- Edward Gaming has won the League of Legends World Championship 2021, making it the first time in four years a Chinese team has prevailed at Worlds
- Following the victory, a wave of patriotism echoed throughout the whole of China
- Some analysts optimistically believe that this may set China on a course that sees it warm up to gaming
Edward Gaming’s victory at LoL World 2021 has been celebrated in China, giving rise to hopes about the future of the country’s gaming industry.
Edward Gaming Took Home the Summoner’s Cup
Chinese esports team Edward Gaming has just won the League of Legends World Championship 2021, sparking hope about the future development of gaming in the country.
The team’s success was celebrated throughout the whole country. Despite China being hellbent on placing restrictions on video gaming, the country acknowledged Edward Gaming’s victory. Both the Chinese Central Television and the state news agency Xinhua shared praise for the team with posts on Weibo.
There isn’t official data for the Chinese viewership of the event but outside of it, Worlds 2021 attracted more than 4 million concurrent viewers at its peak. It isn’t far-fetched to conclude there might have been just as many, if not more Chinese esports enthusiasts watching the finals. A Weibo post about the victory managed to get a whopping 3 billion views. After all, Edward Gaming’s victory was monumental as it marks the first time in four years that a Chinese team has won the Summoner’s Cup.
The victory has sparked a spike in the prices of video game companies’ stocks. Some believe that this may finally lead to people in China forming a better opinion on video games.
The Celebrations Showed That the Authorities Care
Although China has numerous esports teams and big gaming industry, the government hasn’t been all that happy with the growth of gaming. Many people in the country have seen gaming as something that’s entirely harmful and that’s why there have been numerous tries to impose restrictions on it. Recently, China forbade minors from playing video games for more than three hours a week.
Yet, for all the antagonism, the state was proud to see a Chinese team score such a significant victory on the world stage.
According to Omdia’s senior gaming research analyst Cui Chenyu, Edward Gaming’s success is great news as it may finally set China on a course that sees it warm up towards gaming and esports.
“This suggests that the authorities still support the development of the esports industry,” Cui Chenyu said.
Chiron Partners’ chief executive officer, Sean Hung, is known as a prominent esports investor. He noted that Edward Gaming’s victory has sparked a wave of patriotism that isn’t usually seen in correlation to esports events. The CEO noted that the only other esports events Chinese people have celebrated on such a scale are when China debuted on the FIFA World Cup and the China-Japan Go rivalry in the 80s.
Sean Hung noted that the current excitement shows that esports is “more than a passing fad.”
“National pride is at stake in global events like this. It exposes esports to a much broader audience, and will have a long-term impact on the perception and following of esports within the region,” he said.
