Riot Games and Tencent to establish League of Legends esports venture in China
The LPL may see huge changes as a result.
Riot Games and Tencent have agreed a joint venture designed to grow the League of Legends esports scene in China.
The news was first published by Chinese media, who revealed that Riot and Tencent would be establishing a partnership in Shanghai. According to their report, Tencent and Riot will also be working together on new developments and releases, with each side owning 50% of the joint enterprise.
Tencent and Riot Games will set up a joint venture company for LoL Esports. League of Legends competition scene may have some new changes in line. #RiotGames #Tencent #LoL Cr: @wanplus_lol pic.twitter.com/NqJ8z9W4rs
Patty Yu (@Patty_Esports) January 9, 2019
While details are vague right now, it’s highly likely that Tencent and Riot will be tapping into the growing popularity of the Chinese League of Legends Pro League (LPL) which has gone from strength to strength in recent times.
According to Korean website fomos.kr, Tencent will be relocating the LPL stadium, a process which may mark the beginning of the joint venture.
It’s worth mentioning that the most recent winners of the League of Legends World Championship were Chinese team Invictus Gaming. Many other Chinese squads performed well in the competition too, and it’s clear that the LPL is gaining more and more recognition in the West as well.
Riot and Tencent will hope to capitalise on the increasingly global interest in the LPL, and we’re intrigued to see how the Chinese LoL scene reacts to the impending changes.
Thanks invenglobal for spotting this story.
