Chinese esports company VSPO has announced its first multi-title tournament in Asia, marking a big push to expand its presence in the global industry with support from Saudi Arabia.
The Esports Asian Champions League (ACL) will kick off next year, with tens of thousands of professional players set to compete across the continent in a six-month season each year, VSPO announced on Tuesday. The Tencent Holdings-backed company is the biggest esports operator in Asia.
The tournament will include seven to 10 titles at launch, according to VSPO, but it did not disclose the names being considered. The two biggest video gaming companies in China – Tencent and NetEase – both had representatives at the launch event on Tuesday, raising hopes that top Chinese esports titles such as Tencent’s Honor of Kings would be included.
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The tournament could bolster China’s efforts to gain a greater foothold in the global esports industry, something the country has sought as part of an effort to boost its soft power through cultural exports.
Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan and VSPO founder Dino Ying at the launch of the Esports Asian Champions League on Tuesday. Photo: Handout alt=Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan and VSPO founder Dino Ying at the launch of the Esports Asian Champions League on Tuesday. Photo: Handout>
The ACL has also secured support from Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group, which invested US$265 million into Shanghai-based VSPO in 2023. Saudi Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, who is Savvy’s vice-chairman, took the role of ACL honorary chairman.
Speaking to media at the event on Tuesday, Al Saud said the companies aim to bring esports to audiences in a way that is different from traditional offline competitions.
“To be able to do something to bring and unite all these players together, we want to do it in a way where they don’t have to jump on a plane and travel … but to give them a chance to do this in an easier way that can really take a step forward as a regional competition,” he said.
VSPO said it plans to make esports tournaments more accessible through cross-border competitions “in the cloud”, using “transformative” mixed reality-enabled “gaming arenas spread across Asia”.
The Saudi prince and VSPO co-founders celebrate the launch of the new tournament. Photo: Handout alt=The Saudi prince and VSPO co-founders celebrate the launch of the new tournament. Photo: Handout>
China has the world’s largest esports market with 490 million participants, both gamers and viewers, according to data from the Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association. Revenue grew 4.4 per cent year on year to 12 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion) in the first half of 2024, according to the association.
China’s participation in global esports tournaments has yielded some positive results in recent years. It won four gold medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year and claimed championships in four titles, out of more than 20, at the Esports World Cup (EWC), a two-month multi-game event held in Saudi Arabia this summer.
VSPO said it is in discussions to make ACL a qualifier event for EWC 2025.
As China and Saudi Arabia have sought closer ties in recent years, esports has emerged as a major area of collaboration. The Middle Eastern country aims to become a “global hub for the games and esports sector by 2030”.
“The relationship between China and Saudi is long-standing,” Al Saud said on Tuesday. “But when it comes to esports, there’s so much that we can do together to make this a better industry, and that’s not just about investment.”
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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