Pictured: Chinese ping-pong player Wang Liqin issues certification to esports athlete. Credit: Shanghai Esports Association
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In the last week, the esports industry in China saw several partnership deals and developments in its ongoing esports athletes registration system, as well as a seven-team walk out in an international PUBG tournament, due to what the teams felt was “unfair treatment” by tournament organizer MET Events.
Among the top stories: Shanghai held a ceremony for its registered esports athletes; seven Chinese PUBG teams walked out at the MET Asia Series; 17 Gaming announced that the team will be rebranded to Team SMG; and the Qingdao Beer Festival will invite esports teams from China, Korea, and Japan to compete in League of Legends and CS:GO competitions.
Every week The Esports Observer presents the biggest esports business news in China, including investments, acquisitions, sponsorships, and other major news from the region.
Seven Chinese PUBG Teams Walk Out at MET Asia Series, PUBG Corp. Cancels the Winning Region’s Extra Slot for PGC
Credit: MET Events
During the MET Asia Series in Bangkok, Thailand—a third-party PLAYERUNKNOWN’s BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG) tournament hosted by Southeast Asia esports organization MET Events—technical difficulties led to a protest from some of the competing Chinese teams. After the second match began, only nine of the total 16 qualified teams continued to compete in the tournament. Seven Chinese PUBG esports teams later “went on strike,” including five teams from mainland China: VC Gaming, Black Ananas, 17 Gaming, Vici Gaming (VG), and Team Weibo, as well as two teams competing under the Chinese Taipei flag: AHQ Esports Club and Nova MS.
The MET Asia Series featured a $300K USD total prize pool, and the competing teams were only from the Asia region. In addition, the winning region would be awarded an extra slot in the upcoming $2M PUBG Global Championship.
During the last match round (Round 12), a power outage happened, leading to all computers turning off. The tournament organizer MET Events decided that that crashed round would be fully restarted, and all results of the round would be deemed invalid. The result of the crashed round: 11 players from six teams were still alive – including three from Chinese team 17 Gaming. The following day, developer PUBG Corp. announced that the restarted round would be invalid, and the crashed round would be counted with the compensation points. After this announcement, all seven Chinese teams initiated a walk out.
The Chinese teams expressed their discontent over the decision by MET Events. In addition, Chinese teams also accused the Southeast Asian teams of cheating through fan attendance’s behavior, and also potential colluding behavior by the Korean teams.
This strike was widely discussed amongst the Chinese PUBG community. Even the tournament’s exclusive Chinese broadcasting platform, DouYu, announced that the broadcast of rest rounds would be canceled, as the company thought that MET Events was unable to deal with the incidents fairly.
Eventually, PUBG Corp. posted a new announcement on its esports website, stating that “There will be no additional seats at the PUBG Global Championship for the MET Asia Series champion’s home region,” due to “the inability to maintain competitive integrity at the event.”
It should be noted that PUBG Corp. did not declare that the SEA teams were cheating, either through fan attendance or the colluding behavior by Korean teams.
Sources close to the PUBG teams told The Esports Observer that four of the matches were announced invalid. In addition, the Chinese team later returned to attend the tournament, but the broadcast of the final round was not streamed in China by DouYu.
Shanghai Holds Award Ceremony for Registered Esports Athletes, Multiple Traditional Sports Stars Appear
Pictured: Chinese diving athlete Wu Minxia issues certification to esports athletes. Credit: Shanghai Esports Association
On July 31, the Shanghai Sports Bureau and Shanghai Culture & Tourism Bureau held a ceremony for its registered Shanghai esports athletes. Multiple Chinese traditional sports stars appeared at the ceremony to issue certifications for 85 esports athletes, including Chinese basketball player Liu Wei, Ping-pong player Wang Liqin, and diving athlete Wu Minxia. In addition, Li “SKY” Xiaofeng, former Warcraft III player, board member of Team WE, and the CEO of hardware company Taidu, was also issued honorary esports athlete registrations.
On July 10, the Shanghai Esports Association announced that the organization had approved 88 esports players’ registrations, and officially identified them as Shanghai esports athletes for the first time. The players are from 18 professional esports organizations and compete in seven esports titles including Honor of Kings, Dota 2, League of Legends, Hearthstone, Warcraft III, FIFA Online 4, and Clash Royale.
Zhou “MagicYang” Chen, a former Warcraft III player and the vice general manager of esports company Game Show, told The Esports Observer: “This award ceremony invites stars from traditional sports, making an esports player feel truly honored as an athlete. This is the best time for Chinese esports.”
17 Gaming Rebrands to Team SMG, New Team Jersey Coming Soon
Credit: Team SMG
On July 30, esports organization 17 Gaming announced that the company will rebrand to Team SMG on August 1. The organization is owned by Singapore pop singer JJ Lin. The new name is from his own apparel brand SMG, founded in 2008, and translates to “still moving under gunfire.”
In addition, the organization will host a rebrand press conference in Shanghai with all players from PUBG and Peacekeeper Elite (the Chinese version of PUBG Mobile) appearing, and the new team jersey being revealed for the first time. The press conference will also be streamed on Chinese livestreaming platform DouYu.
Other Esports Business News:
Credit: New Balance
- On July 18-19, Leaders held the Leaders SportsBusiness Summit in Shanghai. At the summit, Johnson Yeh, head of China at Riot Games; and Eric Wei, vice president, category marketing at Nike in Greater China; talked about the sponsorship value between Nike and League of Legends Pro League (LPL). In February, Nike confirmed a four-year exclusive sponsorship deal with the LPL.
- On July 24, Qingdao International Beer Festival (July 26 – August 18) announced that it will host an international esports competition titled “CMEL International Esports Festival,” between August 11-12 in Qingdao. Players from Japan, Korea, and China will compete in League of Legends and CS:GO.
- On July 28, Formula One (F1) and Chinese sports company Juss intellisport announced that the F1 New Balance Esports Series China Championship will be hosted in August, with a $500K USD prize pool. The winner and runner-up of the China Championship will be entered in the 2020 F1 Esports Pro Draft for the next season.
- On July 30, LGD Gaming’s Dota 2 division PSG.LGD confirmed its partnership deal with betting platform Betway, with a “six-figure agreement.” Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
