Adventure Magazine

ESPORTS
THE IMPACT OF THE OLYMPICS
Duane Motu directing the future
The inclusion of esports in the
Olympics has generated a significant
impact and sparked both excitement
and controversy. Esports, which
involves competitive video gaming,
has garnered a massive global
following in recent years, especially
among younger generations. By
bringing esports to the Olympic stage,
the Games have seen increased
engagement from new audiences and
a massive surge in digital viewership.
The question now begs, does this
allow the Olympics to stay relevant
and adapt to modern entertainment
preferences or does it water-down the
fundamentals of Olympic competitive
sport?
Despite the positive impacts, including
esports under the Olympic rings has
faced criticism from various quarters.
Traditionalists argue that esports
lack the physicality and athleticism of
conventional Olympic sports (which
does show a lack of understanding of
how esports are sometimes played).
The journey of esports towards
Olympic recognition has been gradual.
The International Olympic Committee
(IOC) first acknowledged esports'
potential cultural impact and began
engaging with stakeholders in the
gaming industry during the early
2010s. In 2017, esports made its
first appearance in the Asian Indoor
and Martial Arts Games, marking
a significant step towards broader
recognition was included as a
demonstration sport at the 2018 Asian
Games in Jakarta.
Earlier this year Singapore, hosted the
first in-person Olympic Esports Week
including 10 finals in the Olympic
Esports Series 2023.
It began with the Olympic Esports
Week Forum, which heard from
industry leaders in technology,
gaming, and real-world sports as well
as top players such as Ewok and
Jaime "Karma" Bickford.
Once competition began form the very
first event, the Zwift cycling final, to
the very last, the eFIBA on NBA2k23
exhibition, sports and gaming came
together to produce an impressive
show watched by huge numbers .
Tic Tac Bow (archery), Virtual Regatta
(sailing), Just Dance (dance), WBSC
eBASEBALL: POWER PROS
(baseball), Chess.com (chess),
Tennis Clash (tennis), ISSF Challenge
featuring Fortnite (shooting), and Gran
Turismo 7 (motorsport) all also got
their time in the limelight under the
traditional Olympic Rings.
The shooting and motorsport
competitions, played with large
followings worldwide, understandably
popular – but it was the Virtual
Taekwondo event, the last final of the
Olympic Esports Series 2023, which
drew one of the biggest crowds of the
entire Olympic Esports Week.
At the forefront of esports, worldwide
is the Kiwi, Duane Mutu, we caught up
with Duane found out more about who
he was and got a positive glimpse into
what some see as a controversial
future.
Who is Duane Mutu? I am an NZ
Maori with ties to the far north Te
Rarawa, Ngati Kahu but reside in
Orewa on the sunny Hibiscus Coast.
I have a wife, two kids, a dog, a cat,
two mice and a fish. I went to Uni
and left to travel the world and spent
time in Asia, Australia, and Europe
before coming home. Throughout
that journey I primarily worked in two
sectors which I think are very similar -
gaming and action sports.
I worked in UK launching Mambo
surfwear and spent time at other surf
brands too. I launched the NZ TV
channel Garage TV which was a 24-
hour action sport network. In gaming,
I was lucky enough to launch the
Nintendo Game Cube and worked
with the biggest gaming brands like
Ubisoft, Disney, EA. I have always
been fascinated with both sectors and
seen similarities. I grew up skating,
surfing and snowboarding before it
was mainstream and a lot people
frowned upon the sector and its
participants and that now is similar
to esports. Nobody saw surfing and
skating making the Olympics back
when I started surfing, but that is
true for Gaming now, and I have just
returned from the first-ever Olympic
esports week… history repeating.
Who or what is Letsplay.live?
Letsplay.live is a company I created
to grow the best video game players
in NZ and we were very early to the
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