewers ?

The real question is why would anyone watch something already contested in real life ? And it does matter who and how The Olympics can puff out about its values and philosophy and whatnot, but it is a multibillion-dollar sports promotion, and the networks who pay so handsomely for rights to broadcast these events expect that the ones the Olympics chooses will be attractive to advertisers.

Sanctions against pro players

The Esports Integrity Coalition, a nonprofit founded in 2016, has made strides on working with esports organizations to decide sanctions for pro players found cheating, doping, or participating in match-fixing schemes. It’s still early days for ESIC, and not every esports organization has partnered with them, but it’s something.

Is there still a chance that eSports is gonna be a part of the Olympics?

“We have to look at it because we can’t say, ‘It’s not us. It’s not about Olympics,’” Estanguet said in an interview with the Associated Press. “The youth, yes they are interested in eSport and this kind of thing. Let’s look at it. Let’s meet them. Let’s try if we can find some bridges.

Question for everyone

Whats your opinion good people, would you like to see eSports as a part of the Paris Olympics 2024 and do you expect the viewer base to be as big as it is with other sports ?