Esports recognized as an official sport in Ukraine
In Ukraine, the professional computer games playing (esports) was recognized as an official sport. The news was announced by Oleksandr Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, on his Facebook page.
“Such a decision has just been made at the meeting of the Commission for the recognition of the sport in Ukraine. For our country, this is a historical moment, because esports is not just “shooters,” but a fundamental element of modern digital culture,” the official wrote.
A short while ago, Alexander Kokhanovskyy acted as a representative of the deal for ₴1.1 billion to buy out the Dnipro Hotel in the center of Kyiv. Kokhanovskyy plans to make the world’s first Esports Ready Hotel there. It will include unique esports elements: training zones, an esports scene, special rooms for professional players, as well as the best players’ lounge in the world.
Soon an eSports association will also be announced in Ukraine.
- Analysts from Newzoo forecasted the 2019 global games market to reach $148.8 billion. Ukrainians spend hundreds of millions of dollars on computer games annually.
- In Ukraine, esports is actively developing. In March 2020, the team of the Ukrainian esports club Natus Vincere won the major Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) championship, IEM Katowice. The team won a prize of $250,000.
- And last year, Kyiv citizen and professional gamer Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev from Na’Vi was recognized as the best world’s player in CS:GO.