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In the last week of 2019, Chinese esports organization Vici Gaming won the ONE Esports Dota 2 World Invitational in Singapore, taking home a $200K USD share in prize money from $500K. In addition, two former League of Legends Master Series (LMS) Taiwanese teams – Flash Wolves and MAD – disbanded.
Among the top stories: Tencent and VSPN will co-host the Peacekeeper Elite Championship in Xi’an Qujiang District with ¥3M RMB ($430K) in total prize pool money; esports data company Newzoo signed a partnership deal with Newbee; and esports organization LNG changed its home venue from Chongqing to Suzhou.
Every week The Esports Observer presents the biggest esports business news in China including investments, acquisitions, sponsorships, and other major news from the region.
Tencent and VSPN to Co-Host First $430K Peacekeeper Elite Championship in Xi’an Qujiang
Game publisher Tencent and Chinese tournament organizer VSPN will co-host the first Peacekeeper Elite Championship (PEC) in Xi’an Qujiang from Dec. 28-29. The tournament will feature a ¥300M ($430K) total prize pool, and 15 esports teams from 11 regions, including North American esports team Cloud 9, Chinese team 4AM, and Fnatic’s South Asian team.
According to the release, PEC is the premier international tournament in Peacekeeper Elite esports system. VSPN told The Esports Observer, that the organizers will also invite Chinese musical artists, including Yuchun Li and Yawei Yuan, to perform during the event.
Peacekeeper Elite is considered a clone of popular mobile game, PUBG MOBILE. In May, Tencent released the game and made it exclusively playable in mainland China. The company made sacrifices to content and removed a few features from Peacekeeper Elite in order to get approvals from the government and monetize the game. Sources close to Tencent and VSPN told The Esports Observer that Peacekeeper Elite and PUBG MOBILE are recognized as two different games in China.
Newzoo Signs Data Partnership Deal with Newbee
On Christmas day, market intelligence company Newzoo announced that it signed a partnership deal with esports organization Newbee. Under the terms of this deal, Newzoo will provide esports data from the industry, and Newbee in turn will provide its data for Newzoo’s esports research.
“Newzoo has a senior understanding and data analytic knowledge in the esports market,” said Xin Tong, the CEO of Newbee in a release. “The partnership with Newzoo will help the company obtain more insights from the esports business market while we will also help Newzoo on their esports research.”
Newbee is best known globally for its Dota 2 team, which won the 2014 The International Championship and took second place at the 2017 The International. The organization competes in Dota 2, Warcraft III, Starcraft II, Clash Royale, and Fortnite. Sponsors include Intel, Nvidia, Sennheiser, Secretlab, Raybet, and Chinese sportswear brand Li-Ning.
Newzoo is also an esports data partner of LGD Gaming.
LNG Moves its Home Venue from Chongqing to Suzhou
On Dec. 18, esports organization LN Gaming (LNG) announced that the company will move its home venue to the Chinese city of Suzhou from Chongqing. The new home venue is called Suzhou Yangcheng International Esports Venue, which also will be the place to host the League of Legends Demacia Cup 2019 group stage.
LNG is owned by Viva China Sports. In May, Qilin Li, the CEO of Viva China Sports, acquired League of Legends Pro League (LPL) team Snake and rebranded it to LN Gaming. Li is also on the executive board of Chinese sportswear giant Li-Ning Group, and LNG has also considered a major team investment of Li-Ning in esports. It should be noted that Snake (Now LNG) is the first esports LPL team to have an esports home venue.
Other Esports Business News: MAD Team, Flash Wolves Disband LoL Teams
On Dec.18, Taiwanese esports organization and former League of Legends Master Series (LMS) team, MAD Team, disbanded its League of Legends team. Former LMS Taiwanese team Flash Wolves (FW) has also been shut down.
According to the announcement by MAD Team, the company has transferred its qualification to the Pacific Championship Series (PCS) to Hong Kong-based esports organization Talon Esports. PCS is a merged evolution of League of Legends Southeast Asia Tour (LST) and LMS, featuring ten esports teams from Taipei, Hong Kong, Singapore, Manila, and Bangkok.
