The International Olympic Committee began engaging with esports as far back as 2007, when competitive gaming was included at the Asian Indoor Games. A formal Olympic Summit in October 2017 examined the possible role of esports within the Olympic Movement, followed by an IOC Esports Forum in July 2018. The central obstacles to recognition were the absence of a single international governing body for esports and concerns about violent content in mainstream competitive titles such as Counter-Strike, Dota, and League of Legends, all of which the IOC considered unsuitable for an Olympic-branded event.
The COVID-19 pandemic provided an indirect catalyst. With the 2020 Summer Olympics postponed to 2021, the IOC launched the Olympic Virtual Series — an online-only event covering baseball, cycling, motorsport, rowing, and sailing. A second edition planned for 2022 was cancelled, and the concept was instead developed into the broader Olympic Esports Series format.
The IOC announced the Olympic Esports Series in November 2022, to be held as part of an Olympic Esports Week in Singapore. The live finals ran from 23 to 25 June 2023 at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, with an opening ceremony on 22 June. IOC president Thomas Bach and Singapore's President Halimah Yacob both appeared at the opening ceremony remotely, with Halimah speaking from Qatar where she was on a state visit.
A total of 131 finalists competed across ten events representing ten Olympic sports: archery, baseball, chess, cycling, dance, motorsport, sailing, shooting, taekwondo, and tennis. A further event held entirely online also carried trophy honours. Game titles for each sport were put forward by the relevant international federation in conjunction with the game's publisher. Gran Turismo represented motorsport; Zwift was used for cycling. The shooting event used Fortnite in a specially designed target-shooting format, stripping out the standard battle royale mechanics — a decision that drew ridicule from some commentators, with IGN calling it "the dumbest Olympic esport."
The event attracted around 20,000 spectators across its four days. It also carried historical significance in the chess competition, where Russian athletes Maksim Chigaev and Aleksandr Rakhmanov competed as individual neutral athletes — marking the first IOC-sanctioned event in which Russian competitors participated under that designation following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee. A Ukrainian player, Oleksandr Bortnyk, competed alongside them.
Eight current or former Olympians competed in the taekwondo event, including Wu Jingyu of China, who took bronze, and Aaron Cook representing both Great Britain and Moldova.
Unlike the standard Olympic Games, the Olympic Esports Series did not award medals. Finishers in the top three positions received gold-, silver-, and bronze-coloured trophies instead. This distinction was deliberate, reflecting the IOC's position that the series was a separate category of competition rather than an extension of the medal-bearing Olympics.
The game selection attracted widespread criticism from the esports industry and gaming community. Only Gran Turismo and Just Dance had significant global recognition among the initial titles; several others were mobile games with limited international profiles. Polygon described the list as "odd." Representatives from the digital agency sector said the IOC appeared to have used the event as a marketing vehicle for brand-new, poorly received titles rather than engaging with established esports publishers. African participation was also criticised after the event concluded, with commentators noting that online qualifiers placed African players at a disadvantage due to connectivity challenges.
Some industry figures adopted a more measured position. Chester King, vice-president of the Global Esports Federation and chief executive of British Esports, described the approach as "a very sensible first approach" given the need to bring traditional Olympic governance bodies on board.
The 2023 Esports Week also featured exhibition events in Rocket League, Street Fighter 6, and NBA 2K23. The Rocket League segment included a men's show match between Karmine Corp and Gen.G, won by Karmine Corp, and a women's match between G2 Luna and Williams Resolve, won by Resolve.
Following the 142nd IOC Session, held during the 2024 Summer Olympics, the Olympic Esports Series was voted out of existence. Its replacement, the Olympic Esports Games, was approved unanimously on 23 July 2024. The inaugural Olympic Esports Games are scheduled for 2027 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, under a partnership with the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, and will take place on a biennial basis between Summer and Winter Olympics editions.