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Rise of e-sports

The Chinese e-sports industry has experienced dramatic growth in recent years. With more and more elite Chinese gamers and clubs winning titles at major international tournaments, the market value of the sector is skyrocketing.

Chinese e-sports made global headlines again in May when the Royal Never Give Up club won the world title by defeating South Korea's DWG KIA in the final of the League of Legends 2021 Mid-Season Invitational in Reykjavik, Iceland.

It was the second time RNG lifted the MSI trophy, having bagged its maiden title in 2018.

In addition, Chinese clubs Invictus Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix won the League of Legends World Championship, in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

"In China's League of Legends Pro League, there are many more strong teams that are just as competitive as us," said RNG player Li Yuanhao, aka Xiaohu, after his team's victory in the Icelandic capital.

According to the 2020 Global E-sports Development Report published by Tencent E-sports and Penguin Intelligence, the total number of Chinese gamers and fans reached 400 million by the end of 2020, representing a 14.3 percent annual growth rate. The Chinese e-sports market was valued at 13.8 billion yuan ($2 billion) in 2019.

The e-sports sector is also providing a huge number of job opportunities in China, with game designers, tournament operatives, club managers and commentators in hot demand.

The 2020 Global E-sports Development Report estimated there are currently only about 50,000 people working in the industry in China, with about 500,000 vacancies waiting to be filled.

Moreover, the gaming industry has shown strong resilience in 2020, when most sports leagues and tournaments were postponed or canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last November's League of Legends World Championship in Shanghai, for example, was the first international sports event held in China since the pandemic began.

According to the event organizer, the final of that championship had an average online audience of 23 million viewers per minute, and at one time peaked at over 45 million viewers.

The inclusion of e-sports at major sporting events has been a much-discussed topic in recent years. E-sports will debut as a medal event at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.

E-sports joined the Asian Games for the first time as a demonstration sport at the 2018 edition in Indonesia, where China won two gold medals and a silver.