Chinese esports company VSPO has announced its first multi-event tournament in Asia, as the company looks 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 competing across the continent in a six-month season each year, VSPO announced on Tuesday. The Tencent Holdings-backed company is the largest esports operator in Asia.
According to VSPO, the tournament will feature seven to 10 titles at launch, but it did not disclose which names are being considered. China’s two largest video game companies – Tencent and NetEase – both had representatives at the launch event on Tuesday, raising hopes that top Chinese esports titles like Tencent’s Honor of kings would be included.
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The tournament could bolster China’s efforts to gain a larger foothold in the global esports industry, as the country seeks 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 received support from Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group, which invested $265 million in Shanghai-based VSPO in 2023. Saudi Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, vice chairman of Savvy, took on the role of honorary chairman of the ACL.
Speaking to media at the event on Tuesday, Al Saud said the companies aim to bring esports to the public in a different way than traditional offline competitions.
“To bring all these players together and unite them, we want to do it in a way that doesn’t require them to get on a plane and travel. We want to give them the opportunity to do it in an easier way so that we can really take a step forward as a regional league,” he said.
VSPO said it plans to make esports tournaments more accessible through cross-border competitions “in the cloud,” using “transformative” mixed reality “gaming arenas” across Asia.
The Saudi Prince and the co-founders of VSPO celebrate the launch of the new tournament. Photo: Handout alt=The Saudi Prince and the co-founders of VSPO 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 percent year-on-year to 12 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) in the first half of 2024, the association said.
China’s participation in global esports tournaments has yielded positive results in recent years, winning four gold medals at last year’s Hangzhou Asian Games and claiming 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 says discussions are underway to make ACL a qualifying event for EWC 2025.
As China and Saudi Arabia have sought closer ties in recent years, esports has emerged as a key area of cooperation, with the Middle Eastern country aiming to become a “global hub for the gaming and esports sector by 2030.”
“The relationship between China and Saudi Arabia has been going on for a long time,” Al Saud said Tuesday. “But when it comes to esports, there is so much we can do together to make this a better industry, and it’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, explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP Facebook page and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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