Emmanuel Macron is a fan of video games and French esports organization Team Vitality. Or at least, he was during the latest election season.
Macron made a surprising play for the gamer vote during his run-off election against opposing candidate Marine Le Pen. As part of that, the reelected president was spotted doing the rounds in front of cameras while wearing a Team Vitality hoodie patterned after the French flag. The look was part of a week of video game-themed campaigning meant to court younger voters.
France has a two-stage election system. The first stage sees the people vote for the individual they want to win from a pool of officials hailing from various parties. The second stage sees the top two candidates move on to a final runoff with voters choosing between the two.Â
After Macron came out on top of the first round of the election, he went in a surprising direction with his campaign. Among his talking points was making France the video game hub of Europe. This included specific goals of bringing Dota 2’s The International, a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major, and the League of Legends World Championship to France in 2024. These would go alongside the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, which are slated to take place in Paris.
The next CSGO major is slated for Belgium, but it’s unknown where the next TI or Worlds will take place.
Though Macron was courting major esports events for France during the election, none of them are officially scheduled to take place at this time. This means they could hypothetically happen in France, but there’s no guarantee that will come to pass.
The biggest factor in getting major esports events to take place in a specific location is usually having a sizable venue where it can be hosted at a reasonable cost. Paris will be primed to host large events due to the requirements of the Olympics, meaning France could very well bring in The International, the League of Legends World Championship, or a CSGO Major
Two years is a very long time, however. It’s unknown whether the games will necessarily land there, or whether Macron’s enthusiasm for esports will hold up for that long.
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