Tencent leading China's charge
China is at the forefront of the global e-sports revolution, with Tencent leading the boom's corporate pack. The Chinese technology giant has become one of the most influential and profitable e-sports companies in the world since making its first explorative steps into the business in 2006.
Tencent believes China is capable of becoming the world center of e-sports. According to Tencent, the live broadcasts of LPL (League of Legends Pro League) were viewed five billion times by 43 million spectators. In 2017, the live broadcasts of KPL (King of Glory Pro League) were viewed 2.68 billion times in the spring season.
"Tencent e-sports contains about six brand games, such as MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena games), FPS (first-person shooter), and the other seven core occupation games such as LPL, KPL and CFPL. These form a sound basis for the e-sports tournament, with over 170 million users in total among them," said Mars Hou, general manager of the self-developed marketing department and integrated marketing department of IEG.