Time: 16:00-16:30, January 15, 2022
Venue: Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center
Moderator: Hello dear media friends on the spot, next is the media interview session of the relevant leaders of Tianmei E-sports, I will introduce it in turn: the one on my right is Mr. Zhang Yijia, general manager of Tencent Interactive Entertainment Tianmei E-sports Center, general manager of King Glory E-sports, and chairman of KPL Alliance; the far right is Mr. Huang Cheng, senior director of Tencent Interactive Entertainment Tianmei E-sports Center and executive chairman of the KPL League Event Committee, and I am Yu Zhenzhou, head of public relations of King Glory E-sports.
Next, everyone can communicate about the entire tournament system of The Glory of kings, as well as the Challenger Cup held in Hangzhou this time, as well as our daily events, please raise your hand and ask questions.
01
21st Century Business Herald: Hello, I am a reporter for 21st Century Business Herald. The regional strategy of king glory e-sports has achieved phased results at present, and I would like to ask how it is progressing now, will there be new cities in the future?
Zhang Yijia: I am very happy to share with you some of the results of some of the work of King of Esports in the past. Regional development is an important measure for the entire King glory e-sports to achieve the national e-sports strategy, and we very much hope to be able to build the e-sports into a traditional sports, which can have the city home. In the past two years, it should be said that my team and I, including the entire King of Glory team, have been working hard to make our professional teams better distributed to major cities across the country. Before September 2021, our 16 KPL league fixed-seat clubs have fully achieved regional naming, and we have also opened 7 offline home stadiums (including the Shanghai League home stadium). Of course, there are some cities and clubs that have planned to land at home soon due to the objective reasons of the epidemic.
We see that the effects and results brought about by the entire regionalization are very good, and KPL is the first league in the history of e-sports to truly achieve full regionalization nationwide. With the development of regionalization, it can also connect urban culture very well, including helping the industrial development of more cities. We also hope that the regional strategy can serve as a very good seed to develop a more perfect industrial chain on a national scale. Thank you.
Moderator: Thank you for your question, next question!
02
Cover News: Hello, I am a reporter for Cover News, and I have a question for Mr. Zhang Yijia. The 2021 King of Glory National Competition has a more obvious out-of-the-loop development effect. In addition to the inspirational story of XYG, which has been soaring and upgrading, what other factors have contributed to the rapid development of the national competition in the past year?
Zhang Yijia: In the past two years, King E-sports has made very important moves to reopen the entire channel for promotion and re-promotion. In the past, there was a fixed seat mechanism for a period of time, and we found that 16 fixed seats were not enough to meet the development of the entire king e-sports "national e-sports" ecology, so we made a very important reform, that is, two temporary seats were added to the KPL top league, these two temporary seats connected to the K A league, and then the K A league connected to the national competition.
Under the premise of a very clear promotion mechanism, the national competition burst out a very strong sense of participation, a degree of participation. XYG is a very important and outstanding team after the reform of the whole event, of course, behind it is Zhang Daxian's own fan influence as the big anchor of the glory of the king. Behind it is that he passes on the spirit of such a profession to some ordinary players, ordinary players, and ordinary young people, so that they can pursue their dreams step by step through their own training, so as to achieve a higher level of competition. The XYG team played all the way from the national competition to the K-A, from the K-A all the way to the KPL, and this year also entered the S group, and I believe it will be a very good inspirational story. It will trigger, and even drive, more ordinary teams, as well as young people who have the pursuit of e-sports dreams, to pursue their career dreams. We hope that the national competition can play a very key role in the entire King of Glory e-sports system, connecting the public and professional events.
In the future, we will promote more, including welcoming more similar public teams to participate, and gradually enter the professional stage through our own efforts.
Moderator: Next question.
03
The Paper: The Paper, my question is to ask Chairman Zhang Yijia, we all saw the winter crown upgrade to the Challenger Cup. Including the new year, the tournament system of The Glory of Kings has undergone relatively large changes. I would like to ask what is the purpose of this change?
Zhang Yijia: The Challenger Cup is not just a simple name change, but also reflects our strategic thinking. Why it was changed to the "Challenger Cup", we also did a very in-depth internal discussion at the beginning of last year, and we are still very determined to create and build a national e-sports system. In the system of national e-sports, we also learned the experience of football and basketball. The positioning of the Challenger Cup itself is to enable players at different levels to have a common competition stage, which is the embodiment of our concept of national e-sports.
