Original Title: Behind the EDG Championship: The bottom-level e-sports players are difficult to compete in top competitions for life, and rely on fake matches to make a fortune
Source: Times Finance
In the early morning of November 7th, in the finals of the League of Legends 2021 Global Finals (S11), the EDG team in the Chinese mainland (LPL) defeated the DK team in the South Korea Division 3:2 and won the championship, creating the first S championship in the history of the EDG team.
EDG’s win this time was hard-won and unexpected. As a veteran team of LPL, EDG has not achieved satisfactory results in the past few seasons, did not enter the semi-finals in the S game, and even missed the S game. The opponents of this competition, DK, are strong and are the champions of the previous S game. Not many people were optimistic about EDG before the game.
After the victory of the game, many e-sports fans were excited and even made some extraordinary behaviors, such as college students holding the EDG banner, “running naked” on campus wearing only underwear, and male fans wearing women’s clothing.
The fact behind this is that e-sports has attracted more and more young people’s attention. On the evening of November 6, 350 million people watched the live broadcast of the S11 finals on the bilibili platform alone. Weibo topic #7号的EDG# had more than 710 million readings and 115,000 discussions. The game also attracted the attention of the official media, and CCTV News also sent Weibo to congratulate EDG for winning the championship.
While the e-sports industry attracts huge traffic, it also makes it an industry that attracts money. As the operator of the LPL competition area, Tengjing Sports recently revealed at Tencent’s annual e-sports conference that Tencent has completed the three-year goal set by Tengjing before its establishment: the total revenue of the league has reached 1 billion yuan. “China Game Industry Report” shows that in the first half of 2020 alone, China’s e-sports revenue has reached 71.936 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 54.69%.
However, the National Press and Publication Administration issued the most stringent game ban in August this year, and minors can only play games for 3 hours a week at a fixed time, which has a certain impact on the youth training system. With the tightening of regulations in the gaming industry, the e-sports industry is facing the tempering of ice and fire.
Chinese e-sports is gradually on track
It is undeniable that my country’s e-sports industry is gradually getting on track. A large amount of capital injection has gradually matured the development of the industrial chain, and the development of clubs has gradually been formalized.
A strong club is an important factor affecting the outcome of the game, which is very obvious in the EDG team that won this championship.
The company of EDG E-sports Club is Shanghai Yangchuan Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. The major shareholder of the company is Guangzhou Chaojing Investment Co., Ltd., and the actual controller behind it is Zhu Yihang, who holds 99% of the shares. Public information shows that Zhu Yihang is the eldest son of Zhu Mengyi, and Zhu Mengyi is the founder and former chairman of the board of directors of the real estate company Hesheng Chuangzhan Group.
Although Zhu Yihang did not inherit the family group business, he held 18.14% of the shares of Hopson Development Group through its Yuanfu Investment, making him the company’s second largest shareholder. In addition to e-sports, the industries that Supersports Group deploys also include animation, investment, education, real estate, etc.
Compared with other “grass team” clubs, EDG also has a strong advantage in operation. Club manager Abu said in a live broadcast that “only EDG clubs in the entire league make money”.
A large source of EDG’s income is the rich e-sports peripheral industries, including education, food, and e-sports chairs. In terms of talents, EDG has been establishing a youth training system, focusing on cultivating its own players. In addition, EDG has always attached great importance to the health protection of players. The club is equipped with a full-time team of doctors to accompany players in training around the clock, covering various types of Chinese medicine, Western medicine, and psychological counseling.
A stable source of funds and a professional operating system may be one of the reasons why EDG can go through the trough and return to the peak of the industry.
Looking at the entire e-sports industry, in addition to the gradual maturity of the industrial chain, the e-sports profession is also being recognized by the society, and playing games is no longer a “non-doing business”.
In April 2019, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security released 13 new career information, including e-sports operators and e-sports players. In terms of professional talent training, since 2015, many universities such as Communication University of China have opened e-sports majors to cultivate professional e-sports talents in e-sports commentary and event planning.
E-sports is also moving closer to mainstream sports events. On November 5th, Beijing time, the Hangzhou Asian Organizing Committee officially announced eight e-sports events selected for the 19th Asian Games (Asian Games for short), namely “League of Legends” “King of Glory Asian Games Version”, “Peace Elite Asian Games Version”, “FIFA Online 4”, “Heartstone”, “Street Fighter 5”, “Dream Three Kingdoms 2” and “DOTA2”.
Half flame, half sea water
However, the e-sports industry has been living in controversy.
One of the hidden dangers of barbaric growth is that it will attract many minors to give up their studies and become professional players as their goal. But in fact, there are very few people who can become professional players.
Some e-sports practitioners once told Times Finance that they often receive inquiries from parents. The other party said that their children want to drop out of e-sports school and want to know whether they are suitable for becoming professional players. However, after contacting them, they will find that most of them have very mediocre qualifications. And lack of basic understanding of professional players.
Even if you successfully enter the e-sports academy and enter the youth training system, there are still very few people who take the path of professional players. An e-sports professional teacher once said that in a class of about 100 people, only 5 people can enter the youth training system. Most people are “not interested in other jobs in the e-sports industry, and avoid learning in the name of becoming professional players. Lack of talent and unwilling to work hard.”
In August 2021, the new ban on games for minors issued by the General Administration of Press and Publication has had a negative impact on the e-sports industry, especially the youth training system. Times Finance understands that some underage youth athletes were removed from the club overnight.
Professional e-sports players often start youth training from the age of 15, 6 or even younger, and active professional players are also relatively young. The five adults of EDG started playing professional games at the age of 16-18. The oldest Li Xuanjun and Li Xuancan were born in 1998.
After the active professional players retire, the follow-up talent recruitment may have bigger problems. In the long run, the entire input of e-sports talents may be greatly affected in the future.
In addition, the problem of fake matches continues to plague the e-sports industry. Around the Spring Festival of 2021, e-sports player Zhou Yangbo took the initiative to admit to the club that he had participated in a fake match in the LDL. “The profit of the fake game is very impressive, up to 500,000 yuan. Most professional players are relatively young and it is difficult to resist the temptation of money. Moreover, the professional career of e-sports players is not long. Retired after making a fortune in a fake match.
With the rapid development of the e-sports industry, there is still a lot of fresh blood joining the industry. Time Finance has previously interviewed and learned that many people want to engage in the e-sports industry because they like a certain team. The EDG winning the championship may also encourage some students to learn e-sports. However, even though many colleges and universities currently offer e-sports majors, the training of e-sports talents is not mature.
Many students majoring in e-sports once told Times Finance and Economics that after they really entered the major of e-sports, they discovered that the courses offered by the school were out of touch with the needs of the industry, and they could not train talents in a targeted manner.
“Take the planning position as an example. Event planning focuses on practical experience. Many HR people who see the e-sports major will directly ask, what have you learned in this major? We can’t actually answer it. Look at the commentary post, the school teaches More emphasis is placed on the basics of broadcast hosting and interpretation, but the industry has relatively high requirements for game understanding. If you do not come out for internships in advance, it will be difficult to embark on the path of interpretation after graduation.”
Some e-sports majors also said in an interview with the media that more than 40% of current e-sports graduates will not be engaged in the e-sports industry in the future.
Weibo previous situation summary
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