Growing investment sees China's first 'esports town'

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The esports world will turn its attention to Las Vegas this weekend, with the city hosting the three-day League of Legends (LoL) All-Star 2018 event, attracting some of the world's best players and huge attention from LoL fans.

With market research firm Newzoo predicting the global video games industry will be worth 138 billion U.S. dollars by the end of this year, huge amounts of investment are going into professional competitive gaming, particularly in China.

In November, Hangzhou city in east China's Zhejiang Province, unveiled the country's first esports town, after two billion yuan (280 million U.S. dollars) of investment. The huge area covers more than 365,000 square meters – more than double the size of the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Hangzhou's esports town, which was officially launched late last month. /VCG Photo

The esports town will be managed by local authorities, and aims to attract some 10,000 professional gamers by offering a world-class venue, and eventually a gaming academy, theme park, business center and even a hospital specifically catering for gamers.

According to People's Daily, Hangzhou's esports town is the first of 14 planned venues in the city, ahead of the 2022 Asian Games, when esports will be recognized as a medal event in the competition for the first time.

The esports town highlights growing official support for the industry, which is being regarded as a professional sport with more seriousness than ever before.

Hangzhou's venue will also be home to the Tencent-backed League of Legends Pro League, which recently courted controversy over a proposed sponsorship deal with Nike, reportedly worth as much as one billion yuan (144 million U.S. dollars).

Spectators watch a League of Legends Pro League match in Hangzhou, April 2018. /VCG Photo

The apparel deal, which would have been the first of its kind for esports in China, proposed that all players, coaches and other staff involved in the league would wear Nike-branded clothing.

However, teams have disputed the terms of the deal, saying it would affect their right to negotiate their own separate apparel agreements. One of the biggest teams in the LoL Pro League, Edward Gaming (EDG), announced Thursday it would release jointly-branded merchandise with Chinese sportswear brand Li Ning.

Sportswear branding, contract disputes and multi-million dollar deals show how far esports have developed in China. EDG itself raised 100 million yuan (15.7 million U.S. dollars) in a funding round in May this year, with backers including basketball legend Yao Ming's company Yao Capital.

The World Economic Forum earlier this year said esports could see revenues of 1.4 billion U.S. dollars by 2020, with a global audience of 380 million people. Almost one in three of those esport fans come from China, underlining why officials, companies and investors in the country are now looking to give the industry their full support.