China's e-sports potential grows, with degree courses and hotels catering to lucrative market

SHENZHEN: Growing up, Mr Zhao Zhiqiang did not like studying and instead spent much of his time on computer games. Six years ago, he became a professional e-sports player. 

“I realised that I am pretty good at it,” said the 22-year-old. “That's when I decided to turn pro.”

A typical day for him starts at 1pm. He plays on the computer for four hours before breaking for dinner with his team. Then, he continues training until 3am.

E-sports is taking off fast in China, which has cemented itself as a leader in game development over the last decade. 

The world’s second largest economy is home to some of the top-ranked players and largest e-sports companies globally. China now has 487 million e-sports gamers, according to the China E-sports Industry Report from January to June 2023.

Now, the government wants to turn e-sports into a professional industry, leveraging on its strong potential to drive growth.

For the first time, e-sports featured as an official medal sports event at the ongoing Asian Games, which is being held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.

China is now the biggest market in the world for video games, and the Asian Games debut is expected to give this market a further boost.

Analysts said the e-sports industry is developing on a similar trajectory as other traditional sporting games such as football and basketball.

"Similar to other professional sports, the top ranking e-sports players would demand very high club transfer fees, costing millions of dollars,” said Mr Zeng Xiaofeng, vice president at Niko Partners, a market research firm covering video games and e-sports.

“For an ordinary player, you may directly scout, trade, buy, and sell in the listing market. Of course, you can also do some youth training, and you can