GuShiio.com ① The intensity of an e-sports competition is no less than that of a football final. As the city hosting the largest number of e-sports events in China, Shanghai has gathered three top international events-TI9, S10, and 2024 Counter-Strike World Championship.
② The launch of a large number of events has promoted the completion of professional e-sports venues as infrastructure, constituting a concrete expression of the continuous development of the e-sports industry in Shanghai.
The Reporting Department of Listed Companies of the Financial Union has launched a New Economy and Local Chronicles column, focusing on regional economies and industrial clusters, showing a new picture of various localities seeking to “break the situation” for development at a time when old and new momentum are being transformed.
Cailian News Agency, March 8 (Reporter Cui Ming Wang Xiao)The intensity of an e-sports competition is no less than that of a football final. Professional players must maintain a reaction speed of less than 200 milliseconds, a hand speed of 400 to 600APM (operations per minute), and a heart rate of 180 beats per minute. At the same time, the adrenaline level soars and the sympathetic nerves are extremely excited…
Unlike ordinary players who regard video games as leisure and entertainment, professional e-sports players, like traditional sports athletes, need to go through long-term and hard training, training for 70 to 80 hours or more a week, thereby strengthening their personal skills and working with coaches and teammates. Only the best will be qualified to represent the club in the competition.
Once you join the group of top e-sports players, it means fame, sense of accomplishment and generous rewards come one after another-millions of annual salaries can be expected, and star players are even higher-this is largely due to the e-sports business model. As e-sports players, game publishers, event operators, e-sports clubs, sponsors and brand partners, government organizations and a large number of audiences are increasingly forming a close ecosystem, jointly contributing to the rapid development of the e-sports industry in China. Create huge economic and social benefits.
(Photo by a reporter from the Financial Union at the Shanghai KPL E-Sports Center)
is in full swing
In a newly completed venue along the Huangpu Riverside of Shanghai, the KPL (“King’s Glory” Professional League) regular season is in full swing. The two sides in the duel are Beijing JDG and Xi’an WE. The fingertips of the players were flying, the commentary was passionate, and the three-sided main screens were broadcasting the battle situation in real time. Suddenly, a burst of cheers broke out in the packed audience area, and one side’s “Crystal Tower” was knocked down. This meant that the winner and winner of the game were decided.
KPL is the highest-profile professional competitive event of the well-known mobile game “Glory of the King”. It has been held in the ninth session since 2016, with 100 million independent game-watching users. The venue hosting this regular season competition is the Shanghai KPL E-Sports Center. Construction started in August last year and was completed and delivered on December 31. It can accommodate up to 1200 people.
For top e-sports competitions, first-class professional venues are indispensable. This is because e-sports competitions belong to a physical static confrontation mode. Only in professional venues and with rich means can the intense and exciting atmosphere of the competition be extremely created.
For example, at the Shanghai KPL E-Sports Center, in addition to the three large broadcast screens above the head, the first row of the auditorium is also equipped with a separate broadcast screen. Through the screens of far and near sizes and different orientations, the game pictures, studio commentaries and players can be displayed. The lens switches in turn, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in it, and the sensory experience is unparalleled.
new stage
Shanghai is the city hosting the largest number of e-sports events in China, accounting for 17.8% of the country in 2024. It has also gathered three top international events-the 9th DOTA2 International Invitational Tournament (TI9), the 2020 League of Legends Global Finals (S10), and the 2024 Counter-Strike World Championship. The launch of a large number of events has promoted the completion of professional e-sports venues as infrastructure, constituting a concrete expression of the continuous development of the e-sports industry in Shanghai.
“E-sports has gradually moved closer to traditional sports from an entertainment activity, and has even become a competitive event that attracts much attention around the world. This trend is not only reflected in the fact that e-sports has become an official event of the Asian Games, but also in the preparations for the e-sports Olympics and the deep integration of e-sports and traditional sports.” Wang Xu, co-founder and chief analyst of Gamma Data, told a reporter from Financial News Agency.
