The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence announced Tuesday that it has appointed the British Esports Federation to create a defense and industry esports tournament through the UK Strategic Command (or Cyber and Specialist Operations Command).
It is unclear just how much government funding British Esports will receive to establish this inaugural competition.
The new collaboration with British Esports will see the organization create competitions for active duty military personnel that are part of the government’s Plan for Change, and promote and foster warfighting readiness and digital skills of military personnel.
Dubbed the International Defence Esports Games (IDEG), the UK military hopes that these competitions will “help members of the Armed Forces develop cyber, digital and wider military skills.” The inaugural competition will be open to active duty service personnel and reservists, but will be expanded to eventually include cadets, veterans, civil servants, and anyone working in the defense industry.
“Esports will help attract, develop, and retain top cyber and digital talent, while fostering this government’s Plan for Change,” said Minister for Veterans and People, Al Carns DSO OBE MC MP. “Our people must now be as adept with code, cybersecurity and a games controller as they are with traditional combat skills.”
The inaugural IDEG finals will be organized in partnership with British Esports and an unnamed esports production company, and will be held in the UK in late 2026. The event will be supported by defense suppliers, including BAE Systems and other smaller military technology companies.
British Esports is keen to partner with government and government agencies, both inside and outside the UK. Recently it partnered with the Royal Navy to launch an esports facility aboard the UK aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, with support from Alienware, NVIDIA, and Intel among others.
British Esports was also one of the first European esports federations to team up with a Saudi Arabian government-backed federation; In May 2023, Saudi Esports Federation and the British Esports Federation announced plans to collaborate. At the time, British Esports President Chester King told TEA that his organization would not be receiving any financial benefit from the federation or the government for its cooperation. A year later King, along with members of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade (DIT) and UK business leaders headed to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for GREAT FUTURES, a conference put together jointly by the Saudi Arabian government and DIT. The goal of that conference was to promote doing business in the region and King was there to promote cooperation related to esports.