With various major tournaments announced, the Chinese city of Chengdu is set to become a major esports hub in 2024.
Two major policies called Action Plan on Building A Global E-sports Industrial Base (2024-2026) and the “Eight Articles on E-sports” policy were introduced earlier last year, and have already shown promising results. The Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone (CDHT) aims to become a true esports hub in the following years, with planned investments in the esports industry fund estimated at RMB 1 billion (~140M USD), and an esports angel fund of RMB 100 million (~14M USD).
Results are fast, as both LoL’s Mid-Season Invitational, and ESL’s IEM Chengdu events were announced recently.
Credit: CDHT
Esports in Chengdu – host of IEM China and League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational
It was just recently announced that IEM China will be hosted in Chengdu, China. Taking place during April at the Wuliangye Chengdu Performing Arts Centre, 16 teams will compete for a $250,000 prize pool and a direct invite to the IEM Cologne 2024 Group Stage. This has further solidified Chengdu as a leading host for major esports competitions.
Meanwhile, Riot Games will be collaborating with the Chinese city to host the Mid-Season Invitational, the first international tournament of the 2024 LoL season.
Esports are making a splash in other ways as well, as the mobile game Honor of Kings hosted the Grand Finals of the Honor of Kings International Championship 2023 at the Chengdu Phoenix Hill Sports Park. Not to mention CrossFire’s world championship event—CrossFire Stars (CFS) and NetEase’s Naraka Bladepoint World Championship, both of which took place last month.
Image Credit: ESL
Chengdu’s efforts in developing the esports industry
According to an update by the CDHT at the end of last year, the Chengdu Gaoxin District expects to invest 240 million RMB ($33.5M) to transform the city into the cultural hub of esports within the country.
Their own stated goal is to: “help build Chengdu into a world-class industrial base of e-sports through holding global top e-sports events, introducing and cultivating top e-sports enterprises, planning and building landmark e-sports carriers and supporting the sound development of e-sports talents.”
According to public policy, the government will offer up to 5 million RMB ($700K) allowance to organizers who host large-scale international esports events in Chengdu. Furthermore, up to RMB 30 million is to be given as construction support and RMB 1 million for building and operating professional esports venues in the City.
Finally, subsidies are to be given out on rents for top esports clubs that settle in Chengdu,