Tencent Esports

Chinese esports brand

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Tencent EsportsFormerly| TGA

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Industry| Esports
Founded| December 9, 2016
Headquarters| Shenzhen

Area served

| Worldwide

Key people

| Mars Hou (general manager)[1]
Parent| Tencent Holdings Ltd.[2]
Website| esports.qq.com

Tencent Esports (simplified Chinese: 腾讯电竞; traditional Chinese: 騰訊電競), also spelled as Tencent E-sports,[3] is a Chinese esports brand[4] founded in 2016.[5] It is the esports arm of Tencent,[6] and a founding partner of the Global Esports Federation.[7] It focuses on esports tournaments, esports education and esports technologies. It has several professional leagues,[8] including LPL, KPL, KGL, PEL, and CFPL.[9] It initiated the Tencent Esports Tech-Union,[10] of which Intel, Nvidia and Qualcomm are members.[11] It is a member of the Japan eSports Union.[12]

Established by Tencent Interactive Entertainment,[13] it is part of Tencent's Neo-Culture Creativity operations.[14] In 2018, the China esports team, composed of the brand's athletes, won two gold and one silver medals at the Jakarta Asian Games.[15] In 2019, it cooperated with the GEF.[16] In 2022, it partnered with the Asian Electronic Sports Federation.[3] In 2023, it supported the Road to Asian Games (RDAG), an esports event organized by the OCA and AESF.[17]

## History

[edit]

### 2016-2017

[edit]

Tencent Esports was formerly known as TGA, which was established in 2010.[18] On December 9, 2016, it was formally established as a new division and began operating independently.[18] On June 16, 2017, the brand released the "Five-Year Plan".[19]

### 2018-2020

[edit]

Esports was first introduced as a demonstration sport at the 2018 Asian Games.[20] In the same year, Tencent Esports, together with three esports products, League of Legends, Honor of Kings, Clash Royale, was included in the Asian Games.[21]

In 2018, Tencent Esports worked with the University of Oxford to set up esports courses and host esports tournaments.[22] In June 2019, it collaborated with Manchester City Football Club.[11] In August, it set up a 5G esports joint lab with China Unicom.[10]

In 2019, Arena of Valor, the international version of Honor of Kings, a game product of Tencent Esports,[23] became an official game title of the SEA Games.[24] In the same year, Tencent Esports reached a cooperation with China Media Group.[25]

In 2019, the brand became a founding partner of the GEF.[7] In August 2020, it introduced the #worldconnected initiative.[26] In the same year, it partnered with FC Barcelona.[27] In the same month, Tencent Esports and Razer rolled out co-branded gaming peripherals.[28]

### 2021–present

[edit]

In July 2021, Tencent Esports co-launched customized gaming-themed rooms with Shangri-La Group.[29] In August, a Tim Hortons and Tencent Esports Cafe store was opened in Shenzhen.[30]

Esports became a medal event at the Hangzhou Asian Games.[20] In November 2021, Tencent Esports, in association with League, FIFA Online 4, and other esports products, was selected for the Games.[31] In 2022, the Jinge Hotel, built by the brand, went into operation.[29]

In July 2022, Tencent Esports jointly released the 2022 Asian Esports Industry Development Report with the AESF.[32] In July 2023, the Global Esports Summit and Tencent Esports Annual Conference was held in Shenzhen.[33] In June 2024, it released the Empower Esports Worldwide Series.[34] In August 2024, the first event of the Series took place in Saudi Arabia. Tencent Esports, along with representatives from the Esports World Cup Foundation, Qiddiya, and local Saudi esports clubs, discussed several topics like international esports ecosystem exchange.[35] In September, the Series event was held in Tokyo.[35]

On February 16, 2025, the Series event took place in Shenzhen, with attendees including the OCA and the CMG.[12]

In February, Tencent Esports became the strategic partner of the EWCF in China.[36] According to the agreement, the two parties will jointly establish the EWC China Development Team.[12]

