On September 8, the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou 2022 officially announced the 8 selected e-sports events, namely: "Aov Asian Games Edition" (Glory of the King), "Dota 2", "Dream Three Kingdoms 2", "Ea Sports Fifa", "Hearthstone", "League of Legends", "Peace Elite Asian Games Edition", "Street Fighter 5".
At the same time, the official has also added two new demonstration projects, namely the AESF Robot Masters and the AESF VR Sport, both of which are supported by Migu, a subsidiary of China Mobile.
The day before, the "People's E-sports" official micro under the People's Network had cited information from informed sources to disclose the list of e-sports in Asia. After the news was released, it was quickly forwarded by a large number of netizens on Weibo and rushed to the hot search, reflecting the player's extremely high concern for the official entry of e-sports into Asia. In terms of results, the official announcement is consistent with the version of yesterday's people's e-sports news.
Judging from the shortlist, the projects announced this time cover five competitive categories of moba, card battle, shooting, fighting, and sports, of which there are 6 on the PC side and 2 on the mobile side. Somewhat surprisingly, moba games occupy half of the seats, namely Glory of Kings, League of Legends, Dota 2 and Three Kingdoms of Dreams.
Compared with the 6 projects shortlisted at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, namely "League of Legends", "Arena of Valor" (Glory of Kings International Edition), "Clash Royale", "Pro Evolution Soccer", "Hearthstone" and "StarCraft II", it is not difficult to find that this Year's Hangzhou Asian Games has added two classic categories of shooting and fighting. At the same time, RTS withdrew from the stage of the Asian Games.
Those who enter the game are happy, and those who are out are sad
The scarcity of e-sports projects at the Asian Games is destined to form a situation of several joys and some sorrows.
"League of Legends", "Dota2", "fifa" and other traditional e-sports projects can be selected, naturally in most people's expectations, without too much interpretation.
In this list, the most surprising is obviously "Dream Three Kingdoms 2". This moba game, developed by Hangzhou Electric Soul Network and launched in 2015, can be regarded as the earliest batch of products in China that deeply cultivate the moba category, and the Chinese style background contained in it is also unique among the finalists.
On Tieba , some "Three Kingdoms of Dreams 2" players directly shouted out the familiar words of the countrymen after seeing their own game enterIng Asia, and even a little disbelieving the authenticity of the news. And many old players after hearing the news, but also bluntly tears and happiness.
But in addition to being happy, many players have expressed concerns about whether "Dream Three Kingdoms 2" can be professional enough to match the Asian Games. According to gamelook, "Dream Three Kingdoms 2" has actually established a perfect professional event system and gradually expanded to third-party events. In other words, "Dream Three Kingdoms 2" actually has the strength to become an e-sports project.
Another item that has attracted the attention of players is the Asian version of aov, which is the international version of "Glory of Kings".
As a top moba mobile game that has set an average daily dau of more than 100 million, the popularity and audience coverage of "Glory of Kings" in Asia naturally need not be said. But compared to the unexpected surprises shown by the players of "Three Kingdoms of Dreams", the glory of the king players seem to be quite calm about their own game into Asia.
In the eyes of some players, in the glory of the king project, domestic players have almost absolute dominance. In the previous World Championship of Glory of Kings, Chinese players have also been sitting on the championship throne. If the Chinese team wins the championship at the Asian Games, it is actually more expected.
As a classic fighting IP of more than 30 years, "Street Fighter 5" naturally has enough competitive background to support it on the stage of the Asian Games, and it is quite reasonable to be selected this time. However, an IP that has been more than 30 years can be re-active on the world-class stage, which really makes many IP fans sigh.
For the shortlist, not everyone is happy.
Although the Hangzhou Asian Games e-sports projects were shortlisted for eight, it should also be seen that the "StarCraft 2" that was shortlisted for the last exhibition competition unexpectedly withdrew from the stage this time. This has also caused serious dissatisfaction among many iron fans, including some well-known kols, such as the old immortal Huang Xudong, who is known as the "Godfather of Interstellar".
Huang Xudong tweeted angrily: "Blizzard is definitely pushing a lonely person in the Asian Games. Obviously there is a good rts ace game does not push, dead or alive to push ow (Overwatch), reminded countless times, ow no play is still pushing, now it is comfortable. Now a project in Hearthstone into the Asian Games, the real face is not wanted. ”
Subsequently, another interstellar celebrity and commentator Sun Yifeng also forwarded Huang Xudong's Weibo, and pointed out that "as long as Blizzard nods, the project that can enter will eventually fail", which seems to imply that Blizzard pushed back and ignored his senior god work "Star 2".
But these episodes aside, players in general maintain a positive and positive attitude towards the esports projects in Asia.
The official entry of the 8 major projects into Asia is another milestone in the history of e-sports
Looking back at the process of e-sports entering Asia, it is actually not far from us.
At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, e-sports debuted on the Asian Games stage as a performance event, which means that e-sports has been recognized and accepted by the mainstream society for the first time. At the Jakarta Asian Games, the Chinese team achieved a result of 2 gold and 1 silver, helping China achieve a breakthrough of zero in e-sports.
On December 16, 2020, the 38th Asian Olympic Council announced that e-sports has become an official event for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. Esports entered Asia for the second time, and it is also the first time to enter the Olympic family as an "official project".
Compared with 2018, the number of e-sports projects at the Hangzhou Asian Games has increased from 6 to 8, and the types of projects are also constantly enriched, which also hints at the signal that e-sports are gradually being accepted by traditional sports.
More importantly, the official entry of e-sports into Asia also responds to the slogan of the Olympic Council of Asia on December 13 to "support and encourage the cooperation of individual associations and their corresponding virtual sports" on the official website, marking that e-sports, as a favorite competitive event for young people, has embarked on the road of standardization, maturity and systematization, and has become another milestone in the history of e-sports.