Wolves Esports, the esports division of UK football club Wolverhampton Wanderers, has entered Arena of Valor’s King Pro League (KPL) through the acquisition of Chongqing QGhappy by parent company Fosun Sports.
Following the acquisition, the KPL team will change its name to Chongqing Wolves and will continue as the home team for southwest China’s Chongqing region.
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Based in China, Fosun Sports is the parent company of Wolves. The move sees the Chinese conglomerate expand its esports footprint by entering the KPL, the biggest tournament for Tencent’s mobile game Arena of Valor.
Founded in 2017, QGhappy has won three KPL Champions Cups, as well as all four Honor of Kings World Champions Cups in 2021.
Wolves entered the esports industry in 2018. Since then, the club’s esports division has created rosters in FIFA, Rocket League and sim-racing, whilst also cooperating with Fortnite and other popular esports projects.
According to a release, the acquisition of QGhappy is part of Fosun Sports’s global esports layout and represents an acceleration of its developments in the esports industry. Fosun Sports has been expanding its esports market in China since 2019, having opened Wolves Esports (China), which consists of teams in FIFA Online 4, Call of Duty, and Identity V.
Moreover, Fosun Esports announced last month its investment in North American esports organisation Evil Geniuses, which officially signified the company’s entery into the North American market.
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Deng Houjun, President of Fosun Sports, commented on the acquisition: “Fosun Sports will continue to increase its investment in esports in the future. We are optimistic about esports and KPL is the most important part of our esports industry.
“After the completion of this acquisition, Fosun Sports has formed a parallel trend in the Chinese, North American and European esports market, [meaning] our strength in esports will be greatly supplemented.”
Esports Insider says: With teams based in Europe, an affiliation with Evil Geniuses in North America, and its bolsterd Chinese representation, Fosun Sports and Wolves have a strong international esports portfolio. As one of the largest Chinese conglomerate holding companies, it will be interesting to see how the firm’s esports investments play out.
