Fortnite officially becomes an Olympic sport

Fortnite has officially become an Olympic sport. The trajectory of the professional gaming scene has been on an upward trend for a while, with Epic Games' battle royale right at the forefront. It's become a viable career option and paved the way for pro gaming to enter the mainstream, and now it will be played at the Olympic level amongst the best players in the world. It will stem out of the Fortnite Championship Series.

According to the official Olympic website, this will be an invitational event. However, it will not be held every four years like the Summer and Winter events. The Olympic Esports Series will be in 2023. The IOC created it in collaboration with International Federations (IFs) and other game publishers. Here's what the website had to say:

"The competition will be an invitational event and involve 12 players from the Fortnite Champion Series. It will feature a special International Shooting Sport Federation Island created in Fortnite, which will be designed to reflect sport shooting competition. Players will be tested on their target aiming accuracy, just as sport shooters would in competition."

It will not be an Olympic version of a 100 PvP Battle Royale match. It won't even have most aspects of the game as it is being used to simulate shooting on a virtual level.

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Fortnite joining the Olympics is a big move for professional gaming

This is not the first Olympic esport, though. Several other virtual versions of athletic events have been added:

• Archery (Tic Tac Bow)
• Baseball (WBSC eBaseball™: Power Pros)
• Chess (Chess.com)
• Cycling (Zwift)
• Dance Sport (Just Dance)
• Motorsport (Gran Turismo 7)
• Sailing (Virtual Regatta)
• Taekwondo (Virtual Taekwondo)
• Tennis (Tennis Clash)

The shooting competition in Epic Games' hit is the latest. It remains to be seen who will be responsible for designing the map or how exactly players can try out and qualify.

The Olympic event will be held in Creative (Image via Epic Games)

All the action will be streamed everywhere on Olympics.com and their social media channels.

Tickets are also available for the Olympic Esports Week right now. General admission begins at $10 Singapore dollars or about $8 daily, with three-day passes starting at S$20.