Over the past week, the esports industry in China has seen several key partnerships, developments related to esports teams, and a major livestreaming platform shut down its service.
Among the top stories: the Chinese government finally confirmed two esports professions – esports operator and esports professional; Panda TV officially shut down its streaming service to the public, and ended its sponsorship deal with Invictus Gaming; IG’s League of Legends team signed a streaming deal with Douyu; F1 partnered with Shanghai Juss Intellisports; and ImbaTV revealed a partnership with ZOWIE GEAR to open a branded luxury esports internet coffee bar.
Every week The Esports Observer presents the biggest esports business news in China, including investments, acquisitions, sponsorships, and other major news from the region.
Chinese Government Confirms Two Esports Professions
Credit: China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security
On April 3, China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (CMHRSS) announced that “esports professional” and “esports operator” have been officially confirmed as two new professions in the country, alongside. According to CMHRSS, ”esports professional” will use the government designation code “4-13-05-03,” while esports operator will use “4-13-99-00.”
In this official announcement, CMHRSS said that “esports operator is the esports individuals who engaged in organization esports activities and content operations in the industry,” and that “the esports professionals is the esports individuals who compete in esports professional tournaments, perform in esports event, or those who also train with pro players.”
It should be noted that when the CMHRSS identified these two esports professions on Feb 6, the early language claimed that one of the main jobs of an “esports professionals” used a Chinese term that refers to “account boosting.” This term caused plenty of negative discussions in the industry, due to account boosting being strictly forbidden in professional esports. In this new announcement, CMHRSS used “acting professional esports training program” to replace “account boosting.”
Panda TV Officially Closes Streaming Service to the Public
Credit: Panda TV
On March 30, Chinese streaming company Panda TV officially closed its website to the public, streaming service ended in 1286 days.
On March 8, Panda TV announced that the company was in a potential bankruptcy, posting an image of its panda mascot facing a sunset, alongside the word “Bye.” The reasons behind this bankruptcy have not yet been officially published.
Panda TV was founded in 2015 by Chinese businessman Wang Sicong, with registered capital ¥20M RMB ($2.98M USD). In 2018, Panda TV was considered the third biggest streaming platform in China, followed by Huya and Douyu. Sicong claimed at the 2018 Panda TV’s annual conference that he believed Panda TV would become the best streaming platform in China. Sicong also founded the esports organization Invictus Gaming (IG) and production company Banana Culture.
Panda TV had strong business ties with Invictus Gaming – the streaming service was one of its three sponsors, alongside hardware brand CORSAIR 
and Chinese internet coffee bar WYWK. During this sponsorship, IG won the 2018 League of Legends World Championship.
With Panda TV officially closed, the business relationship between the company and IG has come to an end. On April 2, IG announced that its LOL team signed a streaming deal with Douyu. Each player on the team will have their own streaming channel on Douyu. In the promotional poster, Panda TV’s logo has been removed from the IG team jersey.
F1 Partners Shanghai Juss Intellisports, Expands F1 Esports Series to China
Credit: Formula 1
On April 3, Formula 1 (F1) signed a partnership with Shanghai Juss Intellisports (SJI). In this deal, the F1 Esports Series will first take place in China in 2019, and SJI will be the exclusive franchisor in the country, responsible for all F1 Esports Series China Championship tournament operations and marketing business.
Junlian Tan, Ph.D., Head of Growth & Esports at Formula 1, claimed that:
“By signing this partnership, we want to attract more Chinese fans to feel the culture of the F1 Esports Series and car racing, and in potential finding new racing talents or esports racing talents in China.”
Player registration for F1 Esports Series China Championship will open in the second half of 2019. Champion and Second place finishers of the tournament will be invited to the F1 Esports Global Series and compete with other region’s players, and have a chance to be signed by F1 teams.
Other Esports Business News:
Credit: ImbaTV
- Esports organization Newbee announced that it will become one of the first esports organization to complete registration with the Shanghai government. In November of 2018, the Shanghai Esports Association released esports athlete registration guidelines. Registered esports athletes will receive benefits from the Shanghai government.
- On April 2, Team Liquid COO, Mike Milanov posted a statement on Weibo that it will potentially open a Liquid online store for Chinese fans.
- On March 27, LGD Gaming’s Dota 2 team partnered with hardware brand Cherry. Cherry will produce LGD Dota 2 players’ exclusively branded keyboard. The products will be sold in Cherry’s online store.
- On March 31, production company ImbaTV opened its branded luxury internet coffee bar at the Shanghai Putuo district, in partnership with hardware company ZOWIE GEAR. All the computers in the internet coffee bar are ZOWIE GEAR branded and are reportedly worth ¥40K ($5.96K) each.
