Last week, the Chinese esports industry saw a slowdown after the League of Legends World Championship grand final. Only a few online competitions started, such as the Perfect World Dota 2 League (PWL) Season 2. The competition was originally planned for three seasons and features $200K in prize money. However, none of the major Chinese Dota 2 teams such as PSG.LGD and Vici Gaming joined the competition.
During the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) off-season, players and teams finally have time to operate esports marketing projects with their sponsors and brands. Third-party tournament organizers also plan to invite LPL teams, and host League of Legends competitions in the country. In addition, European esports organization Fnatic made a controversial business decision tied to Chinese TV drama “Falling into Your Smile,” and faced backlash from the community.
Among the top stories in China’s esports industry: TJ Sports announced that the LPL All-Star event will be hosted in the Chinese city of Chengdu; China’s General Administration of Sport of China will host the National Electronic Sports Tournament League of Legends competition in Hangzhou with $100K in prize money and a live audience; Suning Gaming League of Legends players were featured on mainstream television network Beijing TV; and Electronic Arts partnered with Bilibili Esports to host EA Champion Cup Autumn China-South Korea in Suzhou.
TJ Sports Partners With Chengdu Media Group to Co-Host 2020 LPL All-Star in Chengdu
On Nov. 5, China’s League of Legends esports operator TJ Sports announced that the company partnered with Chengdu Media Group. The two companies will co-host the 2020 LPL All-Star events in Chengdu for three days, from Dec.10-12.
According to the announcement, the events will feature a charity event, “LPL ALLSTAR x LPL Cares,” an award ceremony, as well as competitions. More details of the event were not disclosed.
Chengdu is the economic center of China’s Southwest, and one of the first Chinese cities to host large-scale esports events in the country. In 2009, World Cyber Games (WCG) first came to China and hosted in Chengdu. Honor of Kings, one of the biggest mobile esports titles in the world, is also developed in Chengdu by TiMi Studios. China’s biggest esports tournament organizer VSPN also has an esports venue in Chengdu’s center Taiguli where hosts many King Pro League (KPL) competitions.
General Administration of Sport of China Hosts $100K NEST-LoL with Live Audience in Hangzhou
On Nov. 7, China’s state-owned department General Administration of Sport of China (GASC）announced that it would host the National Electronic Sports Tournament (NEST) League of Legends competition in Hangzhou from Nov. 9 – 22. The event will feature ￥670K RMB ($100K) in prize money, and 12 LPL teams, including FunPlus Phoenix, Royal Never Give-Up, Invictus Gaming, Team WE, Edward Gaming, and Suning Gaming. The grand final will be hosted in the Hangzhou International Expo Center featuring a live audience, and the winner will take home ￥400K ($60K) in prize money.
NEST 2020 is a multi-tier third-party tournament hosted by GASC, and in conjunction with Hangzhou-based company Zhejiang Daily Digital Culture and tournament organizer FunSpark. The 2020 edition of NEST has finished the online competitions for CrossFire, Auto Chess, and FIFA Online 4.
The event is sponsored by Chinese e-commerce platform Jing Dong, hardware brand Razer, IPASON, and gaming chair DxRacer, and it will be exclusively broadcast on Chinese live streaming platform Huya.
Beijing TV Features Suning Gaming at Double 11 Shopping Show
Nov.11 is called the “Double 11 Shopping Festival” in China, which is similar to Black Friday (the day after the Thanksgiving holiday) in the West. All Chinese e-commerce platforms worked hard during the day to reach the highest sales of the year. Traditional mainstream television channel Beijing TV hosted the Double 11 shopping show Wednesday.
During the event, Chinese singer Xitong Shi performed the 2020 League of Legends theme song “Taking Over,” and the screen behind her featured players from Suning Gaming (SN). According to SN, the show was supported by its parent company Suning Group.
Suning Group also confirmed that the organization will stream on the Chinese live-streaming platform Huya on Thursday. Huya is one of SN’s sponsors.
SN has been considered one of the fastest-growing Chinese esports organizations with large commercial value in 2020. The organization was the runner-up of the League of Legends World Championship and signed multiple sponsorship deals during the period. Before the semi-finals, it signed a sponsorship deal with China’s second-largest food delivery service Eleme, and even signed KFC and automobile brand Roewe sponsorships a day before the grand final.
Other Esports Business News:
- On Nov. 9, Electronic Arts announced that it partnered with Chinese video platform Bilibili to host the FIFA Online 4 competition, EA Champion Cup (EACC) Autumn China-South Korea in Suzhou from Nov.10 – 15. The competition will feature players from South Korea and China. It’s unclear if the competition will feature a live audience.
- On Nov. 11, British esports organization Fnatic posted a poster on Weibo featuring its brand and the controversial Chinese TV movie “Falling into Your Smile.” This post has received massive criticism from the Chinese esports community due to the movie not respecting LPL, Chinese and Western teams, and players. Fnatic later posted an apology and acknowledged that the organization authorized the use of the team logo for the show, but did not receive any financial benefits.