Igor Stolyarov, CEO of the Games of the Future, summed up the event in Kazan, Russia. "No less than 312 teams from 116 countries took part in the event. That is more than 2,000 participants. We effectively held three mini world championships as part of one big multi-sport tournament [the Games of the Future]." 

"The international roster of athletes in Cyber Athletics, Battle of the Robots and Sports Programming is living proof of that. We had a sell-out - the arenas were packed for the semi-finals and finals," stressed Stolyarov. 

"Young people, who were our target audience, enjoyed the format, and we also received positive feedback from around the world. A number of countries have expressed a desire to replicate this feedback. According to our internal audit, the Games of the Future generated a total of 3.2 billion views on digital platforms. Russia organised a tournament without borders and barriers," he added.

The landmark tournament took place across 11 venues in Kazan, the neighbouring technology hub of Innopolis and Sochi's Sirius Federal Territory. The tournament’s host city has a wealth of experience in hosting sporting events, with the arenas used for the Games of the Future having previously hosted major international tournaments in various disciplines, including World and European Championships, the Davis Cup and many more. 

The Games of the Future were an excellent example of using existing infrastructure for entire disciplines, with each type of competition requiring its own impressive set up: stages, decorations, lighting and sound equipment. Throughout the tournament, over 300,000 guests attended various Games of the Future events, and 2,000 volunteers from 20 countries contributed to the smooth running of the entire process. 

"The final figures, emotions and reviews show that we have achieved a positive result. We have once again proved that Russia is a welcoming country with accumulated sporting expertise. We know how to organise competitions at all levels. This summer, the BRICS Games will be held in Kazan, and the programme will include two phygital disciplines: football and basketball," noted Vladimir Leonov, Minister of Sports of the Republic of Tatarstan. 

The list of athletes taking part in the Games of the Future included top performers and members of national teams in their respective disciplines, Olympians, world and European champions and finalists. 

"This [phygital] format really taps into the emotional needs of the audience. Everyone is used to getting the maximum information in a condensed period of time. With all due respect to traditional football, not all matches are a pleasure. In this case, phygital football is the perfect alternative. A person can experience a variety of emotions for an entire hour, like on a rollercoaster," commented Denis Parkhomenko, a member of the PHOENIX phygital football team and winner of the 2021 Beach Soccer World Cup. 

The Games of the Future are a unique large-scale sporting event that innovatively combines traditional and e-sports. This phygital tournament took place for the first time ever in Kazan, Russia from 21 February to 3 March 2024. 

It featured 21 cutting-edge disciplines, such as phygital football, phygital basketball, phygital hockey, phygital MOBA, Dota 2 + Super Final, CS2 + laser tag, battle of robots, sports programming, drone racing and more. The core principles of the tournament were balanced development, openness, adaptability, and technological advancement.