Industry

Bilibili Esports Signs Production Deal for Overwatch League China Region

Mar 30, 2020, 10:11am2020/03/30 10:11:41 Hongyu Chen

Bilibili<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Esports has taken the place of Banana Culture as the new Chinese production partner for Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch League, sources told Pandaily. Bilibili<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Esports will also co-host the 2020 Overwatch Contenders competition, which will feature a $2.5 million total prize pool.

SEE ALSO: Bilibili Presents Documentary “In Wuhan”

As a widely used video platform for young people and anime enthusiasts in China, Bilibili<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> has long been engaged in esports, especially in League of Legends and Overwatch.

In 2017, Bilibili<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> acquired the Chinese League of Legends team IM, and rebranded it to Bilibili<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Gaming (BLG). The team competes in China’s top professional league for the game, six teams of which own and compete from their own esports venues across China (though Bilibili<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> has yet to announce plans for its own venue).

In September 2018, Bilibili<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> secured a franchise slot in the second season of the Overwatch League (OWL), which features city-based teams spread across North America, Europe, and Asia. The company named its Overwatch team the Hangzhou Spark. Though the price of an individual franchise has never been made public, reporting from ESPN indicates that Bilibili<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> paid somewhere between $30-$60 million for its slot in the league.

Bilibili<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Esports was set up as a separate division of the company in 2018. Rui Chen, the CEO of Bilibili<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder />, also acts as chairman of Bilibili<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> Esports, while Youyou Chen, former CEO of livestreaming platform Zhanqi, is president of the company.

In December 2019, Bilibili<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> reportedly agreed to pay 800 million yuan ($113 million) as part of a three-year exclusive deal for the Chinese livestreaming rights for the League of Legends World Championships.

Bilibili<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> is one of the few companies in the world that operate as a multi-esports team owner, tournament operator, and esports content provider. Competitive video gaming evidently is important to the company’s vision for the future, and now Bilibili<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> also has the chance to promote Chinese esports on the global stage.