Could Call of Duty qualify as an Olympic sport?

The International Olympic Committee is reportedly considering an application for eSports to be introduced at the 2020 Games in Tokyo
Joe Krishnan12 May 2016

The tree-lined approach to Paris’s Le Zenith sports and entertainment arena feels tranquil, with children playing on the green. But inside, the ESWC eSports Convention is under way and the atmosphere is anything but calm. Thousands of professional gamers are going head-to-head in a Call of Duty competition and the atmosphere is charged. Reputations are on the line and $20,000 of prize money is at stake.

Gaming has become serious. This month, West Ham United became the first football team in the UK to sign a professional FIFA 16 player to represent them at gaming tournaments — Sean “Dragonn” Allen, aged 24. Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee is reportedly considering an application for eSports to be introduced at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

In the league I am watching, teams of four compete in the first-person shooter game Call of Duty Black Ops III. People have come from all over the world for this three-day stand-off, and the reigning champions, OpTic Gaming from the US, are predicted to retain their crown.

The stadium is filled with fans dressed in their favourite teams’ uniforms, jostling past each other to get a photo with their icons — and there are even eWAGs who are dedicated groupies. The fans are as ardent as any Belieber and treat the players like celebrities — OpTic’s captain, Pennsylvanian Seth Abner, has more than a million followers on Twitter.

This support makes for a superb atmosphere. Deafening cheers from the crowd are met with enthusiastic commentary from the French presenter, who counts down to the start: “Trois! Deux! Un! Allez!” he shouts, and they chant back.

The players devote their time to tactics and preparation — whether that’s investing in a special controller or creating custom weapon set-ups.

In the dressing room I meet Callum Swan, preparing for his next round. Known as “Swanny”, the 23-year-old put his place at university on hold to be a professional gamer. He arrived on the gaming scene aged 15, competing in local Call of Duty tournaments. During his gap year he won $200,000 in a game and says: “Once that happened there was nothing else I considered pursuing as a career path and I decided to abandon my plans for university.” His parents needed convincing but, he says: “If you can show them there is a return in terms of monetary gains or experience, they will accept that it could be a legitimate career.”

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A recent SuperData report estimated that the gaming sector generated £430 million of revenue worldwide last year and at this year’s quarter-final match in Paris, more than 12,000 people have tuned in to the English-language stream online.

There’s a strong London contingent in Paris and demand for more events like this over here. Alan Brice, who provides English commentary for ESWC’s online stream, says: “The events in London are fantastic but it needs to have more eSports action.”

He wants more women to compete, given that the number of female gamers in eSports is estimated to be just 15 per cent, and some tournaments are segregated by gender.

So could eSports make it to the Tokyo Olympics? Jay Puryear, brand director at Treyarch — involved in making of Call of Duty — says it should: “The spirit of the Olympics is to bring players and competition to a worldwide stage -eSports has the potential to do that.”

As the final draws to a close, fans in Paris are still rapt. OpTic cinches it, breezing to victory against Splyce from the UK. Their supporters break into a rumbunctious round of cheering while team members trade high fives. Next step, the Olympic podium?

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