The opening press conference of Games of the Future was held in Kazan. Ilsur Metshin, Mayor of Kazan, Igor Stolyarov, Head of Games of the Future and Vladislav Ershov, Sports Director of the competition spoke about the final stage of the tournament preparation and expectations from its holding. Participants of Games of the Future also answered questions from journalists: Jiang Yifei, the head of the delegation of the Dota 2 LGD Gaming team from China, Maxim Pestushko, a phygital hockey player of the Ak Bars team, Ivan Rybchik, a phygital hockey player of the Inter team.
Eight competition venues have been prepared for Games of the Future in Kazan, including the Kazan Expo IEC, as well as training arenas and, of course, accommodation for participants: 33 hotels and the Universiade Village. Thus, the city effectively uses the legacy of previous major competitions.
“This is not the first time Kazan has been in the center of the sports world, but this time we are standing on the threshold of an absolutely new multisport format that will unite reality and the digital world. It is the Kazan Games of the Future that will become the prototype for the entire history of these competitions. This is a great honor for us,” Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, opened the press conference. “Kazan has a glorious past, but we are betting heavily on its future, in which digital technologies play an important role. I want to assure that we are ready to brightly and worthily open a new digital page in the history of world sports.”
In response to a suggestion from the audience to regularly hold Games of the Future in Kazan, Ilsur Metshin smiled: “This is still not Sabantuy (Tatar national holiday). But I hope that after some time we will host Games of the Future again.”
The competition program of Games of the Future started on Monday, February 19. Participants of the YOTA Phygital MOBA. Dota 2 + Super Final and the Liga Stavok Phygital Hockey disciplines joined the fight. And the first sets of awards will be awarded on February 22 in the Indoor Cycling discipline.
“We have already entered a competition mode. Congratulations to all of us and Kazan, which surrounds us with hospitality that is not available to any other city. The Dota 2 tournament started more than four hours ago, and I will pierce you to the heart with the numbers: we had 7 million online spectators on one streaming service in China,” Igor Stolyarov, Head of Games of the Future, said. “The airport is working at full capacity, about 800 athletes have already arrived, and in total we are waiting for participants from 107 countries. Live broadcasts are deployed in 30 countries, about 240 endpoints, including social networks and streaming platforms. It is not easy to deploy such a network for a specific, new event, this is also a matter of pride. Our main KPI, an efficiency parameter in this matter, is a beautiful picture in the frame that will attract billions of views. We are not just making a competition, but a new type of sports product.”
Igor Yurievich also briefly described the key theme of the Opening Ceremony of Games of the Future, which will be held on February 21 and will be shown live on Channel One. The broadcast starts at 18:45 Moscow time.
“The Opening Ceremony is a sacred event. We do not disclose everything in order to preserve the intrigue of the live broadcast. But, as we said, the red line will be the theme of Russia of the future, not only in sports. This is the maximum that I can say, but we hope that it will be a small miracle,” Igor Stolyarov stressed.
21 innovative disciplines make up the Games of the Future program. Their development was one of the priorities in preparation for the competition. The expert council of the specially created Laboratory of High-Tech and Innovative Sports (Phygital Lab) includes Olympic champions, market experts, digital and sports marketing experts.
“In September 2021, our project was presented here, at Kazan Expo, at the Russia – Country of Sports forum. This is where a long journey began. We launched a laboratory where we tested our hypotheses, gave a scientific assessment of the effectiveness of disciplines, wrote rules, and searched for athletes. We focused on a beautiful picture, digital, trends that young people love. We are grateful to Kazan for giving us the opportunity to hold the Phygital Games to see all the disciplines in action. As a result, we expanded the program from 16 disciplines to 21, because there were a lot of applications. More than 100 ideas have passed through the laboratory,” Vladislav Ershov, the Sports Director of Games of the Future, shared. “I can talk about Games of the Future endlessly, but I’d rather just invite everyone to the venues to enjoy a cool competition.”
Athletes and members of official delegations have already managed to assess Kazan’s readiness for Games of the Future from the inside.
“We had training sessions, and we really liked the new look of the ice arena. Colorful, unusual, this is the most important thing,” Maxim Pestushko, a player of the Ak Bars team, assured. “I invite everyone to the tribunes. I promise that you will see a fierce fight and you will really like it. There are many former professional hockey players in the teams, and these people are not used to conceding, they are always charged for a serious game. I hope that Games of the Future will help raise the popularity of sports in general, set an example for young people.”
“I came to Kazan for the first time and was immediately amazed by the hospitality and the level of the competition organization of the. Thank you so much for the opportunity to participate in Games of the Future. I wish all athletes and fans to enjoy the tournament. We will try to show our maximum level,” said Jiang Yifei, the head of the LGD Gaming delegation.
“I would like to join the words of gratitude to the organizers. Great reception, wonderful atmosphere, everything is organized at the highest level. Both my partners and the guys from other teams are delighted,” Inter player Ivan Rybchik noted. “We are looking forward to the start, our first match is already tonight. We are looking forward to a great game.”
Information:
Games of the Future is an international multisport tournament in the phygital concept, a sports show of a new format that will combine competitions in physical and digital dimensions. VK Play is the technology partner of Games of the Future. The first “Games of the Future” tournament will be attended by more than 2,000 athletes from 107 different countries in 21 innovative disciplines. The competitions will be divided into 5 categories, or “challenges”: sports, tactical, battle, technical and speedrun. More information about the tournament can be found on the official channels of Games of the Future:
Website
Telegram-channel
VKontakte