Last week China’s esports industry saw a number of deals signed at the regional level; including partnerships with long-running local event brands, and a series A investment round for an Honor of Kings team.
Among the top stories: Hangzhou Asia Games confirmed its first 37 official sport titles, but esports were not included; NetEase announced its new esports plan for the NEXT Spring Season; ImbaTV and Douyu announce plans to co-organize a Dota Auto Chess tournament on April 9; KPL team YTG raised $1.49M in series A funding round; and PSG. LGD signed a sponsorship deal with IPASON.
Every week The Esports Observer presents the biggest esports business news in China, including investments, acquisitions, sponsorships, and other major news from the region.
Hangzhou Asia Games Confirms 37 Official Sports, Esports Not Included
Credit: Hangzhou Asia Games Committee
On April 8, the Hangzhou Asia Games Committee announced the first 37 sports disciplines for the 2022 Hangzhou Asia Games, which will take place across Sept. 10-25 of that year. The 37 sports titles include 28 Olympic sports, and seven non-Olympic sports.
It should be noted that esports has not been confirmed on the official sports list. On Aug 29, 2018, People Esports, an esports subsidiary media platform owned by governmental media outlet People.cn, posted a statement on Weibo that esports will become an official sporting discipline of the Hangzhou Asia Games. The statement has been viewed over 3M times according to Weibo status, and has not been deleted at the time of writing. This news was widely reported across western media.
In 2018, esports was incorporated as a demonstration sport in the Jakarta Palembang 2018 Asia Games. Multiple titles including League of Legends 
, Arena of Valor, Hearthstone , StarCraft II , and Clash Royale were played. The event was organized by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), with help from the Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF) and the Indonesian Asian Games Organizing Committee (INASGOC). Despite the announcement by People Esports and the esports achievements in 2018 Jakarta Asia Games, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has still not confirmed esports as a medal sport for the 2022 Hangzhou Asia Games.
NetEase Adds Sponsorships to its NEXT Spring Season
Credit: NetEase
On April 8, Chinese game publisher and tournament organizer NetEase confirmed 15 game titles for its NetEase Esports X Tournament (NEXT) 2019 Spring Season. Titles include Minecraft, WarCraft III , StarCraft II, Hearthstone, Overwatch , and The King of Fighters XIV. More details such as prize pool money, competition dates, and hosting locations were not disclosed.
It should be noted that the competition of Minecraft will be different from traditional esports competitions. It will be divided into three mini-competitions, including a “building competition” where players will indirectly compete against each other.
In addition, NetEase confirmed that the financial payment service China UnionPay, local entertainment theme park Happy Valley, and apparel brand Li-Ning will become the top sponsors of NEXT 2019.
ImbaTV and Douyu Host Dota Auto Chess Competiton
Credit: ImbaTV
On April 8, Chinese production company ImbaTV announced that the second “Auto Chess All Star Invitational,” would be hosted in conjunction with Douyu, from April 9-14. According to a source close to ImbaTV, the competition’s total prize pool for this tournament is ¥50K RMB ($7.44K USD), and the winner will also earn a number of in-game items.
Unlike the last “Auto Chess All Star Invitational” on Feb. 27, this tournament will not be exclusively streamed on Douyu – it will also be streamed on Huya and Penguin Esports. Penguin Esports is fully owned by game publisher Tencent, and all game titles which are stream on it are all Tencent related. For example, there is no Dota 2 channel on Penguin Esports. This would the first time that a Dota 2 custom game mode has been fully streamed on a Tencent branded streaming platform.
Other Esports Business News
Credit: IPASON
- On March 28, Chinese Honor of Kings team YTG revealed that it has raised close to ¥10M RMB ($1.49M) in a series A funding round. Co-leading the round was Chinese VC firm Yingdong Capital. YTG competes in Tencent’s top Honor of Kings professional competition, the King Pro League.
- Chinese esports organization Paris Saint-Germain LGD Gaming (PSG.LGD) has signed a sponsorship deal with local computer brand IPASON. IPASON has used the images of PSG. LGD Dota 2 players in a large poster on its Taobao online store.
