Tencent outlines five-year plan to create $15 billion eSports industry in China

Chinese tech giant Tencent has revealed plans to create a 100 billion yuan ($14.6 billion) eSports industry in China by 2022.

As reported by Caixing Global, the company's plan includes establishing eSports leagues, tournaments, and associations. There will also be a focus on nurturing young talent, and constructing eSports-themed industrial parks.

Its plans are based on the suggestion that China will soon be the largest eSports market in the world. Tencent is predicting that by the end of 2017 there will be 335 million eSports players worldwide, with 220 million living in China.

Fun for the whole family

The plans extend to merchandising partnerships and sponsorship deals to continue to generate revenues. An Honor of Kings-styled smartphone is being manufactured in partnership with Vivo, for example.

Tencent had already unveiled plans to launch an eSports park in Wuhu, east China, in May 2017. Plans for an Honor of Kings theme park in Chengdu are also already underway.

Honor of Kings is Tencent's wildly popular mobile MOBA, which surpassed 50 million MAUs in January 2017. It was also the top grossing game worldwide in May 2017.