Fortnite added to Olympics 2023 lineup - with no killing
Esports has always had a stringent relationship with the Olympics, especially considering corporations and aristocrats are accused of being "out of touch" with the world of professional gaming and its athletes.
This was recently reinforced by the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to hold the Olympic Esports Week 2023 with a "virtual sports" angle, replacing dynamite esports titles like CS:GO, League of Legends, and even the easily digestible Rocket League, with Tic Tac Bow and Just Dance to replicate pre-existing Olympic sports.
Despite justifying the Olympic Esports Week game choices, the IOC has now gone one step further in its quest to stay out of touch, as it has now added Fortnite to the Olympic Esports Week 2023 lineup, but there's no killing...
Fortnite added to the Olympics in the most beautifully out-of-touch way
Click to enlargeThe IOC, combined with the International Shooting Sport Federation, has now announced that Fortnite will be added to the Olympic Esports Week catalogue of games. However, it's not actually Fortnite.
The event will see 12 players from the FNCS 2023 circuit be invited to Singapore to compete on a specially designed Fortnite Creative Island, where the focus will be to simulate a "sport shooting competition." Basically, 12 Fortnite pros are competing in a shooting range drill.
The Fortnite Creative shooting range circuit will "put the target-aiming accuracy of sharpshooters to the test and see them navigate the in-game environment as they compete to become an Olympic Esports Series winner," according to the IOC.
If that wasn't enough, Fortnite's entry into the Olympic Esports Week will also be a closed event with no qualifiers.
Fortnite listed as 'Sport Shooting' in Olympic Esports Week 2023
Click to enlargeThe newly-added Fortnite event is now being listed as Sport Shooting in the Olympic Esports Week, and will be played out on Saturday, June 24 .It comes alongside Baseball (WBSC eBaseball), Taekwondo (Virtual Taekwondo), and Tennis (Tennis Clash).
IOC representatives have previously claimed that all esports events will need an accredited International Federation, which is why we don't have usual esports events, and hence why they are now pivoting Fortnite to become a shooting simulation title replicable of Skeet and Rifling.
Whether this could be construed as a step in the right direction for Olympic Esports is yet to be seen. At least, in its most simplistic, nonsensical, and pacifistic way possible, and the actual esport title will be played in the Olympic Esports Week 2023 with Fortnite.