In the mobile game sector, Chinese company Tencent is king. The name isn’t passed around nearly as much as Blizzard (who recently joined forces with Twitch for a two year deal) or Bethesda, but Tencent is the highest grossing company of the lot, reaching earnings of almost $350 billion USD this May. According to a recent report from Caixing Global, Tencent is looking to expand beyond mobile gaming into the eSports arena through a $15 billion USD investment. This only makes sense when you consider Chinese net revenue from eSports—$7.3 billion USD in 2016. As the demand for eSports continues to grow, there needs to be enough supply.
Tencent plans to inject the cash over a five year period, establishing eSports leagues, tournaments and eSports themed parks to “boost the already booming Chinese eSports industry”.
Tencent fully acquired Riot Games (League of Legends) in 2015, which is currently the second-highest earning eSports title worldwide.
