Source: Caijing.com
2023-05-14 16:18
At 3:00 pm on May 13th, there was a long queue outside the venue of the Hangzhou E-sports Center. The high temperature of 28 degrees in Hangzhou could not stop the enthusiasm of the fans. Many people took support materials and used their own methods to support their favorite teams outside the venue. This is the scene of the 2023 KPL King of Glory Professional League Spring Finals, where Beijing WB and Chongqing Wolves will compete for the championship. In the end, after 5 rounds of intense competition, the Chongqing Wolves were even better, beating Beijing WB 4:1 and winning the KPL Spring Championship.
fierce battle5game，Chongqing Wolves win the championship
Under the spotlight, the contestants began to concentrate on the final adjustment. At the beginning of the game, with the collision of knives and guns of the two teams on the big screen, the atmosphere on the scene was completely ignited. The Chongqing Wolves’ dominance, smooth play and oppressive tactics at the beginning quickly gave them the upper hand in the anxious game. After a wave of team battles, the Chongqing Wolves began to gain an advantage, then controlled the map resources, operated the pawn line, and won the first round of the game through a team battle victory on the high ground of Beijing WB.
At the beginning of the second round, Beijing WB used solid tactics and operations to erode map resources step by step, seized the opportunity of team battles, and pulled back a round. The two teams came and went, and the score was fixed at 1:1. After the first two rounds of competition, both sides have fully entered the state. In the crucial third round, the Chongqing Wolves relied on their more sophisticated experience in the finals to grasp the key team battles and finally won the game. After the first half, the Chongqing Wolves temporarily lead Beijing WB with a score of 2:1.
After the intermission, the Chongqing Wolves were in a hot state. With the outstanding performance of the star player Fly in the second half, the Chongqing Wolves won two games in a row. In the end, he defeated his opponent with a score of 4:1 and became the overall champion of the 2023 KPL Spring Championship! This is also the eighth time the Chongqing Wolves have won the championship. The Chongqing Wolves .Fly won the MVP of the Spring Finals with their outstanding performance!
The champion was born, and the scene was boiling. Amidst the cheers of the fans, golden rain fell. At this moment, fans of any team are enjoying the joy of winning the championship and feeling the charm of e-sports. When the champions excitedly held up the Silver Dragon Cup, the audience was bathed in the golden rain. This honor, which used to belong to the winners in the e-sports arena, was also shared with the audience this time, completing a joint carnival and celebration .
The finals are over，Preparations for the Asian Games
In addition to this KPL Spring Finals, the Asian Games has also become an important content. On May 10, the list of national training teams for the Honor of Kings Asian Games version was officially announced, including 4 coaches and 22 players, representing the strongest level of competition in the country at present.
Li Tuo, head coach of the Glory of Kings Asian Games National Training Team (proposed) said in an interview: “We have already conducted some online training for the players, and we will start offline closed training soon. The details of the training It is not convenient to disclose for the time being, as for the selection criteria are also multi-dimensional, it will not be directly determined by the results of the match, if you select a relatively perfect team, you must consider all dimensions.”
It is worth mentioning that Li Tuo was the head coach of the Glory of Kings project in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, and led the Chinese team to win the gold medal in the Glory of Kings Exhibition Competition. Li To then “disappeared” for a while. Talking about the reason, he said: “After winning the gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games, I found that I still have many shortcomings, including not being able to perceive the emotions of the players. At that time, I also had certain problems in communication and team management. So I resigned. I took up the position of head coach of the KPL club and focused on my studies. I have taken a lot of courses over the years, made a lot of attempts in the K-League competitions, and achieved some results, so I finally returned to the coaching position.”
Now that they are about to enter the training camp, all four members of the coaching staff have resigned from their original club positions to concentrate on participating in the coaching work of the Asian Games. “I have very high expectations for their performance, and I definitely hope to win the gold medal.” Li To said. “In terms of players’ psychological counseling, we are very concerned about the players’ psychological conditions, so the team also hired an expert in sports psychology. He will accompany the team throughout the whole process and take some courses on psychology and emotions, including private psychological counseling work, etc. wait.”
In addition, in order to prepare for the Asian Games, Huang Cheng, deputy general manager of Tencent Tianmei E-sports and executive chairman of the KPL League Event Committee, said: “We mainly do related support work, such as training bases, training networks, training equipment and logistics. In terms of security, we will provide relatively stable and rich support for the national training team.”
KPL six cities open together，Explore business diversity
With the entry of e-sports into Asia, the influence of Glory of Kings is gradually increasing. On the day of the KPL Spring Finals, the Honor of Kings Professional E-sports League announced that the 2023 KPL Summer Games will add three new club stadiums. The club stadiums of Suzhou KSG, Hangzhou LGD Goose and Foshan DRG will open their doors to welcome visitors. The city opens a new era.
As KPL’s long-term strategy, the regionalization of e-sports has also been verified. In this process, KPL and the local venues have attracted a large number of fans to watch the game offline, and through e-sports as a fulcrum, it has also leveraged the local business development. Many fans came to the venue to check in in order to meet their favorite players, which also drove consumption in the business circle. And this is the most important part of the commercialization of e-sports.
At the scene of the KPL Spring Finals, cooperative brands such as iQOO, Qingyang, SAIC Volkswagen, Dongpeng Special Drink, Meituan Waimai, Yongchaotianya superX, Bank of Communications Credit Card, PUMA, etc. appeared in the Hangzhou E-sports Center. Up to now, the 2023 KPL Spring Competition has joined hands with 17 commercial sponsorship partners and 9 major copyright platforms. This shows that the boundaries of KPL’s commercial exploration are constantly expanding.
In an interview with Caijing.com, Huang Cheng said that from the selection of the Asian Games to the full opening of offline venues, KPL currently has challenges in the commercialization part, but also has many opportunities. More industries and brands may be more willing to be in the TV Competitors are paying more attention. At present, our partners are very healthy in terms of industry coverage and richness. And recently, after reports on the Asian Games, many industries came to find out, expressing their hope to have more discussions on the cooperation between e-sports and KPL. So on the whole, the development of the industry should be that as the Asian Games are gradually approaching, there will be more opportunities.
In addition, when the Asian Games is approaching, Tencent Mutual Entertainment Tianmei E-sports teamed up with Ouyu Technology to provide young business travelers with the first “E-sports digital IP” themed business travel hotel – Wanfei Hotel｜Tencent Tianmei E-sports Digital Entertainment Space, this It is a digital IP high-end entertainment hotel brand jointly developed and operated by Tencent Tianmei E-sports strategy and jointly developed and operated by Ouyu Technology. This is also the seventh year that KPL has refined and explored offline space, e-sports culture and commercial value.