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The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have announced a ground-breaking collaboration through a formal letter of collaboration.
This partnership aims to exchange information, insights, and best practices to combat corruption and misconduct in esports.
The IOC’s Olympic Movement Unit for the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions (OM Unit PMC) will play a key role in this initiative, helping to develop and implement strategies, initiatives, and programs to enhance integrity in esports.
ESIC will act as an advisory body, providing guidance and expertise to the IOC and OM Unit PMC.
Founded in 2016, ESIC is a non-profit organization focused on addressing integrity concerns in the esports industry, including prosecuting breaches such as match-fixing.
Recently, a new board featuring executives from Electronic Sports League (ESL) and BLAST was established to strengthen ethical practices through frameworks and benchmarks to tackle issues like cheating.
The IOC has increasingly invested in the esports space, establishing a new official commission last year that includes notable stakeholders from G2 Esports, Ubisoft, and Konami.
Additionally, the IOC announced plans to create an Olympic Esports Games following the Olympic Esports Series, which featured competitions in titles such as Gran Turismo, Zwift, and Just Dance.
Friedrich Martens, Head of the OM Unit PMC at the IOC, expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration, stating: “With numerous IFs organizing esports competitions and the IOC planning to organize relevant competitions as well, we need to ensure that we have all the information and intelligence available to make sure that these competitions are free of manipulations or related breaches.
“Therefore, we are very happy about this letter of collaboration formalizing the long-standing communication between ESIC and the OM Unit PMC, particularly as esports is a developing area.
“Thus, we count on the support of ESIC for safeguarding the integrity and credibility of the esports competitions of the Olympic Movement, specifically to also further understand relevant risks and develop all right measures to mitigate them.”
Stephen Hanna, CEO of ESIC, also shared his enthusiasm, stating: “This collaboration with the IOC and the OM Unit PMC denotes a significant milestone for the global esports industry and is a testament to the IOC’s engagement with the industry in the development of its esports strategy.
“We are looking forward to working with the IOC to support its ambitious esports initiatives.
“This collaboration further validates the critical nature of ESIC’s mission and provides the industry with further assurance that ESIC’s work is meeting the evolving challenges to competitive integrity in esports.”
ESIC has been diligent in its efforts to disrupt, prevent, investigate, and prosecute cheating and malpractice in esports.
In April 2024, ESIC launched the FairPlay Academy, a learning platform aimed at promoting fair play, ethics, and anti-corruption within esports and gaming.
The International Olympic Committee, renowned for organizing The Olympic Games, positions itself as the guardian of the Olympic Games and the leader of the Olympic Movement.
It fosters collaboration among Olympic nations, stakeholders, athletes, and more.
The OM Unit PMC is an internal IOC unit dedicated to supporting International Sports Federations (IFs), National Olympic Committees (NOCs), multi-sports event organizers, and other sports organizations in their efforts to protect the integrity of their sports and competitions.
