Image: Olympic Council of Asia
The Olympic Council of Asia revealed eleven titles representing esports as medalled events at the 2026 Asian Games.
The 2026 Asian Games has revealed eleven titles that will represent esports as medalled events. The National Olympic Committees, Executive Board members, Chairs of the OCA Standing Committees, and the Vice President for the Asian Games Organizing Committee, OCA Director General Husain Al Musallam, held an online emergency executive board meeting on Saturday, 22 February, 2025 to determine the titles for the upcoming competition in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
Image: OCA
Here are the eleven chosen titles for the esports programme:
- Competitive Martial Arts (Team Competition) (only one medal)
- Street Fighter Series
- Tekken Series
- King of Fighter Series
- Pokemon Unite
- Honor of Kings
- League of Legends
- PUBG Mobile - Asian Games Version
- Mobile Legends: Bang Bang
- Identity V: Asian Games Version
- Naraka: Bladepoint
- Gran Turismo 7
- Efootball Series
- Puyo Puyo Champions
The esports programme was first introduced at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang, Indonesia as a demonstration sport. During the 2018 Asian Games, medals won in the esports programme weren't counted in the overall medal tally. Only six titles saw competition at the event: Arena of Valor, Clash Royale, Hearthstone, League of Legends, Pro Evolution Soccer, and StarCraft II.
Esports returned on the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. This was the first occasion the programme was recognised as a medalled event in the Asian Games. A total of eight medal events were planned alongside two demonstration events: Robotics and VR. However, Hearthstone was eventually removed because of the closure of Blizzard server in China. The titles that were competed in were: EA Sports FC Online, Street Fighter V, Arena of Valor, DOTA 2, Dream Three Kingdoms 2, League of Legends, and PUBG Mobile.
The 2026 Asian Games will take place from 19 September to 4 October, 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
