For years, China has been one of the leaders in the global esports industry. In the first half of the 2018 October, the Chinese esports industry raised a combined $30M from a variety of investment, as reported by The Esports Observer. Every two weeks, The Esports Observer presents the biggest esports business news in China, including investments, acquisitions, sponsorships, and other major news from the region. On Sept. 28, The KPL Union and Chinese esports company Fighting Esports Group (FEG) announced that the first season of the Korea King Pro League (KRKPL) will be opened up in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, on Oct. 22. This is the first stage of Tencent’s international expansion for its mobile esports title, Honor of Kings. The league’s inaugural prize pool is over ₩200M KRW ($175K USD). Eight Korean esports professional teams are competing, including well known Korean organizations Kingzone Dragon , MVP, and ROX Phoenix. The tournament has been exclusively streaming on DouyuTV in China, while those outside of mainland China can watch the tournament on Twitch and Youtube. The KRKPL is hosted by Tencent and FEG in conjunction with South Korean esports broadcasting company OGN . FEG, a China-based online gaming network, raised close to ¥100M RMB ($15M USD) in a series A funding round on October. Looking at how the King Pro League (KPL) developed in mainland China, plenty of non-endemic brands have shown massive interest in Honor of Kings competition. In terms of sponsorships, Tencent has deals in place with M&M’s, Saic Volkswagen, McDonald’s, Vivo, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. In addition, Tencent also has licensing deals to create official KPL merchandise with sports Under Armor, Lukfook Jewellery, GARMIN, and NEWERR. Though the KRKPL has launched without any sponsorship support, the existing interest in the KPL, and the league’s position into one of the world’s most established esports markets, suggests sponsorships and partnerships will likely find their way to the KRKPL soon. Nike, one of the biggest sports equipment and apparel brands in the world, has enlisted the help of Royal Never Give Up (RNG) League of Legends player Jian “Uzi” Zihao. He has been featured, alongside Chinese actor Bai Jingting, in a marketing campaign of NBA player LeBron James. The deal is to promote LeBron’s new “Shut Up and Dribble” documentary—a three-part series chronicling the modern history of the NBA. The name comes from a quote, made by Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who told James to “shut up and dribble” after he made comments critical of U.S. president Donald Trump. In the campaign, Zihao wears a black T-shirt with the text “Dribble & Carry”. However, the shirts will be sold with customizable statements in Nike stores. The collaboration between Uzi and Nike is not confined to just social media. The images above show posters from the campaign, set up on the main public area of Huaihai Road, in Shanghai. The deal is the first time that Nike has partnered with a professional esports player. Riot Games recently released a list of those competing in this year’s League of Legends World Championship, and named Zihao their top ranked player. The esports division of Ligue 1 champion soccer club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) has expanded its partnership with Chinese esports organization LGD Gaming, to form a FIFA Online 4 team. The two organizations partnered up earlier this year to co-brand a Dota 2 team, which ended up taking second place of The International, and bringing over $4M from a $25M overall prize pool. According to the announcement, PSG Esports and LGD Gaming signed four FIFA Online 4 players, which includes French player Johann ‘Maniika’ Simo, and Chinese players Mo ‘MzDragon’ Zilong, Chen ‘Milano’ Junyu, and Li ‘Yuwenc’ Sijun. PSG.LGD has also recently signed a number of sponsors in the Chinese market, most notably the online streaming platform Douyu . In addition, the team’s player jerseys feature the logos of Lynx, and Monster Energy. Hong Kong Happy Valley Athletic Association (HVAA) has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Alisports, the sporting arm of ecommerce company the Alibaba Group. The partnership focuses on Alisports’ esports tournament, the World Electronic Sports Games (WESG), which will take the main sponsor position on HAVV’s soccer team jerseys. The branding sponsorship will start with the 2018/2019 Hong Kong soccer season. In addition, HVAA announced that the WESG Hong Kong qualifier will be held as part of the 2018 Alisports WESG Hong Kong Esports Festival. The winner of the Hong Kong qualifier will earn a spot at the WESG Grand Final. Chinese esports media EsportsFocus has signed an exclusive content partnership with Korea esports media company Inven Global. According to the announcement, EsportsFocus and Inven Global have been studying the Chinese, North American and European esports scenes since May 2018. Now, the two companies have made an agreement “in order to efficiently and continuously supply their contents to the worldwide and Chinese users,” the statement reads. The Chinese media company EsportsFocus was founded in 2017 July and raised close to ¥8M RMB ($1.14M USD) in its angel round. The round was co-led by Chinese VC firm Taoyun Capital.
The esports division of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) has teamed up with Chinese esports organisation Li “Yuwenc” Sijun to create a FIFA Online 4 team. The deal expands on the organisations’ existing partnership, created earlier this year to co-brand a Dota 2 team. PSG Esports and Li “Yuwenc” Sijun have reportedly signed four FIFA Online 4 players: France’s Johann “Maniika” Simo, China’s Mo “MzDragon” Zilong, Chen “Milano” Junyu and LGD Gaming.