Alibaba and Olympic Council of Asia Brings Esports to the Asian Games.
Alisports CEO Zhang Dazhong and OCA president, Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah, has announced that esports are coming to the Asian Games.
The Olympic Council of Asia will be adding esports events to the 2018 and 2022 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia and Hangzhou, China through a partnership with giant commerce Alibaba.
“OCA has always been committed to the inheritance, development, and improvement of Asian sports,” said OCA President Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah. “And we look forward to the forward-thinking concepts of sports by Alisports, who will be helping us with their strength and experience in esports.”
The Asian Games, referred to as Asiad, are the biggest sports event in the world outside of the Olympics and Alisports plans to invest US$150 million on esports, or competitive computer gaming.
Last year, the company has committed US$14.5 million for the World Electronic Sports Games and they are partnering up with International e-Sports Federation (IeSF), the hosts of the World Electronic Sports Games in China’s Changzhou province, where players from 120 countries and regions competed for a $5.5m prize money in January.
