Last week, China’s esports industry saw several major non-endemic sponsorships and partnerships, as well as a few controversial incidents involving League of Legends Pro League players, a coach, league operator TJ Sports, and Chinese businessman Sicong Wang, the founder of Invictus Gaming.
In addition, the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow in China. Though Beijing reported July 21 that the city had had no new cases in the past 16 days, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China’s biggest province, reported 64 new cases since July 16 according to People’s Daily, as of the time of writing.
Geographically, Xinjiang is in the northwest area of China, and a long-distance from Shanghai and Hainan. The story of the Xinjiang outbreak may still affect the LPL in Shanghai and the upcoming Tencent Global Esports Annual Summit in Hainan.
Among the top stories in China’s esports industry: LPL teams and TJ Sports punished three players and a coach for toxic language and improper behavior; luxury car brand Rolls Royce collaborated with two QQ Speed players on social media Weibo; and Tencent partnered with Tesla to make the “Model 3” become an in-game vehicle in Peacekeeper Elite.
LPL Teams, TJ Sports Dole Out Punishments for Toxic Language and Improper Behavior
Last week three LPL players and a team coach received a series of punishments by LPL Teams and TJ Sports, including match bans, salary deductions, and direct fines. It also caused a serious argument on Chinese social media Weibo between Invictus Gaming Founder Sicong Wang, and Qilin Li, the founder of LNG Esports.
On July 16, LPL operator TJ Sports announced that Lu “Leyan” Jue from Vici Gaming (VG) and Su “Southwind” Zhilin from IG violated LPL regulations by using toxic and vulgar language while live streaming.
Lu and Su were both given a one-match ban and a ￥30K RMB ($4.3K USD) fine. In addition, both teams were given a ￥20K ($2.8K) fine for not supervising players.
After this announcement, both VG and IG made statements on Chinese social media Weibo, and apologized to the public. Lu was given additional punishments by VG including a one-month salary deduction, and was prohibited from streaming. Su was given an extra ￥50K ($7.1K) fine and a strong warning by IG.
“The professional player has a massive influence on the internet, and most of the audiences are teenagers and young people,” TJ Sports stated in the announcement. “The professional player should always watch their language, and be responsible to the society, and esports ecosystem.”
On July 13, People’s Daily, the Communist Party of China-owned publication also weighed in on the situation. The publication wrote that the “toxic language” used by streamers in front of Chinese teenagers and young people in the community is wrong and should be dealt with by authorities in gaming, live streaming, and esports industries.
One day after this incident, Sicong Wang, board member of Wanda Group and the founder of IG posted a statement on Weibo, criticizing LNG player Xiong “Xx” Longyu for using offensive words, and claimed that he intended to physically abuse IG League of Legends coach Xiao “Chris” Qiang in the venue before the match between LNG IG began.
It should be noted that Sicong made this statement directly to TJ Sports on social media. Sicong is an iconic influencer in China with 41.9M followers on Weibo and the only son of Chinese billionaire Jianlin Wang. After Sicong’s statement, Qilin Li, a board member of Chinese sportswear brand Li-Ning and founder of LNG, reported Sicong’s Weibo post and made a comment that it was Xiao who taunted Xiong first and entered the LNG lounge without permission. Qilin later deleted his statement.
Hours later, TJ Sports announced punishments for Xiong and Xiao. Xiao was given a ￥10K ($1.4K) fine for using disruptive language and for opening the door of the LNG lounge without permission.
Xiong was given a ￥50K ($7.1K) fine due to using toxic language on social media, offensive words before the match, and opening the door of the IG lounge without permission. In addition, Xiong was given an extra two-month salary deduction, and a strong warning by LNG.
TJ Sports did not fine IG and LNG.
Rolls Royce Collaborates With Two QQ Speed S League Players
On July 23 Tencent announced on its QQ Speed S League social media that luxury car brand Rolls Royce has collaborated with two QQ Speed players: Ning Qing from QG, and Yun Hai from Royal Never Give-Up (RNG).
Tencent posted seven pictures on Weibo featuring two players, a Rolls Royce car, and the QQ Speed S League logo. According to the pictures, the two players have become the “brand esports friends of Rolls Royce.”
QQ Speed S League was widely discussed earlier this month when Tencent sued China’s biggest chili sauce brand Lao Gan Ma (LGM) for $2.3M in unpaid advertising fees. It was later confirmed that Tencent had been duped by individuals pretending to be with the company, who were later arrested by police. Tencent later dropped the lawsuit, apologized to LGM, and agreed that the two companies would collaborate in the future.
Tencent Partners With Tesla for Peacekeeper Elite In-Game Vehicle
On July 20 U.S. electric car maker Tesla announced that it partnered with Chinese game publisher Tencent for the mobile game, Peacekeeper Elite. Tesla posted a video on its Weibo featuring its Model 3 electric car, the Tesla Shanghai factory, and Peacekeeper Elite’s airdrop box.
The Model 3 electric car will become a new in-game vehicle starting July 24. It’s unclear whether this new vehicle skin will also be featured in Tencent’s Peacekeeper Elite League (PEL) in China. The Esports Observer has reached out to league operator VSPN for more information.
This is not the first time that Tencent has collaborated with an automobile company for Peacekeeper Elite. In January, the company collaborated with Maserati Ghibli, adding three vehicle skins in the game.
Other Esports Business News:
- On July 17 Chinese Overwatch team Shanghai Dragons announced that it signed a streaming deal with live streaming platform NetEase CC. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. NetEase owns Shanghai Dragons.
- On July 15 tournament organizer CGA and esports platform 5E Play announced that the two will co-host a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competition called FunSpark ULTI in China between Dec.1-6, with a $300K prize pool.
- On July 20 Chinese e-commerce company Jing Dong announced that its retail platform Jing Dong Retail became the exclusive e-commerce partner of China’s top Honor of Kings competition, the King Pro League, as well as the $4.6M Honor of Kings World Champion Cup.
