It looks like esports will be part of the 2030 Commonwealth Games. That is, if the town of Hamilton in Canada wins the bid to host the upcoming games in eight years. 2030 will also mark the Commonwealth Games’ 100th anniversary, as the very first Commonwealth Games took place in Hamilton, Canada, all the way back in 1930.

Speaking with the BBC, Commonwealth Games Federation chief Katie Sadleir said that esports could be a full part of the programme in the future. However, she added that the programme for the 2026 Victoria Commonwealth Games had not yet been confirmed.

She said:

“What we are interested in, in terms of the Commonwealth Games is providing opportunities for young people to achieve their potential and we think that the huge growth in esports is really exciting.

The long term future of esports and collaboration – that’s why this pilot programme is so important to us.

We think it’s a good opportunity to learn from each other, to align ourselves with something that’s growing at such phenomenal rates for young people and the way that they’re looking at innovating themselves in terms of active esports opportunities.”

The next event will be the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK, where they will pilot esports for the first time. The Commonwealth Esports Championship, running alongside Birmingham 2022, will have separate branding, medals and organisation.

Esports is fast becoming officially recognised at major sporting events, like the SEA Games and the Asian Games. The upcoming 2022 Asian Games in Huangzhou, China, will feature eight medal games, including Arena of Valor (Asian Games Version), DOTA 2, Dream Three Kingdoms 2, EA SPORTS FIFA branded soccer games, Hearthstone, League of Legends, PUBG Mobile (Asian Games Version) and Street Fighter V.