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2016 China E-Sport Grand Ceremony [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
The 2016 China E-Sport Grand Ceremony took place at the Communication University of China in Beijing on Jan 6.
The ceremony is the most influential and authoritative event in the domestic e-sport industry. This year’s event, sponsored by the Sports Information Center of the General Administration of Sports of China and organized by the CGA (a company focusing on organizing national e-sports contests) and Lesports, was the largest in China’s e-sport history.
Prizes were awarded to acknowledge the outstanding entrepreneurs, enterprises, and programs that contribute to the promotion of e-sports and to award the excellent players who pushed the development of the industry throughout the year.
With the exception of some of the professional awards that were directly voted on by a team of 23 senior experts, the winners were selected after two rounds of evaluation – public nomination and experts’ voting.
Chinese e-sports teams became more competitive through world and domestic contests in 2016 though they had mixed results. Chinese team Wings Gaming defeated its rivals to win the 2016 International DOTA 2 Championships and Chinese team TyLoo knocked out former champion LG to be the top 8 at DreamHack Masters Malmö 2016. However, the promising LPL team did not reach the quarterfinals of the 2016 League of Legends World Championship.
Domestic e-sport games developed rapidly last year. There were e-sport competitions throughout the year from the CS:GO Super League 2016 (CSL2016) in March to the National Electronic Sports Tournament (NEST), China Mobile E-Sports Games (CMEG), and China Top E-Sports Games.
With the fast development of e-sport, more social capital is flowing to the industry. The transfer fee of the Chinese e-sports superstar Jian Zihao (ID: UZI) was 50 million yuan ($7.24 million), a considerable amount even in traditional sports.
Enterprises from other industries began to seek business opportunities in the Chinese e-sport market. Coca Cola bagged the title sponsorship of Lol Pro League (LPL) and Chery Automobile Co was the titled sponsor of the NEST. Xiamen C&D Corporation, a large industrial & investment enterprise in Fujian province also undertook the NEST.
In 2016, the State Council and a group of government departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission and the ministries of culture and education, have rolled out policies to support e-sports.
Moreover, Chinese mainstream media like People’s Daily have spoken highly of e-sport events. China Central Television (CCTV) reported the Wings Gaming’s victory at T6, while the team’s nomination for the Laureus China Sport Award was a milestone for the status of e-sport in China.
Ding Dong, director of the General Administration of Sport of China’s Information Center, said the administration’s cooperation with all the parties improved the e-sport contest system and aimed to encourage more e-sport fans to participate in contests.
The Center has worked with CGA and Daily E-sports, a mobile e-sport platform developed by Datang Telecom, to organize a group of large e-sport events such as NEST, CSL, CMEG and CHINA TOP.
Insiders say e-sports are expected to integrate with painting, sculpture, architecture, music, literature, dance, drama, and film to offer more creative content featuring “Sports plus culture”.
