The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has canceled the first edition of the Olympic Esports Games, which were scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia in 2027. 

The IOC announced the creation of this global eSports tournament last year, with the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee and nonprofit tournament organizer Esports World Cup Foundation brought in as partners. The plan was for the gaming competition to take place in Saudi Arabia for the next three Olympic cycles before evaluating a new host country. 

In its online statement canceling the event, the IOC said that the three parties have mutually agreed to part ways following an internal review of planning progress. The Olympic Committee will endeavor to develop a new partnership model for this initiative, while the other two organizations pursue their own separate eSports ambitions. 

Despite the initiative falling through, the IOC says there is still strong demand from both the eSports community and Olympics shareholders for an event like this. 

According to Paris-based research journal Polytechnique Insights, the global eSports market generated US$2.4 billion last year, and its audience is expected to reach 640.8 million people by the end of 2025. More than half of these fans are located in APAC (57%), followed by Europe (16%) and North America (12%). 

The five most popular eSports titles so far this year are Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (4.1 million peak viewers), League of Legends (3.6 million viewers), Counter-Strike (1.79 million viewers), Dota 2 (1.78 million viewers) and Valorant (1.47 million viewers), according to Esports Charts.