A non profit initiative backed by the UK government just gave a serious boost to international acceptance and spread of competitive eSports. eGames was launched as a part of the London Games Festival.
The eGames are modeled after the Olympic games, and participating teams will compete for gold medals and national pride. There will be no cash prizes. Male and female teams will be separate, with a minimum age of 18 years. Team and individual games will be played as part of the competition.
Delegations from each country will be called an eTeam, followed by the name of the country. There are four nations on board right now, eTeam Britain, eTeam Canada, eTeam Brazil and eTeam USA. The eGames will be held after the Olympic games, in their respective host cities. It will even be held in the same arenas that hosted the Olympics. Events are scheduled for the 2018 winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea and the 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
The first planned event will take place over two days in Rio during the Olympics later this year. The social network accounts of eGames on Twitter and Instagram have been tweeting graphics used for team logos and t-shirts.