In an industry largely dominated by male players, China stands out for its gender balance in esports. The high penetration of mobile games and the increasing number of world championships won by Chinese teams, albeit all-male teams so far, is helping bring more women gamers into the fold.

“Our data shows that females in China are more likely to follow mobile esports titles than males, in particular Arena of Valor,” said Nielsen Esports managing director Nicole Pike, referencing the international title for Honor of Kings.

Following mobile esports is more popular in China than other markets, Pike said, which has helped naturally build up a relatively large female fan base.

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How mainstream esports are in a country also affects the gender balance. There’s a direct correlation between esports popularity and how likely females are to participate, Pike said.

“The development of esports in recent years has made many people in our parents’ generation change their attitude,” said Chen. This has resulted in less pressure on women who have decided to pursue a career in esports.

However, the growing ranks of female fans doesn’t necessarily translate to an equal growth in the number of professional female players.

“Talented female players might rather be streamers instead of going pro,” said Chen. “You earn much more and there’s less pressure.”

LGD Girls, the women’s team for China’s famous LGD Gaming organization, says streaming is the team’s main source of revenue. “We stream four hours everyday, six days a week,” said team manager Kaidi Tu.

“People always care more about your appearance first, whereas for men, there are much fewer comments on how they look,'' she said.

There’s also the added difficulty that there’s no official female tournaments for many esports games, which Chen finds discouraging. “If girls don't get their own platforms to show what they can do, they won’t be able to hold on for very long,” she said. 

The outflow of talent is one of the biggest concerns for women teams, Tu said. Last year, the club had to rebuild a new female team for PUBG because their previous League of Legend team fell apart following a number of player departures.

Nara was part of that exodus. She now hosts tournaments for LPL, the biggest League of Legends league in China.

“I used to dream about the big stage of the LPL tournament when I was a pro player,” Chen said. “Now I can get on the stage as a host, and it still feels awesome.”