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China’s strict Covid-19 control measures, not video game licensing curbs, are wreaking havoc on esports market, insiders say
- Strict pandemic controls make it tough for esports competition organisers to stage offline events, host audiences and communicate with various clubs
- By contrast, esports events in the United States, such as the EVO 2022 Tekken 7 tournament in Las Vegas, have been drawing large audiences
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China’s esports market, which is the world’s largest, has taken a hit from the country’s rigid Covid-19 control measures, according to industry insiders, while being little affected by licensing restrictions on new video games.
The struggle to keep esports alive and kicking in the world’s largest video gaming market has been particularly tough in terms of staging offline events in cities, hosting audiences and communicating with various clubs because of ongoing pandemic controls, according to Zhao Mingyi, general manager of major game publisher NetEase’s esports unit, which was started in 2017 and now has more than 300 employees.
NetEase has held four rounds of competition for Naraka: Bladepoint, an action-adventure battle royale game released last July, but has not been able to sell a single audience ticket to this event so far.
“It is really important for an esports competition to host audiences,” Zhao said. “Through large-scale offline competitions, we would be able to keep close contact with our fans and hear their feedback. It is also a good experience for players to hear fans cheer offline.”
Last week, only a dozen invited fans were able to watch live the finals of the Naraka: Bladepoint Pro League S1 2022 held in Shanghai. Most of the tournament’s audience ended watching the matches via streaming video on platforms such as Bilibili, Douyu and Huya. Matches of the popular League of Legends Pro League have been held without a live audience in Shanghai.
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