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The World Cyber Arena (WCA), now a major global e-sports event born in the city of Yinchuan located along the route of China’s ancient Silk Road, attracted 512 top-tier contestants from across the world at its 2015 event, according to Economic Daily .





WCA first became known for its highly controversial move of introducing mobile and web games into e-sports events, which have traditionally been dominated by terminal-based games.





“We had faith in the prospects of mobile and web games. That’s why we firmly brought them in amid great pressure. Now we see the coming of an era for mobile e-sports,” said Zhang Xiao, general manager of WCA’s global game division, to Economic Daily .





WCA was also the first to bring original Chinese e-games to global competitions. The move has been significant not just in terms of growth in the local industry, the newspaper quoted WCA’s executive producer Li Yanfei as saying. It also helps spread Chinese culture as many of the games are based on Chinese literary classics and so carry important cultural messages, Li said.





According to a report by games market research company Newzoo, based in the Netherlands, global e-sports revenues reached US$325 million in 2015 and are expected to increase by over 42 percent to $463 million by the end of 2016.





Some 15 percent of revenues in 2016 will be generated by China, the report says. Meanwhile, China provides 28 percent of global awareness of e-sports in 2016.





The concept of e-sports came into being as early as the late 1980s. Yet it was not until 2003 that e-games were officially registered as a sports genre in China after being approved by the National Administration of Sport (NAS).





The recognition e-sports are gaining on an official level is still growing. Earlier this year, e-sports management became a valid subject for college-level study. In September, it was endorsed in an official document by the National Development and Reform Commission as a way to boost consumption, according to local media.





“Now has come the time for the rapid development of e-sports,” news site Tencent Business quoted Li Guihua, vice director of the NAS’ Sports Information Center, as saying during the launch of the China E-sports Carnival, one of several national e-sports events initiated by the administration.





“The NAS will introduce standards for e-sports, and pave the way for e-sports to become events with appeal to the general public,” Li said.

Chinese e-sports event has grown to become the largest of its kind in the world in three years by making breakthroughs that are likely to reshape the global e-sports landscape, local media reported.