The 2019 International dota2 championships is the ninth edition of the mega gaming competition. Host city Shanghai saw the highest level tournament for the competitive video game Dota2 ever held in China. The city has set the goal of making Shanghai "the world e-sports hub" in its city development plan, and this match is helping Shanghai live up to that. CGTN's Yang Chengxi brings us more.

YANG CHENGXI SHANGHAI "This is the 2019 International dota2 championships. For the past week, that stadium has been the center of attention for e-sports fans across the world: One arena, 16 teams that are cream of the crop. It was six days of adrenalin, camaraderie and, that constant ROAR. Players have been enjoying their hours of glory on stage for sure. But backstage at the pre-game media interviews, they found themselves answering some questions that were not really related to this match."

ROTK VICI GAMING "Our parents and grandparents' generations have many misunderstandings of what we do. While we say we're chasing our dreams, they think we're just a bunch of kids playing around. Well, many of our teammates have received National Athlete Certificates. I think when we have these credentials, our parents will understand that we're not just playing."

The debate continues over whether or not competitive gaming is a legitimate sport, 16 years after it was recognized by China's sports authority as one. The sector has come a long way since then. It is now a 14 billion dollar industry with about 500 million Chinese people playing some kind of e-sport game. But enough about abstract numbers, just look at the line for this tournament: I rest my case. Last year, then vice mayor of Shanghai Weng Tiehui announced the contest would be held in this city and on Tuesday, Gabe Newell, the world video game legend behind Dota2 and many of game industry's biggest releases, paid his respects to China's e-sports hub. Newell's company, Valve, has teamed up with the tournament's local organizer, Perfect World.

ROBERT XIAO, CEO PERFECT WORLD "Dota2 is getting better and better. We're happy to see that. Number two is Chinese market is growing bigger and bigger and faster than whatever, you know, the other markets around the world."

It doesn't take much for people outside of the e-sports professional circle to now realize that this is a big business. The latest example is The King's Avatar, a popular TV show that, for the first time in China, features no romance but pure e-sports related plots. Backed by high profile investors, it's regarded as a bold experiment, and the producers had to hire real players to teach the actors how to behave and play like the pros.

YANG XIAOPEI, CEO LINMON YUEXIN "We were making something that had no reference whatsoever. When I was working on other projects, I always knew which part could be improved. But on this project, I could see what parts were bad, but a lot of the time I had no idea how to make it better."

The show so far has 2 billion online views: a testament to the rise of e-sports awareness in China, despite the ongoing debates.

LANM RNG "As more and more people who play e-sports grow up and become part of mainstream society, our industry will gradually be more accepted."


Liking e-sports is one thing, but being a professional player, something many youngsters in China aspire to do is very different from what you see on TV. Like most other sports, income distribution is a pyramid. Industry insiders say while a handful of top players are enjoying their race cars and big houses, many other pro players constantly worry about sustaining themselves. It has become better recently. The championship's prize pool this year has reached a historic 33 million US dollars. About 45 percent goes to the champions, many others finalists will get their share too.


SNEYKING NEWBEE "The investors definitely have caught an eye on e-sports and decided to put more funds into the game and as a result, there are more tournaments. The first iteration of TI, it was a million dollars, but that was only for five people, for one team. With the current increases in pay rates in the recent years, people are actually able to become self-sufficient, and they're able to keep staying in this game and I think that's a necessity."

It was a happy evening for European team OG, who won the champion title for the second year in a row. China's LGD, made it to the third place. 

Being in this arena is a unique experience. The players were fighting an uphill battle, and so were the fans in a sense. To many, every cheer, or teardrop feels like a statement. Debate all you want, this is the sport of their generation. 
Yang Chengxi, CGTN, SHANGHAI.