On June 20, Tencent just held a Tencent Global Esports Summit event which was the largest esports industry meeting in China. It is predictable that this event must have had a lot of significant impact on the industry for at least the next year. Especially in terms of announcements of new programs, cooperation between industry players, and other developments.
The Esports Observer has reported important points that deserve attention in the event. In general, this time the Tencent Global Esports Summit shows that Tencent’s role in the esports industry will enter an important new phase. But besides that it also shows the stretch of government and society to make esports a part of Chinese culture. What are the important points?
Collaboration with Manchester City and Juss Sports
Tencent announced a new partnership with two sports organizations, namely Manchester City F.C. and Juss Sports. The name Manchester City is certainly no stranger to being one of the most famous clubs in the English league, while Juss Sports is an event sports organizer with experience in holding various competitions, including the Formula One Grand Prix.
The collaboration with Manchester City aims to connect esports and conventional sports, also to create cultural exchanges between Great Britain and China. The implementation will use the Chinese version of Honor of Kings, but there is no information about the concrete details.
“We want to use our products to make people outside of China feel the beauty of Chinese culture,” said Li Min, producer of Honor of Kings, “This is also the direction of developing Honor of Kings in the future.”
Meanwhile cooperation with Juss Sports includes the use of sports resources and stadiums. One of Juss Sports’s stadiums, the Oriental Sports Center, is now an official esports stadium that can be used by Tencent. Here will be more major esports tournaments, especially the League of Legends and Honor of Kings branches, as well as other esports-themed events and esports museums.
Esports CrossFire now uses a franchise system
The popular first-person shooter game CrossFire is one of the popular esports branches in China that is under the auspices of Tencent. Its professional league, the CrossFire Pro-League (CFPL) is even the first professional esports league founded by Tencent. Following the success of the Tencent League of Legends Pro League (LPL) franchise, Tencent will now adapt the franchise system to CrossFire.
In addition to CrossFire Pro League, the franchise system is also applied to the CrossFire Mobile League (CFML). But Tencent does not open the price of the slot franchise they offer. According to Zu Zhengrong from Tencent, there are currently 10 major esports organizations that have joined the new CFPL and CFML systems.
Union of esports technologies
Tencent also announced the formation of a union in the field of technology related to esports. Led by China’s ministries of industry and information technology, this union aims to establish special esports technology standards in the country, especially those concerning internet, hardware, and broadcasting technology.
Some of the companies that joined the union (besides Tencent Esports itself, of course) included Intel, Qualcomm, Nvidia, China Unicom, Tencent Cloud, Razer, and Yesee Tech. One of its contributions is the provision of 5G technology by China Unicom to enhance the playing experience in Tencent game titles.
“Now is the time and the best opportunity for Chinese esports to develop,” said Ren Yuxin, COO of the Tencent Group, at the Tencent Global Esports Summit. With revenue in 2019 it is estimated to reach more than US $ 210 million, China is indeed suspected to be the country with the second highest esports growth in the world. The existence of several obstacles such as the regulation of game publishing that is now increasingly tight seems not to be a barrier to the progress of the esports industry in China, and Tencent clearly plays a big role in that.
