Esports is now a booming sports sector in China. (Photo : Getty Images)
The World Cyber Arena, one of the biggest electronic sports competitions in the world, is gearing up for an overseas expansion in a bid to build a global e-sport event that is equivalent to the Olympic Games. They have signed agreements with 20 countries across the globe for the implementation of mutual cooperation with e-sports alliances and associations.
The signing agreement happened on Friday, in Yichuan, the capital of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region.
Li Yanfei, the vice-president of the World Cyber Arena, said: "Only by cohesion, especially by maintaining diversity, can we usher in a booming e-sports industry in the future."
He added that WCA would like to share its brand and experience in e-sports with overseas partners.
The company will provide exclusive rights of their tournament brand to its partners in order to carry out the cooperation. This will provide both technical and prize support for developing the promotions of overseas tournaments.
Teng Hua, the president of the CNG Games Research Center, a Beijing-based gaming research institution, said: "Starting the e-sports Olympics project will help the WCA to better tap into the gaming market in various countries and regions. By appealing to the spirit of national honor, the tournament will attain more attention, as well as the recognition of the mainstream society."
China is said to be the current biggest e-sports market worldwide due to the support of the government as well as the changing social environment.
To attest this, there were about 123 million e-sports gamers in China at the end of 2015, and this is still currently growing.
The output value of the gaming sector has already hit 27 billion yuan, or approximately $3.91 billion.
iResearch, a Chinese consultancy company, released a report saying that the overall market of e-sports in China is set to surpass 50 billion yuan in the future.
China's Ministry of Education has added e-sports and management as a brand new major for vocational schools in September. This is said to be launched nationwide from 2017.
Teng stated that while the Chinese e-sports industry is currently at the best stage for development, there will still be existing challenges for gaming companies that are expanding globally.
