WBSC highlights commitment to innovation in eSport and celebrates IOC announcement of Olympic Esports Games in Saudi Arabia
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) proudly acknowledges its significant role in the evolving world of eSport, which recently reached a significant milestone with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC’s) announcement of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the host of the inaugural Olympic Esports Games 2024.
The WBSC has been a pioneering participant in eSport through WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS, created in partnership with world-leading gaming publisher KONAMI. This authentic and in-depth strategy game play perfectly recreates baseball in all its tactical and technical aspects.
The title has featured at all Olympic eSport events, first at the Olympic Virtual Series in 2021 and most recently as one of 10 virtual sports at last year’s inaugural Olympic Esports Series. The finals were played during Olympic Esports Week in Singapore in June, where 10 eBASEBALL™ rising stars captivated fans worldwide, amassing nearly two million views on the @Olympics YouTube channel.
In 2023, WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari was appointed to sit on the IOC Esports Commission, reflecting his influential role in the global esports community. As a member of the commission, President Fraccari brings a wealth of experience and strategic vision, helping to shape the future of eSport within the Olympic Movement.
WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari said: “The WBSC is excited about the IOC's announcement of the Olympic Esports Games in Saudi Arabia. This event represents a significant milestone in the evolution of eSport within the Olympic Movement, and the WBSC is eager to continue its active participation and support. We know that eSport is increasing popular among young people today, and the upcoming Olympic Esports Games will provide an excellent platform for the Olympic Movement to further engage and inspire them.”
The WBSC is committed to engaging new audiences in baseball and softball, especially the younger generations, through eSport. Increasingly, the WBSC has staged eBASEBALL competitions among key international baseball events. For example, the final of the CTBA eBASEBALL™ Open played on the sidelines of the XXXI U-18 Baseball World Cup 2023 in the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium.
Looking ahead, the world of eSport is also now participating in the second edition of the WBSC eBASEBALL™ Series, which culminates in the inaugural ePremier12, where the championship game will take place in late November at the Tokyo Dome, alongside the WBSC's flagship international baseball tournament the Premier12.
The WBSCapproved the inclusion of eSport as a discipline of baseball and softball in2020, while the WBSC eSport strategy is based on three pillars - eSport mobile,eSport virtual and eSport pro with the WBSC Virtual Cup being staged for thefirst time in 2022, setting a record for the number of participants in a WBSCWorld Cup.
The WBSC Virtual
Cup Opening Round ran for an entire month in bars in Korea, Japan, Mexico andthe United States, where a total of 8,146 entries were received to compete inthe tournament, making it the most participated WBSC event in history.