China's thriving e-sports industry achieved several milestones in 2017, as the competitive gaming sector continued to take the nation by storm.

The 11,000 boisterous fans who showed up for the Dec 24 fall season final of the King Pro League (KPL) competition, based on Tencent's homegrown hit King of Glory, provided a perfect snapshot of how and why e-sports is sweeping the country.

In addition to the live crowd, hundreds of millions of other gaming enthusiasts watched online as the QGhappy team completed a clean sweep of 2017's titles by beating team XQ to win 1.2 million yuan (around $182,000) in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

King of Glory has amassed 200 million registered users since its launch in 2015, and the KPL's live broadcast, video and other media content notched a staggering 10.3 billion views last year.

While the KPL's spring season live broadcasts were viewed 2.68 billion times, the live broadcasts of the fall season were viewed 3.6 billion times－a 33 percent increase within six months.

But that's just the tip of the e-sports iceberg.

According to the 2017 China Game Industry Report released by Penguin Intelligence in June, the market value of China's e-sports sector reached 20 billion yuan (about $3 billion) generated by gamers' spending, copyright distribution, merchandizing and e-commerce. And the number of registered online gamers jumped to 220 million in 2017 from 170 million in 2016.

Another report, from market researcher Niko Partner, showed China's e-sports market topped $1.26 billion in 2017, while the total purse payouts at Chinese tournaments was $64 million－up from $51 million the previous year.

"Certainly, the development of e-sports will go beyond a lot of people's imagination," said China's four-time Olympic speed-skating champion Wang Meng, a hardcore e-sports fan. "No other sporting activity triggers the same chemistry. The future is bright for e-sports."

November's final of the League of Legends World Championship at Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing was one of the best indicators of the rise of e-sports. It marked the first time China has hosted the premier gaming tournament, and despite the nation not being represented in the grand final, 40,000 tickets－costing up to 1,280 yuan ($190)－sold out in minutes. Scalpers reportedly were reselling them for up to 13,000 yuan ($1,960).

"As the world's largest e-sports project, League of Legends, from its birth, has been promoting the development of global e-sports and has achieved very good results in recent years," said Sage Huang, general manager of the League of Legends product department.

Meanwhile, KPL has provided the blueprint for the success of domestic leagues. Based on King of Glory, which was developed here and features characters from Chinese history, the league is aiming to become the NBA of e-sports.

"In 2016, nobody knew if the KPL could go this far," said Zhang Yijia, KPL president and general manager of Tencent's mobile e-sports department. "But a year later, we have witnessed the growth of the KPL from zero.

"We've been studying the business models of traditional sports leagues and other internet companies. From the very beginning we have been aiming to build a professional league, and we have analyzed the operation model of the NBA and the English Premier League."

The KPL aims to become a completely professional operation and govern clubs with strict new rules and regulations, including player transfers and a salary gap.

Alisports, the sports arm of e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, has also jumped on the bandwagon after launching the Alisports World Electronic Sports Games in March 2016－touted as the world's highest paying e-sports series with 1,200 events planned across 15 Chinese cities and offering a total prize purse of $5.5 million.

In April 2017, Alisports announced a strategic partnership with the Olympic Council of Asia to jointly add e-sports as an official medal event to the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, where Alibaba has its headquarters.

Mobile era

On the technical side, e-sports' decades-long dependency on personal computers is changing as battlegrounds shift from PCs to mobile devices. Several multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games and first-person shooters (FPS) are already flourishing on mobile platforms.

Trendy FPS CrossFire is the latest major title to follow this pattern, with mobile platforms offering a new game mode called "multiplayer tactics combat".

Tencent is hoping Cross-Fire's latest incarnation will kickstart an exciting new mobile era of e-sports. So far the game has attracted 200 million registered users and 21 million daily active users.

"CrossFire will take further steps to create an international e-sports ecosystem for multiplayer tactics combat games," said Joses Zhu, general manager of the Cooperative Group's marketing department within Tencent IEG.

The MOBA market has witnessed the same changes. While League of Legends still dominates the format for personal computers, King of Glory is blazing a trail on mobile platforms as Chinese developers position themselves at the forefront of gaming's mobile revolution.

"In the era of PC games, countries like South Korea and the United States were taking the lead and China was merely a follower," said KPL president Zhang. "For mobile e-sports, however, we are so proud that China is at the vanguard. E-sports clubs also have much to gain from China's mobile boom.

"We are entering a golden era of e-sports in China, and mobile e-sports is a very promising new branch of the business," said Zhu Bo, founder of the QGhappy club.

As well as the obvious portability advantage, the simpler logic of games on mobile platforms means they can attract larger user numbers than PC versions.

"According to our data for China's e-sports market in 2017, the market scale of mobile e-sports accounts for 53.74 percent, surpassing the PC end," said Zhu.

Nurturing talent

With no shortage of gamers, China's e-sports industry desperately needs to fill positions in roles such as management, coaching and broadcasting. According to the E-sports Industry Talent Supply and Demand Survey released by Tencent, only 15 percent of positions within the industry have sufficient human resources.

The survey also indicated the industry will need to fill 570,000 positions in league management, media production, data mining, commentating and training.

In September 2016, the Ministry of Education listed "E-sports and Management" as a major for colleges, paving the way for higher-education institutes to offer e-sports-related courses and official diplomas.

In 2017, the Communication University of China added an e-sports-dedicated subject entitled "digital media art", aimed at developing gaming management and design talent. In 2004, the school became one of the first in the country to offer degrees in game design.

In the first few years, cultivating graphic designers and game programmers were the major goals, said Chen Jingwei, head of the school's game design department. The course launched last year is aimed at cultivating talent in designing game narrative, which Chen describes as "the soul of a game and requires a blend of skills in both creativity and technology".

The renowned Shanghai Theater Academy, meanwhile, is offering an e-sports commentating course. Forty students signed up for its launch last fall.

E-sports leagues and clubs are also trying to cultivate talent. The KPL has been working with its clubs to get players assigned to professional training sessions, coaches and data analysts, while the QGhappy provides players with physicians and psychologists.

Lucrative market

China's fast-growing e-sports market has become lucrative enough that many unexpected companies from a wide variety of industries are trying to get a piece of pie.

One example is Chinese logistics service giant SF Express' cooperation with Tencent's multiplayer tactics combat game CrossFire. Based on the partnership, air-drop supply crates and care packages bearing the SF Express logo have been added into the game.

CrossFire is exploring similar deals with a diverse range of companies, including Chinese bike sharing giant Mobike, fast food retailer KFC and luxury car brand Buick.

"CrossFire crosses everything, and we are veterans of crossover business cooperation," said Jose Zhu, general manager of the Cooperative Group's marketing department within Tencent IEG.

"In the future, we will have crossover cooperation with other brands to build a crossover e-sports ecosystem that delivers more surprising experiences for users."

Meanwhile, variety shows and reality shows are also eyeing the e-sports explosion. Featuring Chinese celebrities like actress Angelababy, comedian Sha Yi and legendary table tennis player Zhang Jike, a reality show called King Strike, based on hit game King of Glory, has attracted millions of viewers.

Dressed up as the characters of King of Glory, the celebrities have to finish missions in compounds decorated as the battle arena of the game.

The first episode of the show was viewed 96.93 million times online.

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