The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will host the inaugural Commonwealth Esports Championships and Commonwealth Esports Forum. The venture has been made possible by the joint efforts between the Global Esports Federation and the Commonwealth Games Federation. This new format of esports competition will be endorsed by the British Esports Association, a not-for-profit national body established in 2016 to promote esports in the UK. It is a great sign for the development of esports and attracting more talent towards it.

The Commonwealth Esports Championships will be held on 6th and 7th August, 2022 at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham. The Commonwealth Esports Forum will also be held on 5th August, 2022 at the same location. Here the leaders and innovators can meet up to discuss the future of the esports industry.

The first Commonwealth Esports Championships will be held separately from the other sports in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Yet the Commonwealth Games Federation has expressed that the esports segment can become a full-fledged division of the Commonwealth Games by the next iteration in 2026. Even the organizers of Commonwealth Games 2030 at Hamilton, Canada have expressed their support to host esports into the overall format of the tournament.

Although many traditional sports enthusiasts still oppose the inclusion of esports into traditional sporting tournaments, others believe it is necessary to embrace this rapidly increasing domain to have a better engagement with the younger generation.

Dame Louise Martin who is the President of the Commonwealth Games Federation has spoken that esports is continuing to grow dramatically in terms of popularity and participation, particularly amongst young people. Hence they are looking for ways to explore and align it with the Commonwealth Sports Movement. It will help the Commonwealth Games to develop a long-term relationship with esports, which will further help to evolve and explore future editions of our events.

After the completion of talks between the Commonwealth Games Federation and the Global Esports Federation, it has been decided that the Commonwealth Esports Championships will be held over two days (6th and 7th August 2022) at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham. Apart from Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, esports will also make its full-fledged debut at another major sports tournament, the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games. There will be eight esports gaming titles in which players can participate here.