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- The Beijing Municipality announced the city will fully support industries, including esports, that have been affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
- The city will host the “Esports Beijing 2020” series of events, with Tencent co-hosting the 2020 Honor of Kings World Champion Cup Grand Final, and QQ Speed National Open Final.
- As well as tournaments, the city will host an international “Esports Innovation Conference” and “Esports Trade Fair.” These are the first esports-related policies announced by a government in China in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
As The Esports Observer has reported in our weekly China Recaps, the novel coronavirus outbreak has heavily affected China economically. On Feb. 19, the Beijing Municipality hosted an official press conference, in which it laid out its support for “cultural and internet firms under the influence of the coronavirus” in the city.
During the conference, Lei Zhao, Vice Minister of Propaganda Department of Beijing Municipality Committee, announced that the city will host the “Esports Beijing 2020” series of events, in order to help the esports industry find new opportunities under the negative economic influence of the outbreak.
The Beijing government will partner with game publisher and tournament organizer Tencent Esports to co-host the Honor of Kings World Champion Cup Grand Final and QQ Speed National Open Final. The 2019 Honor of Kings World Champion Cup featured a ¥32M RMB ($4.55M USD) prize pool. In addition, the government will host an international “Esports Innovation Conference” and “Esports Trade Fair.”
Lei pointed out that the policies are aimed at building the consumer scenarios of esports and culture, as well as developing the Beijing esports industry. These are the first esports-related policies announced by a city government in China during the coronavirus outbreak.
After the press conference, Tencent posted an official announcement that it will actively cooperate with the Beijing government, and plans to bring more esports tournaments to the area. Tencent also said that it will find more ways to connect the esports industry and other industries based on Beijing’s current policies.
