During the Tencent Esports Global Summit, Leo Liao, marketing director of Tencent Interactive Entertainment Group and president of Peace Elite League (PEL), detailed the company’s Peacekeeper Elite esports plans for China on the main stage.
In the Tencent Esports ecosystem, League of Legends, Honor of Kings, and Peacekeeper Elite are three of the company’s major esports titles that also have franchise leagues, but Peacekeeper Elite is the only non-MOBA mobile title. “PEL is unique, we lack the experience of hosting traditional [franchise] esports competition as a reference, and we are trying new ways at every step,” said Liao.
At the beginning of his presentation, Liao showcased the business achievement of PEL, China’s top Peacekeeper Elite competition. The competition currently has eight sponsors, including OPPO, Warhorse, Buick, Snapdragon, JingDong Esports, dairy brand Suansuanru, and chewing gum Stride. In addition, it has broken 13B in viewership for esports content in H1 2021, seeing a 100% increase from last year. In the player transfer market, Peacekeeper Elite player Mi “Cheng C” Jiacheng was signed for ￥12M RMB ($1.85M USD) by LGD Gaming. The transfer price became the new record in the game’s history.
For the international event Peacekeeper Elite World Championship (PEC), Liao noted that the competition will be hosted in Shanghai Mercedes-Benz Arena on July 31. Liao pointed out that each region will only have one team to compete in PEC. In addition, PEC will feature a ￥12M ($1.85M) total prize pool, including ￥5M ($770K) as the lion’s share, and ￥2M ($310K) “elimination prize money” for teams that perform aggressive gameplay and eliminate opponents during the Battle Royale matches.
Liao also emphasized that the ecosystem will also focus on the grassroots, as the company will host competitions in multiple Chinese cities and universities for students. From Aug.14-15, Tencent will host the Peacekeeper Elite City Championship in Qingdao.
Finally, Liao revealed that Tencent will host the Peacekeeper Elite Streamer Invitational (PSI) in Wuzhen, China, on July 18. Over 400 top streamers across Asia will be invited to the event. Wuzhen is notable in China because it has been the permanent host of the annual World International Conference since 2014. Liao also said that more esports plans will be announced during PEC on July 31.
