esports: IOC & International Shooting Sport Federation add Fortnite to the Olympic Esports Series

The video game Fortnite, published by Epic Games, has joined the list of games mobilised as part of the "Olympic Esports Series 2023" (OES), the IOC's esports competition programme, in the "shooting sports" category attached to the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), announced the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 05/05/2023.

Fortnite, which has 250 million monthly players in 2023, thus becomes the first "mass market" game to join the IOC's esports programme, which includes nine other titles, all of which are attached to an Olympic discipline and an international federation (e.g. Virtual Regatta, for an esports sailing competition).

While Fortnite is world famous for its "battle royale" survival game mode in which players must shoot each other to win the game, the IOC has opted for a different format that excludes the notion of players shooting each other. The 12 participating esports players from the Fortnite Champion Series, the highest esports level on the game, will compete on the "sport shooting island" specially created by the US publisher. The island, "made…