In June 2025, Tencent Esports, together with the National Esports Development Research Institute of the China Media Group, jointly launched the 2024 Global Esports Industry Development Report.[37]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Zheping Huang (September 24, 2023). "China Hosts Biggest Esports Moment With Tencent at the Wheel". Bloomberg News.
2. ^ Teng Jing Xuan; Shi Rui; Liu Xiaojing; Huang Rong (February 10, 2017). "Competitive Video-Gaming Gets Attention of Major Entertainment Companies". Caixin.
3. ^ a b Nazvi Careem (January 24, 2022). "Tencent-OCA esports alliance can put Hong Kong on global map". South China Morning Post.
4. ^ Liang Shihuang (April 19, 2019). "Fortune Announces the List of World's Greatest Leaders, Pony Ma Ranks 4th". Yahoo News.
5. ^ Takashi Kawakami (July 29, 2023). "Tencent, Douyin press play on esports ahead of Asian Games". Nikkei Asia.
6. ^ Tom Hancock (March 3, 2019). "Tencent eyes more esports competitions in China". Financial Times.
7. ^ a b Cai Xingxiu (December 17, 2019). "Global Esports Federation Officially Established". Yahoo News.
8. ^ Yanhong Luo (July 10, 2020). "Chinese video-sharing website Bilibili seeks secondary listing in Hong Kong". The Wall Street Journal.
9. ^ Forbes Staff. "Esports Flourishing in China". Forbes. May 27, 2019. Archived from the original on September 28, 2024.
10. ^ a b Steven Lee (August 27, 2019). "China Unicom partners with Tencent Esports". Yahoo News.
11. ^ a b Hongyu Chen (June 26, 2019). "Tencent Esports Partners with Manchester City F.C." The Esports Observer.
12. ^ a b c "The Shenzhen Station of Empower Esports Worldwide Series Concludes at the Sea World Culture and Arts Center". Ta Kung Pao. March 6, 2025.
13. ^ Liu Jiaxuan; Zheng Shuai; Lin Dandan (August 23, 2018). "China's Esports Industry Set to Enter Golden Era". Xinhua News Agency.
14. ^ Surin Murugiah (May 9, 2024). "Tencent signs up as founding partner with Global Esports Federation". The Edge.
15. ^ "2019 China Game Industry Annual Conference held in Haikou". IGN. December 19, 2019.
16. ^ Bashir, Dale (December 17, 2019). "Tencent Partners with the Newly Established Global Esports Federation". IGN. Archived from the original on May 28, 2024.
17. ^ Hongyu Chen (July 3, 2023). "First phase of the Road to Asian Games 2022 concludes in Macau". Sports Business Journal.
18. ^ a b Shi Rui (December 9, 2016). "Tencent Esports Starts Independent Operations". Caixin.
19. ^ Zhang Shuling (June 17, 2017). "Tencent Esports Launches its Five-Year Plan". Yahoo News.
20. ^ a b Steve Keating (May 23, 2023). "Exclusive: Doping-Education first but drug-testing in gamers' future, says WADA". Reuters.
21. ^ "Esports Forum of Annual Conference of Chinese Game Industry Concludes". IGN. December 19, 2019.
22. ^ "Tencent partners with UK government's cultural and creative industries". Game Developer. May 9, 2018.
23. ^ Xiao Yazhuo (March 24, 2019). "The International Version of Honor of Kings Selected for the 2019 SEA Games". Xinhua News Agency. Archived from the original on September 19, 2024.
24. ^ Jian Yuquan (November 7, 2019). "Arena of Valor makes its official debut at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games". Yahoo News.
25. ^ Hongyu Chen (December 11, 2019). "Tencent Esports Partners with China Media Group". The Esports Observer.
26. ^ "Global Esports Federation in breakthrough milestone". The Herald. August 26, 2020.
27. ^ Yanhong Luo (August 25, 2020). "FC Barcelona and Tencent Esports team up for esports collaboration". The Wall Street Journal.
28. ^ "Razer and Tencent Esports Release Customised Esports Kits". Yahoo News. August 24, 2020.
29. ^ a b Chen Boting (February 9, 2023). "Tencent Esports Global Summit Held in Shanghai". Yahoo News.
30. ^ Michael Standaert (September 10, 2021). "Will teen gaming clampdown deal a knockout to China's esports?". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on May 9, 2024.
31. ^ Fei Fei (November 8, 2021). "Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee Announces the Formal Esports Projects". Yangtse Evening Post. Archived from the original on September 15, 2024.
32. ^ "China Becomes the World's Largest Esports Market". The Wall Street Journal. July 29, 2022.
33. ^ Ann Cao (July 14, 2023). "China's video gaming giant Tencent touts esports ambitions ahead of Asian Games". South China Morning Post.
34. ^ Coco Feng (June 26, 2024). "Tencent's Roco Kingdom: World among 104 new video games approved by Beijing in June". South China Morning Post.
35. ^ a b "The Japan Station of Empower Esports Worldwide Series Concludes in Tokyo". Ta Kung Pao. October 11, 2024.
36. ^ Takahashi, Dean (February 17, 2025). "Esports World Cup Foundation teams with Tencent on esports". VentureBeat.
37. ^ "Four Chinese Cities Named on Global Esports City Influence List". Yahoo News. June 17, 2025.