Arena of Valor Chosen by Olympic Council of Asia for the 2018 Asian Games

By Zac Cameron ·

Esports is going mainstream as prepares to make its debut at a major international sporting event with the mobile game Arena of Valor and its competitors as the industry's representatives.

Arena of Valor Chosen by Olympic Council of Asia for the 2018 Asian Games

Esports is taking a major step towards mainstream recognition with the announcement that Arena of Valor has been selected by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and the Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF) for the upcoming 2018 Asian Olympic Games taking place in Jakarta. Taking place from August 18th to September 2nd, the popular game will share the stage with other traditional sports such as Baseball, Archery, and Aquatic events. Arena of Valor will not be the only game featured at the event, joined by StarCraft 2, Hearthstone, Pro Evolution Soccer, and Tencent’s other extremely popular game, League of Legends.

"We appreciate the recognition of OCA and AESF. We believe it is a great gift for Esports and Esports fans globally,” said Vice President of Tencent Group, Cheng Wu. “Tencent Games is very proud to be a participant and witness of this moment, and we believe it will bring more possibilities to the development of this industry."

The hugely popular mobile game will likely attract even more fans thanks to its inclusion in the 2018 Asian Games
The hugely popular mobile game will likely attract even more fans thanks to its inclusion in the 2018 Asian Games

The criteria used to decide on which games were chosen was stringent, consisting on an agreed upon set of parameters by each committee and include fair play, which means that players cannot purchase advantage in the game, non-violence, and games that have had a massive impact on video game fans and culture as a whole, so no FPS games unfortunately.

This isn’t the only big news for the popular mobile game however, with the upcoming Arena of Valor World Cup set to take place in Los Angeles this coming July. Players from around the world will compete for a chance to win a part of the $550,000 prize pool, currently the biggest in Mobile Esports.

For more on the upcoming Arena of Valor World Cup, check out our breakdown here, and for more on the upcoming Asian Games, check out the Olympic Council of Asia’s website, here.

(Images via Tencent)