Patrick Wang is CEO of Chinese Pro Gamer League (PGL), that recently formed an alliance with the European Electronic Sports League. Wang reports on the hardships found in forming eSports companies in China, although the eSports following there eclipses the rest of the world. This is his guest column "Asia eSports Trends". Find the original Chinese version below.

Dreaming of Korea

Although the present China eSports industry is in rapid development and the size of the audience has increased beyond all measurement, the problem of how to carry on the existence of eSports is still important and difficult to solve.

South Korea is the dream for nearly every eSports gamer. There, not only can a player enjoy the influence of an entertainment star, but even surpassing that of normal celebrities. Also, contenders’ salaries are enormous (yearly salary reaches as high as several hundred thousand to million Renminbi, about 6 figures in USD). Since the beginning of this industry in South Korea, supposedly nobody could imagine that this industry would become South Korea's pillar industry, allowing related industries to gain in development. But in China, even with a large audience base, even though everyone agrees that benefits will come from tournaments, websites or eSports TV program, the reality shows the opposite. Many eSports organizations are troubled by the issue of existence…

Why Korea is unique

Looking at South Korea’s eSports industry, at the beginning of the origination, the South Korean Government gave the biggest support, giving the green light for many aspects. At the same time, many major South Korean companies have show financial support. Samsung is a very good example. Looking at China, eSports gamers suffer from prohibited broadcasting through TV stations, and there are numerous difficulties in organizing tournaments. In 2006, WEG Masters was almost cancelled due to delays in obtaining written approvals. Domestic support is only related to the technical aspects, Hua Shuo hardware manufacturers etc and Lenovo also joined the eSports industry, but the one-dimensional investment is not a healthy sign. Hence, China does not have the conditions to imitate the eSports model in Southe Korea. Therefore, China has to find her own path in building the eSports industry.

Even if it is unable to imitate the South Korean pattern, the user is still an important aspect of the industry. Professionals in the eSports industry are still wary of the viewership of eSports programs in China. Indeed, without a good viewing ratio, it is not possible to get people to be interested in your advertisement. The user is the main objective in the core of China’s eSports. The user first, and then going on to search for advertising or other resources for benefits, has become a pattern in China’s eSports. In 2006, due to ups and downs in web video, eSports is not allowed for broadcasts on TV, and thus we have lost and left out a potentially large audience base.

Solution: eSports-TV through the back door

Patrick Wang, CEO of PGL

PGL can be considered the first to introduce offline tournaments for TV broadcast. End of 2006, PGL consecutively conducted the offline video series for Warcraft and Starcraft, gathering great interest from around the world with great viewer ratio. PGL is a pioneer in the web eSports program revolution, gaining beneficial organizing insights because of the rich experience of the team. After the PGL creative revolution, PGL established the tournament schedule for the entire year of 2007. Apart from Counter-Strike, Warcraft and Starcraft, the 3 most popular events, has also introduced other events such as NFS, further proving one’s advantage in these TV series. It seems that PGL has now created its own model.

Speaking of current developments, many people still believe that the large-scale sports event can bring very huge profits, but compared with the previous year, although the number of investing companies has increased, the amount of investment is much lesser, resulting in many companies not having enough returns after a competition. Also, competitions held this year may not be available next year. Hence a new model for eSports development is needed. PGL introducing the TV Series model is based on South Korea’s eSports, MBC and OGN are good examples. The continuous year round event attracts manufacturers. Hopefully, under the guidance of PGL, the China eSports industry can find its unique development model.


Chinese version

虽然如今中国电子竞技产业飞速发展，观众人数也达到了十分理想的高度，但是如何让电子竞技产业存在下去仍然是目前要解决的首要难题。

韩国，几乎是每个电子竞技玩家向往的电竞天堂，在那里你不仅能得到像娱乐明星，甚至超过娱乐明星那样的影响，而且选手的收入是相当可观（年薪高达几十万－几百万人民币）。在韩国开始电竞产业开始之初，估计也没有人会想到这个产业现在能成为韩国的支柱产业，围绕电竞很多行业都得到发展。而在中国，虽然有着广大的观众人群，大家都认为无论赛事，网站，或者是做电竞节目的，都有很好的收益，但是事实却相反。很多电子竞技机构都在为生存烦恼……

从韩国的电竞产业来看，在创办之初，韩国政府给予了最大的支持，各方面都开了绿灯。同时，韩国国内几大著名公司都给于了经济支持，三星就是很好的例子。再看中国，电子竞技在电视台遭禁播，办比赛也遇到重重麻烦，2006年WEG大师赛就是由于批文的事情被迫推迟进行，差点就被取消。国内对于电子竞技的支持也只局限于技嘉，华硕等硬件厂商，06年联想也大手笔加入了电子竞技产业，但是如此单一的投入并不是一个良性的产业，因此如果要效仿韩国电子竞技模式，中国没有这样的条件。因此要走入电子竞技的窘境，中国电子竞技产业必须自找出路。

即使无法效仿韩国模式，用户还是电子竞技产业中最重要的一部分，中国电竞从业者还是很清楚这一点，许多电竞节目都十分看中收视率。的确，没有好的收视率，怎么让别人来对你的广告感兴趣，用户在中国电竞核心中占据了主要地位。有了用户，再去找广告资源或者其他资源来获得盈利，这个也是中国电子竞技的主要模式。在06年，由于网络视频的风起云涌，电子竞技无法在电视上播出，又拥有很大的人群，于是这块蛋糕开始受到了哄抢。

PGL可谓是第一个引进线下比赛的网络电视联赛，06年年底，PGL连续举办了魔兽争霸和星际争霸两项线下电视联赛，引起业界广泛的关注，收视率也十分可观，PGL是第一个对于网络电竞节目进行大步改革，从而获取盈利的组织，这也和他们拥有一个十分强大而且有经验的团队有关。在PGL的创新改革之后，PGL在07年更是订好了全年的赛事计划，除了反恐，魔兽，星际这三个最受欢迎的项目，还引入了极品飞车等项目，进一步巩固自己在电视联赛上的优势，看来他们是一条心走自己的模式了。

从目前来看，很多人还是坚信大型赛事能带来很大的利润，但是和前几年比起来，投钱做比赛的公司虽然还不少，但是投的钱却少了很多，以至于很多公司做了比赛之后不赚钱，而且这种赛事也是今年有，明年未知的，走良性的电子竞技道路必须开创新的模式。PGL带动的电视联赛模式也是取材于韩国电竞，MBC，OGN就是很好的例子，全年的连贯性的比赛会引起厂商的关注，希望在PGL的带领下，中国电竞能够在走出属于自己有特色的道路。