China’s $3 billion e-sports market – China’s latest business and technology news
A summary of the top news in Chinese business and technology for August 1, 2017. Part of the daily The China Project newsletter, a convenient package of China’s business, political, and cultural news delivered to your inbox for free. Subscribe here.
E-sports is the word people use to describe video game competitions that are organized and commercialized in way similar to physical sports: real-time competitions between celebrity gamers with massive audiences — although for e-sports in China, viewers are almost always strictly online.
E-sports have become big business in China. TechNode reports that the Bird’s Nest, the iconic 90,000-seat Olympic athletic stadium, will host the 2017 League of Legends World Championship, a live competition to determine the best players of one of the most popular video games in the world. League of Legends is published by Riot Games and works on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS platforms; it follows a freemium model so you can start playing for free but pay for upgrades.
TechNode says that the Chinese government’s attitude to e-sports “has long been ambivalent.” In 2003, China was one of the first countries to recognize e-sports as an official sports program (in Chinese). Shortly afterward, however, there was a ban “on the broadcast of video gaming programs on TV, long popular in neighboring South Korea.”
But TechNode says the e-sports market was “valued at $3 billion in 2016,” and “expected to hit 220 million audiences at the end of 2017.”
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Gray rhinos (?)
China forex regulator is examining top dealmakers, sources say / Bloomberg -
Banking and financial industry
New chiefs at China’s top banks signal more reshuffles ahead / Bloomberg
Major Chinese P2P lender to switch to wealth management / Caixin
Banking watchdog tightens rules to block revolving door / Caixin -
Tech companies
China’s huge internet stock runup: Room to grow, or ready to blow? / Caixin
WeChat adding new ad feature to public accounts / TechNode
Baidu competitor says to focus on AI as it plans U.S. IPO / Reuters -
Macro trends
China manufacturing activity hits four-month high, Caixin survey shows / Caixin
China’s manufacturing gauges offer mixed messages / WSJ (paywall) -
Currency
Time right to loosen controls on yuan-dollar exchange rate, says China state-run paper / SCMP
