Tencent reports that it expects the Chinese esports market to reach 350 million users in 2020.

Regional outlet Chinese Money Network reported Tencent’s findings, which show a strong position for the country’s competitive gaming scene.

In 2017, the esports market in China reached $760 million. The report expects the space to expand to around $1.5 billion by the 2020 milestone. This valuation includes core esport game sales as well as the esport peripherals market.

590 million users are expected to make up the worldwide esports scene in 2020. 59 per cent of that will be Chinese users, accounting for 350 million of that. The country ranks as the second largest market for competitive gaming, following America and ahead of South Korea.

The report also shed light on the demographics of Chinese esports fans. Women made up around a quarter of the audience as a whole, while 30 per cent reported as parents.

Tencent naturally has skin in the game when it comes to the state of the Chinese games market. The company accounted for over half of the country's online games revenue in Q3 last year.