News

Tencent invests in Chinese esports tournament operator VSPN

Company already runs Honour of Kings and Clash Royale competitions

Date Type Companies involved Size
June 4th, 2018 investment Hero Entertainment
Tencent
Not disclosed
Tencent invests in Chinese esports tournament operator VSPN

Chinese games giant Tencent has invested in Chinese esports tournament operator and production company Versus Programming Network (VSPN).

Sohu Sports reports, as translated by Esports Observer, that VSPN now aims to further develop its services, such as the competitions it hosts, and recruit new talent to support them.

The size of the investment was not disclosed.

Competitive investment

Tencent has big plans for esports, having last year revealed plans to create a $15 billion esports industry in China by 2022. Its plans include establishing esports leagues, tournaments and associations, as well as constructing esports-themed industrial parks.

VSPN is a subsidiary of mobile games company Hero Entertainment and organises tournaments for games such as Tencent’s own Honour of Kings, Supercell’s Clash Royale, PUBG Corp’s Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, Riot’s League of Legends and others.

Interestingly Tencent already has influence over all the above mentioned companies. It owns a majority stake in Supercell, all of Riot Games and is thought to have a stake in Bluehole - which owns PUBG Corp.

It also owns a stake in film company Huayi Brothers, which previously invested $288 million in Hero Entertainment.

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Head of Content

Craig Chapple is a freelance analyst, consultant and writer with specialist knowledge of the games industry. He has previously served as Senior Editor at PocketGamer.biz, as well as holding roles at Sensor Tower, Nintendo and Develop.