GENEVA – The International Telecom Union announced today the Global Esports Federation (GEF) has become a member the organization’s standardization arm.
GEF aims to begin a global dialogue on the new partnerships emerging in support of the fast-growing esports industry, which generally requires top-notch, low latency internet connectivity. “The dialogue aims to create the conditions necessary to establish international standards and guidelines for the esports ecosystem,” reads the press release.
The rise in esports’ popularity, which has accelerated with the global Covid-19 crisis and country-wide lockdowns, has shown the groups standards may be needed to meet its unique needs. “Esports have come to enjoy an audience of over 450 million people, with revenues exceeding US$1 billion per year and growing at an annual rate well over 20%,” says the release.
The dialogue will launch June 24th with the first in a series of webinars under the banner of the “AI for Good Global Summit.”
“The series will explore the business and social dynamics underlying esports and the partnerships supporting its explosive growth. It will showcase innovations in fields such as Artificial Intelligence; Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality; IMT-2020/5G; and the Internet of Things. It will also discuss actions required to support esports competitors and fans in enjoying these sports actively and sustainably,” says the release.
“All industries are innovating with ICTs, but ICTs have enabled the emergence of an entirely new industry in esports,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. “By joining ITU, the Global Esports Federation has signalled the intent of the esports industry to build its future on the reliability offered by international standards, in concert with the diverse ITU membership.”
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