Kuwait To Host First Asian Esports Games In 2027
Kuwait will host the inaugural Asian Esports and Mind Sports Games in 2027 after the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) signed a Host City Contract with the country on September 19, 2026, according to the OCA's own announcement.
The signing, on the sidelines of the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games in Japan, marks the first new event launched under OCA President Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani and confirms competitive esports is moving out of the Asian Games entirely after the 2026 edition.
The OCA said around 4,000 athletes are expected to compete in the first Games, across both esports and mind sports disciplines such as chess, with the full programme to be announced in due course.
What The OCA Has Confirmed
Sheikh Fahad Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the OCA vice president for West Asia and president of the Kuwait Olympic Committee, signed on Kuwait's behalf, alongside Kuwait's Minister of State for Youth and Sports Affairs, Dr Tareq Al-Jalahma.
OCA President Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani said: "We are delighted to sign the host city contract with Kuwait to stage the first edition of the Asian Esports and Mind Sports Games. The launch of these Games is fully aligned with our vision of Together for Asia, uniting our continent through sport to promote excellence, solidarity and peaceful competition."
The OCA is also in talks with the Philippines to host a second edition in 2029, with a decision expected at the 2027 OCA General Assembly in Doha.
The move follows a decision the OCA Executive Board first approved in November 2024 to give esports its own standalone event rather than keep it as a medal discipline inside the wider Asian Games.
Esports Leaves The Asian Games
Esports appeared at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023 and features again at the ongoing Aichi-Nagoya 2026 edition, but the 2027 Kuwait Games will be the first time the OCA runs esports as a fully separate multi-sport event, paired with mind sports such as chess.
The Games' launch under a new OCA presidency signals the organisation is treating esports as a long-term fixture of Asian multi-sport competition rather than a one-off addition, with Kuwait taking on the logistics of a roughly 4,000-athlete event for the first edition.
A standalone, Olympic-recognised esports event on a fixed four-year-plus cycle gives operators and data suppliers a new fixture to build markets around, separate from the publisher-run tournament circuits that currently anchor most esports betting, such as VALORANT Champions and the League of Legends World Championship.
An event of this scale, with national federations selecting representative squads rather than clubs, would more closely resemble the Olympic esports events the International Olympic Committee has also been testing, giving betting sites a government-backed, multi-country tournament format to price once a full sports programme is confirmed.
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