Over the past two weeks, the Chinese esports industry has seen both major partnership announcements and controversy. Among the top stories, Chinese esports organization Edward Gaming debuted new apparel with two sportswear partners, Adidas and Li-Ning; and two new Chinese League of Legends teams, V5 and SDG, joined the League of Legends Pro League (LPL). On the policy front, the Shanghai government unveiled its esports athlete registration program, as well as multiple esports projects with game publishers. In addition, JJB ended its sponsorship with TNC Predator—a consequence of the Dota 2 racism incident—and a Chinese professional coach received $14K USD penalty for allegedly gambling.

Every two weeks, The Esports Observer presents the biggest esports business news in China, including investments, acquisitions, sponsorships, and other major news from the region.

Shanghai Releases Esports Athlete Registration Program and Signs Multiple Esports Projects

The Shanghai government held a signing ceremony in Shanghai Mercedes-Benz Arena on Nov. 28. Multiple Chinese esports relevant companies attended the ceremony, including Tencent , NetEase, Perfect World, and PandaTV.

During the ceremony, Weng Huitie, the vice mayor of Shanghai, announced The International 2019 Dota 2 tournament will be hosted in the city’s Mercedes-Benz Arena. Valve’s digital distribution platform Steam also launched in China as “Steam China”, signed by both the Shanghai government and Perfect World—the exclusive game distributor of Valve in the country. Tencent also announced that the Honor of Kings Winter Champion Cup will be hosted in Shanghai in January 2019, with a $500K prize pool.

In addition, the Shanghai Esports Association released its esports athlete registration guidelines. Five games have been recognized for esports athletes registration: League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone , Warcraft III , and FIFA Online 4 . Registration began on Dec. 1, and will end in Jan. 31, 2019. The registration will be applicable for all esports professionals in Shanghai. Professionals must be at least 18-years-old and hold a signed contract of employment with an esports organization.

V5 and SDG Join LPL, Tencent Boasts Positive Results In Home/Away System

Chinese tech giant Tencent announced that two esports organizations, SinoDragon Gaming (SDG) and Victory Five (V5), have joined China’s League of Legends Pro League (LPL). This expands the number of league teams to 16. According to the announcement, SDG earned the LPL spot by becoming champion of the LoL Development League (LDL) in 2018, and V5 earned its spot through bidding. Source told The Esports Observer that the initial bid price is roughly ¥30M RMB ($4.3M).

Credit: LPL

In addition, Tencent claimed that establishing the LPL Union, and the development of esports regionalization, has yielded positive results. The home/away system in the LPL was fully established in 2018. Several LPL teams have built their home venues in multiple Chinese cities: RNG in Beijing, WE in Xi’an, LGD Gaming in Hangzhou, Snake in Chongqing, and OMG in Chengdu.

Valve Banned TNC Player from Chongqing Major, JJB Ended Sponsorship Deal with Team

Game publisher Valve has issued an official punishment against Philippines esports organization TNC Predator. The TNC player Carlo “Kuku” Palad had been banned from attending the Dota 2 Chongqing Major. The team will be penalized 20% of its current DPC points, and while Palad remains part of TNC, the player has since taken a personal leave from Dota 2.

On Dec. 2, TNC posted on Twitter that Palad might be not able to enter China, and the Chongqing Major might be canceled if he were to attend. This was rebuked by Valve, who stated: “Kuku is not banned by the Chinese Government.”

Last month, Palad used the racist term “Ching Chong” (referring in particular to the Chinese community) during a public server game. This action resulted in a significant backlash from the Chinese esports community and sanctions from Valve.

In addition, JJB, a betting company and a major sponsor of TNC predator, claimed that “We are terribly disappointed about TNC’s mishandled action after the racist circumstance.” JJB ended its sponsorship deal with the team since Nov. 25.

Adidas Partners With Lyon EDG, Li-Ning X EDG Joint Apparel Announced

Chinese esports organization Edward Gaming (EDG) announced its “Li-Ning X EDG” joint apparel line with Chinese sports apparel brand Li-Ning. The advertisement campaign on social media featured three EDG League of Legends players, Tian “Meiko” Ye, Ming “Clearlove” Kai, and Hu “iboy” Xianzhao.

Credit: Li-Ning

Li-Ning has started selling the apparel line on Dec. 8 at its retail store in Shanghai’s Daning shopping complex. Products in the collection include hoodies, jackets, tracksuits, and shoes. Li-Ning also announced that a new product, “Li-Ning X EDG V8” running shoes, will be officially launch on Dec. 24 in its online store.

Sportswear brand Adidas also signed a partnership deal with Lyon EDG, the joint FIFA Online 4 team of French soccer organization Olympique Lyonnais and EDG, based in China. Adidas will produce exclusive apparel and accessories for the players. This is the first time that Adidas has partnered with an esports organization in China.

Other Esports Developments in China

Chinese esports organization ImbaTV will become the Chinese broadcast partner of ZOWIE DIVINA Women’s Invitational PUBG tournament in Shanghai. The tournament’s main sponsor is PC hardware brand BenQ, and, in addition, Hong Kong dessert restaurant HoneyMoon Dessert will also sponsor the competition.

Tencent has released the tournament schedule for the League of Legends Demacia Cup 2018 Winter. Eight Chinese professional teams will compete on Dec. 20-23, including 2018 League of Legends Worlds Champion Invictus Gaming (IG), Royal Never Give-Up (RNG), Edward Gaming, JD Gaming, Rogue Warriors, SinoDragon, Suning, and Topsports Gaming.