You can see that there are teams from the KPL, teams from the K A, and teams from the national competition in the Challenger Cup, giving teams at different levels a chance to compete on the same stage, and can also create some possibilities for teams on different tracks to have the opportunity to challenge professional teams. For professional teams, it is also a kind of self-challenge, so we changed the name to "Challenger Cup", in fact, we hope to pass on the spirit of "national e-sports" for every team and every young person to pursue their dreams, constantly challenge themselves, and constantly break through.
At the same time, the Challenger Cup and our World Champions Cup will also have a certain distinction in name. The World Champions Cup is the top, the top world stage. The Challenger Cup will be a national, comprehensive stage, and these two events constitute two highlight stages that are very important for the entire event system. In the future, we hope to continuously strengthen and infiltrate the concept of "e-sports for all". Thank you.
Moderator: Thank you, this one in the front row.
04
Tencent Sports: I am a journalist from Tencent Sports, good two!
As a performance project, The Glory of the King appeared in Jakarta Asian Games in 2018, how did this experience help the preparations for this Hangzhou Asian Games, and what experience can be shared, thank you.
Huang Cheng: In 2018, The Glory of Kings was selected for the Asian Games in Jakarta as a performance project. Six professional players from the KPL participated in the Asian Games as representatives of the national team and won the first gold medal in esports at the first Asian Games. At the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, we will fully absorb the experience of 2018 and provide assistance from product research and development, event management, player recruitment, training organization and other aspects.
At the same time, we will also fully cooperate and support the work of the Olympic Council of Asia, the Asian Organizing Committee, the Asian Electronic Sports Federation and the General Administration of Sport of the People's Republic of China. We also hope that through our work and efforts, we can help e-sports projects to bring new experiences to all audiences and friends at the Asian Games.
Moderator: Thanks, next question.
05
Zhejiang Radio and Television New Blue Network: Hello, I am a reporter of Zhejiang Radio and Television New Blue Network. I would like to continue to ask, we have half a year to start the 2022 Asian Games, what is the significance of the glory of the king for being selected for this Asian Games, and the next work, what arrangements are made for the Asian Games, thank you.
Zhang Yijia: I think that e-sports as a formal competition item selected for the Asian Games, it should be said that it is a milestone for the entire industry, but also to make such a young sport go to the world, so that more audiences can understand the charm of e-sports, I think this is for the entire China, and even the world's e-sports industry is very helpful. As a self-developed e-sports project in China, it is a very important honor to be selected for the Asian Games. Behind this honor, in fact, it also means that we have more responsibilities and responsibilities, we need to show the Olympic spirit of "higher, faster, stronger, more united" through the spirit of athletes on the stage of the Asian Games, so as to transmit more positive value of e-sports, I think this is the most important thing for the entire industry, including practitioners, including all participants.
The specific work will focus on the development of the Asian Games version of The Glory of Kings, including the relevant work of the competent department. We will also pass on the elements of Hangzhou, including elements of Chinese culture, to audiences around the world through the Asian Games version. Let them learn more about China's culture and hangzhou culture through e-sports projects through this Hangzhou Asian Games. Thank you.
Moderator: Thank you for your question, the next question.
06
Game Value Theory: Two good, I am a reporter for game value theory. Just now we mentioned that the Challenger Cup has a lot of references to football and basketball, because now I see that this tournament will select some clubs from all levels to participate in the Challenger Cup. What I want to ask is whether we will further reduce the threshold for participation in the future, as long as we register or register for the club, we can participate in it and directly draw lots to fight. Instead of picking a round of direct competition, as is the case now. I think that this may make the event more popular, and there can be more stories of dark horses counterattacking, thank you.
Zhang Yijia: Yes, that's a good piece of advice. In fact, the format of the Challenger Cup, we will carry out some optimization and iteration every year. As an e-sports project, there may be some similarities with traditional sports, but there are also different places. The same thing is that the spirit of competition behind what we advocate, including the spirit of self-breakthrough, is very similar. In other words, e-sports itself, as a digital content project relying on games, needs to be continuously iterated according to user needs.
