Riot Games announced that they will host the VALORANT Masters international tournament in China during the 2024 VALORANT Champions Tour season. The tournament will be in Shanghai and will be the second international event of the 2024 season. Leo Faria, the Global Head of VALORANT Esports, said in a video that this event will celebrate the game’s first anniversary in China. VALORANT was introduced in China on July 12th, three years after its global release in June 2020. The Masters Shanghai tournament is scheduled for late Spring 2024. Details about the competition’s format, location, and ticket prices are yet to be announced.
Despite the fact that the game only launched in early July, following approval from the Chinese government in December 2022, China has had representatives at every VCT international event this year. EDward Gaming, a Chinese esports organization, made it to the lower bracket quarter finals at VCT Tokyo. Riot Games has announced that it intends to include China in the VCT by 2024.
VALORANT’s 2023 esports ecosystem is still in the works, with 16 teams scheduled to travel to Los Angeles, California, in August for the season’s grand finale. Since esports has always been the top priority for GG.Bet, this event will be under close monitoring, and you can wager on numerous wagering options, favorable odds, and fantastic bonuses. The location of VCT’s first international event in 2024 has yet to be determined. Shanghai has already hosted a significant Riot Games international event in the past, with the League of Legends World Championship taking place in the city in 2020. Also, let’s not forget Tencent is a Chinese entertainment company that owns Riot Games.
China Produced $10.6 Billion In ‘ESports Revenue’ In The First Half Of 2023, According To A Report
As one of the world’s major economies, China is also the greatest commercial market for esports. Over the previous decade, China has established itself as a global leader in esports, game creation, publishing, and tournament organization. The country is home to world champions in various games and some of the world’s major esports firms. China presently has the most active esports players and the biggest esports title game revenue. China was one of the first governments to recognize esports as a sport in the early 2000s.
At the 2023 Global E-sports Conference in Shanghai, China, a study detailing China’s esports sector development in the first half of 2023 was unveiled. According to the report, China’s domestic esports business generated 75.99 billion yuan (£8.31 billion, $10.6 billion) in revenue in the first six months of 2023 (January to June).
The China Audiovisual and Digital Publishing Association and the Shanghai Press and Publication Bureau organized the conference, which took place on July 28th. A release on the official Jing’an regional government website focused on the globalization of esports and the development of the esports business from an international perspective. A number of government officials and Chinese esports industry stakeholders, including Riot Games, NetEase, Perfect World, esports association representatives, the UAE Commercial Counsellor in China, and others, attended the conference.
According to China Daily, a Chinese government-owned publication, esports product sales accounted for 84.84% of the industry’s revenue during the six-month period, followed by ‘esports live streaming and games.’ According to the survey, China has 487 million esports users, according to China Daily. The income amount includes ‘product sales’ for esports games, which is notable. The definition of product sales is not provided. However, this likely includes revenues other than esports money, such as video game unit sales and microtransactions.
According to the Esports Advocate, China gained $21 billion (£16.4 billion) in esports revenue for 2022, with 81.52% of that money coming from game sales. Many other industry revenue reports do not include video game revenue from esports games in their esports revenue estimates because much of that revenue is not directly driven by esports. Market research firm Newzoo predicted that global industry sales would reach $1.38 billion (£1.08 billion) by the end of 2022 in its 2022 global esports industry study. Niko Partners, a market research firm, later estimated China’s esports business revenue for 2022 to be $445 million (£353 million). Separately at the conference, the China Esports Industry Research agency — a state-level agency established in April this year — signed a memorandum of agreement with the Brazilian National Esports Association and the Pan-American Esports Federation, according to a Jing’an announcement.
