Today, the eGames tournament announced the titles for their showcase at the 2016 Olympics. The event will feature the games SMITE and Super Smash Bros during two tournaments held at the British House in the historic Parque Lage in Rio De Janeiro.
The eGames tournament was originally created in May 2015, and was the end result of a conversation among eSports and sports industry leaders. They came to the conclusion that they could create a competition not based on winning money, but inspiring national pride. The UK Government then became involved to provide support and promote eSports at home and internationally. Thus, the not-for-profit International eGames Committee (IEGC) was formed with the aim of positively shaping the future of competitive gaming.
The tournament hopes to create the “Olympics of eSports”, and as such they’ve invited national teams and players of various background to compete. On August 15, the ESL-hosted SMITE portion will pit the top international teams — including Brazil — against each other.
Tuesday August 16, will focus on Super Smash Bros for the Wii U. Top Smash players from around the world have been invited — including EVO Champion; Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma, Ally (Canada); the winner of Smash Factor 5, Leo (Mexico); Larry Lurr (USA) and J. Miller (Great Britain).
Much like the Olympics, this showcase is meant to encourage sportsmanship and high-level competition. That is part of the reason there is no prize pool — only medals like actual Olympic events. As eSports continues to become more popular eGames hopes to further legitimize them alongside any sport.
If successful, eGames hope to eventually have a full event after the 2020 Olympics.