In terms of the format, the Challenger Cup can better cover the different levels of positioning of existing events, open up the KPL, KA and national competitions with the selection mechanism, and integrate the selection of the existing three tracks, so that everyone can gather on the stage of the Challenger Cup. Is this selection mechanism the optimal solution for the Challenger Cup? We also believe that it has more room for optimization in the future, further transmitting and releasing the participation of the whole people that we have just emphasized. We also hope that in the future, we will continue to optimize the format so that more teams, or young people who have dreams for e-sports, can stand on this stage. Thank you.
Moderator: Thank you Mr. Zhang Yijia for your answer, back in the middle area.
07
ECO Esports: I am a reporter for ECO Esports, and I would like to ask you how you summarize the achievements of King of Glory Esports in the past year and what you expect from the future.
Zhang Yijia: I think the king of e-sports has taken a solid step this year, we began to plan two years ago, hoping to be able to better promote and popularize the culture of e-sports through a long-term cultivation. Relying on the national user base of King Glory itself, more people can appreciate the charm of e-sports. In this general direction, on the one hand, we are deeply involved in the Chinese market and promote the regionalization of our professional clubs. In 2020, a milestone was achieved, with 16 clubs having completed regional naming. With the passage of time in the future, we believe that more clubs can land at home in cities under their own lines, and can create a home-and-away game atmosphere like football and basketball.
In addition, we are also constantly expanding the system similar to mass events, like the creation of national competitions, the launch of game-based competition tools, will stimulate more spontaneous e-sports events, we will continue to increase the strength of third-party event authorization, so that any one person, any party, as long as it is interested in e-sports groups, have the opportunity to become a practitioner, have the opportunity to become a participant, to jointly create a "national e-sports" ecology, and let everyone harvest their own highlight moments as participants. Reap the benefits of being the core of practitioners and ecological participants.
In the future, we will unswervingly promote the development of king e-sports in the direction of "e-sports for all". In the past 2021, very good progress has been made. We also hope to continue to consolidate the foundation in the next few years and longer. We also expect that Esports for All will really help more people discover and enjoy the joys of esports.
Moderator: Thank you, back row in the left zone.
08
Nanfang Daily: I'm a reporter for Nanfang Daily, and I have two questions. This year is the year of the Asian Games, but also the year of e-sports. In the planning and deployment of the entire king e-sports this year, product research and development or event schedules, and even marketing, there are some adjustments to the plans for this big year to promote the rise of the e-sports boom. In addition, after the official announcement of e-sports into Asia, for the commercialization of the entire alliance of king e-sports, or whether there is any difference in commercial recognition, or what direct promotion.
Moderator: In fact, just now in the club interview session, I have already mentioned that the information about the Asian Games must be announced by the relevant departments before we can make further answers. We will see if we can talk about the commercialization plan.
Zhang Yijia: I think that from the overall point of view, the selection of the Asian Games will be a very good promotion for the entire industry, so that the e-sports industry can be more recognized by the public, and it has also played a good role in promoting the business dimension. For example, we can see how much sponsorship last year, whether there will be a significant increase in value next year, and we as event organizers do not pursue this short-term return. We hope that the Asian Games itself will bring an incentive to more firmly consolidate and transmit the positive value of e-sports. Only positive value can be clearly transmitted, so that more people can correctly understand e-sports, in time, I believe that in the end in the business value will get a good return. We, as participants and contributors, should see the sport grow more in the longer term. In fact, we go to see traditional sports, football, basketball, but also through the development of a long cycle, to achieve the development of commercial development, and then slowly more and more influential in the world, and slowly develop more commercial foundations, and then with the help of business to feed the sport further promotion. I think esports should need that patience if it can really evolve into a new type of long-term competitive sport. As practitioners, we also hope that the e-sports industry will get a more long-term development, and in the future, we will unswervingly practice and disseminate the positive value of e-sports. Thank you.
Moderator: If there are no questions, the interview session will end here, thank you for your participation!
Zhang Yijia: Thank you!
Huang Cheng: Thank you!
About Tencent Esports
Tencent E-sports, founded on December 9, 2016, together with games, literature, film, animation and music, forms a "new cultural creation" content cultural ecology. As the most competitive e-sports brand in China, Tencent's e-sports business has been deployed with TGA since 2010, and after years of exploration and accumulation, e-sports has become an emerging industry with huge commercial value and cultural influence. In the best moment of China's e-sports, Tencent E-sports hopes to work with all industry partners to seize the opportunities given by the times and realize that e-sports make cities better, cities make e-sports more solid, and create a golden age of Chinese e-sports through the comprehensive promotion of the "E-sports City Development Plan".