Take the 2024 Saudi E-Sports World Cup (EWC2024) as an example. The total prize money is as high as US$60 million. The competition attracted 1500 professional players to participate, with a peak audience of 2.38 million and 2 million tourists, proving the strong appeal of e-sports in the world and demonstrating its commercial value and spillover effects as an industry.
In China, the number of e-sports users reached 490 million last year, with actual sales revenue of 27.5 billion yuan, distributed in e-sports and related industries such as e-sports game development, e-sports event operations, e-sports equipment production, e-sports cultural tourism services, etc. The employment population exceeds 10 million. If we further zoom in from e-sports itself to the game industry on which it is based, last year, the revenue of China’s game market reached 325.7 billion yuan, far exceeding the scale of traditional fields such as drama, film, and music, and has become one of the most influential cultural industries.
How to carry such a fast-growing business format, investment and construction of venues and other infrastructure cannot be absent. On December 1, 2024, China’s first national standard for the e-sports industry “E-sports Venues Operation Service Specification”(GB/T 44456-2024) was officially implemented, and the regulations were issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation and the National Standardization Administration Commission. This means that the status of e-sports venues has been benchmarked with cinemas, football fields, gymnasiums and other cultural and sports facilities, and has been further incorporated into public cultural and sports facilities. The scope of cultural and sports facilities also marks that the e-sports industry has entered a new stage of standardization and specialization.
lead position
Iterative investment in the field of e-sports infrastructure can gain advantages in hardware, but a faster step in industrial planning and greater policy support are the only ways for an emerging industry to take root in a city and be able to Sustainable development is a more critical factor.
As early as 2017, Shanghai issued the “Several Opinions on Accelerating the Innovative Development of the City’s Cultural and Creative Industries”, proposing to accelerate the construction of a global e-sports capital. It mentioned: “Encourage investment in the construction of e-sports venues, focusing on supporting the construction or renovation. There are 1 to 2 professional venues that can host top international e-sports events, and plans to build several characteristic experience halls. Develop e-sports industry clusters, strengthen local e-sports competition brands, and support the settlement of top international e-sports competitions.”
Thanks to the support of relevant policies, Shanghai has gradually developed an e-sports industry chain from upstream game manufacturers to midstream events, clubs, production companies, to downstream live broadcast platforms, peripheral products and brokerage companies, which provides a solid foundation for the hosting of e-sports events and Industrial development.
According to gamma data statistics, Shanghai’s event revenue will account for 47.53% of the country in 2024, Shanghai club revenue will account for 41.87% of the country, and the number of Shanghai clubs will account for 25.64% of the country, ranking first in the country. As an international city, Shanghai has complete infrastructure and service systems such as transportation, hotels, and catering, which can meet the diverse needs of participating teams and audiences from all over the world. The city’s carrying capacity for hosting international events is second to none.
At the end of last year, the 35-day Counter-Strike World Championship (CS Major) was held in Shanghai, attracting more than 700 foreign players, staff and nearly 10,000 foreign visitors, further enhancing Shanghai’s international influence as the capital of e-sports.
“We have also made innovations in stage design. We have designed the stage design of ‘AB dual stages, eight battle rooms’ on the Silver Hall stage, which ensures the compactness of the game and the audience’s experience. In terms of commercial cooperation, we have gathered well-known companies such as NVIDIA, AMD, and AGON as official partners. The joining of these technology giants provides technical support for the event and ensures the ultimate viewing experience for the audience and contestants.” The relevant person in charge of the organizer Perfect World E-sports told the Financial Union reporter.
This year, Shanghai will also host many important e-sports events such as the VCT (Fearless Contract Champions Tour), ACL (E-sports Asian Champions League), and S15 (League of Legends Global Finals), which will continue to increase efforts and speed up the road to global e-sports.
“Shanghai’s e-sports industry has entered a ‘positive cycle’. Whether it is e-sports talent training, government support, approval intensity, simplification of processes, and improvement of efficiency, it has all contributed to this.” The person in charge of Perfect World e-sports said,”As more and more top events in the world are willing to be held in Shanghai, the e-sports market in Shanghai will become more and more active.”
(Review of previous issues: Special topic on local chronicles of the new economy)
