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Last week, the esports industry in China saw several new partnership deals, as well as a new ticket purchasing rule in the League of Legends Pro League (LPL). In addition, the World Cyber Games (WCG) was reborn in the Chinese city of Xi’an after a six-year break.
Among the top stories: China Central Television (CCTV) ran a report on the 2019 World Cyber Games Xi’an in its Morning News segment; the Honor of Kings World Champion Cup total prize pool was boosted through in-game item crowdfunding, reaching ¥32M RMB ($4.65M USD); World University Cyber Games (WUCG) will be sponsored by SPD Bank and sanitary brand Space7; Douyu raised $775M USD through an initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq); and Dota 2’s The International Shanghai prize pool surpassed $30M.
Every week The Esports Observer presents the biggest esports business news in China, including investments, acquisitions, sponsorships, and other major news from the region.
CCTV Runs Feature on WCG in Morning News
Credit: CCTV
Between July 18-21, WCG Ltd. partnered with Xi’an Qujiang New District and production company Banana Culture to host the 2019 World Cyber Games (WCG) in the Chinese city of Xi’an.
On July 22, China Central Television reported the results of the WCG in its Morning News segment. “China won four gold medals from six esports titles, including Dota 2 
, Warcraft III , and Honor of Kings,” part of the report stated. In total, China won four gold medals, three silver medals, and three bronze medals, putting it at the top of the medal ranking table.
The WCG is considered a classic example of the Olympic-style model’s use in the esports industry. The brand was originally a Samsung -backed international competition series, which ran from 2000-2013, before its closure in 2014. In 2017, the WCG brand was acquired by Korean game publisher Smilegate , which develops CrossFire , one of the official games in 2019 WCG Xi’an.
SPD Bank and Space7 Sponsors World University Cyber Games
Credit: Gaojing Culture
On July 16, the World University Cyber Games (WUCG) signed sponsorship deals with SPD Bank and Chinese sanitary brand Space7. SPD Bank was named as title sponsor of the tournament, and Space7 as exclusive strategy partner. Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.
The WUCG is a global esports tournament series for university students. The 2019 WUCG features competitions in Dota 2, League of Legends , Honor of Kings, Hearthstone , and The King of Fighters 14. According to the announcement, the sponsorship deal between Space7 and WUCG is designed to improve the identity of women in esports and build more diversified consumption scenarios for brands.
The tournament brand WUCG is owned by Chinese esports organization Gaojing Culture. On June 14, the company closed a Pre-A funding round of over ¥10M ($1.45M), co-led by Investment bank Orient Securities. The other lead investors were Yao Capital, a sports-focused private equity firm co-founded by former NBA star Yao Ming; and Pusi Capital, which is owned by Chinese businessman Wang Sicong, who also owns esports organization Invictus Gaming and production company Banana Culture .
LPL Adds New Ticket Purchasing Rule, Attendee Has to be the Purchaser
Credit: TJ Sports
On July 22, TJ Sports , a joint venture of Tencent and publisher Riot Games , announced a new ticket purchasing rule for its League of Legends Pro League (LPL):
“From July 22, for Chinese customers, all LPL tickets have to be purchased using a Chinese national ID-card. Tickets will connect to the ID-card, and the audiences need to carry their own national ID-cards and corresponding ticket to the venue. For the non-Chinese audiences, it has to be a passport.”
This rule is designed to prevent reselling (commonly referred to as “scalping”). In addition, it led to a heated discussion in the Chinese Dota 2 community. Dota 2’s The International tickets sold out in “53 seconds” in May, and a number of Chinese outlets reported that bad internet connections were common during the ticket sales process. At the time of writing, the price of a resold Dota 2 The International Shanghai 2019 August 24-25 two-day ticket reached approximately ¥6K ($872) each on Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao. The original ticket price was ¥2099 ($304).
Other Esports Business News:
Credit: Invictus Gaming
- On July 23, the League of Legends team of Invictus Gaming (IG) met with Manchester United F.C. as part of its Manchester United China Travel, hosted by IG and Manchester United F.C. sponsor Chevrolet. At the event, players from the two teams exchanged their team jerseys. Recently, another LPL team, Suning Gaming, met with the players of Italian club Inter Milan, continuing a trend of promotional meet-and-greets between Chinese esports teams and European soccer clubs.
- On July 20, esports organization Royal Never Give-Up (RNG) held a retirement ceremony for its former League of Legends player Liu “mlxg” Shiyu at its Beijing RNG home venue. Carlos Rodriguez, the CEO of G2 Esports sent a video praising Shiyu’s “amazing and unbelievable career.”
- On July 21, Tencent Games announced a crowdfunding event for Honor of Kings World Champion Cup which increased its total prize pool to ¥32M ($4.65M). The winner of this competition will earn ¥13.34M ($1.95M), 42% of the total prize pool.
- On July 21, The prize pool for Dota 2’s The International 2019 Shanghai surpassed $30M, beating the prize pool for the Fortnite World Cup finals in New York. The International 2019 will take place at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai from August 20-25. This gives the event another full month to further increase its prize pool.
- On July 17, Chinese livestreaming service DouYu raised $775M in U.S. IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (Nasdaq). The company sold 67.39M Amercian depositary shares at $11.50 each.
