Over the past week, the esports industry in China has seen several sponsorships and partnership deals.
Among the top stories: Invictus Gaming’s League of Legends team signed a non-endemic sponsorship deal with Men’s skin-care brand Lab Series, WCG confirmed Honor of Kings and Clash Royale as two of its seven official game titles, Douyu and ImbaTV will host the first ever Dota Auto Chess tournament from Feb. 27 to March 3, Newzoo’s Shanghai office signed a partnership deal with local sports media ECO, and Douyu’s CEO Chen Shaojie acquired 5.368% shares of the company to become the biggest shareholder.
Every week The Esports Observer presents the biggest esports business news in China, including investments, acquisitions, sponsorships, and other major news from the region.
Lab Series Sponsors Invictus Gaming LOL Team
On Feb. 23, Chinese esports organization Invictus Gaming’s (IG) League of Legends 
team signed a non-endemic sponsorship deal with men’s skin-care brand Lab Series, part of Estée Lauder. Details of the sponsorship were not disclosed.
Invictus Gaming is best known globally for its League of Legends and Dota 2 teams. In 2012, IG won Dota 2’s The International championship with $1M USD prize pool. In 2018, IG won the League of Legends World Championship. In fact, IG is the only esports organization that has won both The International and League of Legends World Championship, to date. The sponsorship list of IG’s League of Legends team includes streaming platform Panda TV, hardware brand CORSAIR , and internet coffee bar WYWK.
On Jan. 8, FAW-Volkswagen Audi signed a sponsorship deal with Chinese streaming platform Panda TV for the company’s esports program, “Marvelous Esports.” As part of the deal, Audi and Panda TV released a commercial featuring the car maker’s new Q2L model along with all of IG’s League of Legends players.
Douyu and ImbaTV to Host Dota Auto Chess Competition
Credit: ImbaTV
On Feb. 22, esports production company ImbaTV announced that its first Dota Auto Chess competition, the “Auto Chess All Star Invitational,” will be hosted in conjunction with Douyu, from Feb. 27 to March 3. Multiple Chinese esports celebrities will take part in this competition as players including Chinese businessman Wang Sicong, the owner of esports organization IG; esports production company Banana Culture ; and Panda TV. According to a source close to ImbaTV, the competition’s total prize pool for this tournament is ¥45K RMB ($5K), but the winner will also get an exclusive in-game item and his or her name added into the game. The competition will be exclusively streamed on Douyu .
This will be the first time that a Dota Auto Chess competition is run by an esports production company. Currently, Dota Auto Chess is facing a trademark registration issue in China. According to the Chinese Trademark Office of National Intellectual Property Administration, there are eight gaming companies currently applying for the trademark registration of “自走棋” (Auto Chess in English), including Tencent Games , which expects to apply for eight “自走棋” relevant trademarks.
Newzoo’s Shanghai Office Signs Partnership Deal With Sports Media Company ECO
On Feb. 18, the Shanghai division of gaming and esports analytics firm Newzoo signed a partnership deal with local sports media company ECO. According to the announcement, ECO will be responsible for localizing Newzoo’s 2019 Global Esports Market Report, which projected that worldwide esports revenues will hit $1.1B this year.
Other Business News
Credit: Newbee
- On Feb. 28, Chinese esports organization Newbee announced that it will host a ceremony in Shanghai. The poster advertising the event on Chinese social media Weibo, features part of Li-Ning’s logo – “ING.” It’s more likely Newbee and the apparel brand will make an official partnership announcement on Feb. 28.
- On Jan. 9, Douyu changed its board structure. Representatives for three shareholding companies have left the board and Douyu’s CEO Chen Shaojie has acquired all shares (5.368% of Douyu) from them. Shaojie has become the biggest shareholder of Douyu, with 35.15% shares.
