Taking place in Hangzhou, China, the event will include seven popular esports titles, ranging from PC to mobile games, all vying for gold medals.

The inclusion signals a major step for esports, which joins other “mind games” like chess and bridge in the esteemed Asian competition.

More than 30 countries are fielding teams, but all eyes are on South Korea and host nation China, expected to be the powerhouses in one of the most anticipated spectacles of the two-week gathering.

This year’s esports menu covers a variety of genres, including multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) and single-player games.

The titles set for competition are League of Legends, Arena of Valor Asian Games Version (also known as Honor of Kings), Peace Elite Asian Games Version (also known as PUBG Mobile), Dota 2, Dream Three Kingdoms 2, Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, and EA Sports FC (also known as FIFA Online 4).

For South Korean players like Lee ��Faker�� Sanghyeok, widely considered the Greatest of All Time in League of Legends, a gold medal would have additional benefits, including exempting him from South Korea��s compulsory military service for men.

This isn��t esports�� first appearance at the Asian Games. It was a demonstration sport at the previous event held in Jakarta, Indonesia, and was met with overwhelming enthusiasm.

The success of the Asian Games will again catapult esports into the Olympics conversation, with many well-placed esports enthusiasts suggesting the four-yearly event needs professional video gaming more than esports needs the games.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has expressed interest in incorporating video and virtual sports to attract younger audiences, as seen with skateboarding and surfing in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

However, IOC president Thomas Bach stipulates that violent or discriminatory content is a deal-breaker.

“We have to draw a very clear red line in this respect,” he said.

This ban on any violence would seemingly rule many esports games out of being played at the Olympic Games, including first-person shooters and many multiplayer online battle arena titles.

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The shutdown comes as a result of Blizzard and NetEase’s failure to reach an agreeable term on the extension of another licensing agreement, which expired on January 23, 2023. The Chief Executive Officer of NetEase, William Ding, had described it in an earlier statement released in November as a result of their inability to reach an agreement due to “material differences.”

��We have put in a great deal of effort and tried with our utmost sincerity to negotiate with Activision Blizzard so that we could continue our collaboration and serve the many dedicated players in China,�� said Ding.

��However, there were material differences on key terms and we could not reach an agreement.��

With the contract expired, all Blizzard’s games available within the region including Warcraft III: Reforged, World of Warcraft, the StarCraft series, Diablo III, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch 2, have been taken offline in China. This development has left fans and players in China without access to any Blizzard games as the company works to figure out how to bring the games back online.

Five Overwatch League teams are affected by the shutdown, including the Chengdu Hunters, the Guangzhou Charge, the Hangzhou Spark, the Shanghai Dragons, and the Los Angeles Valiant, who still have their base of operations in China. These teams are now left in a state of limbo as they don��t have access to the game and it is unclear when the game will be back online.

The Chengdu Hunters were the first to announce the news, posting a tweet that simply said ��Goodbye and see you again.�� Fans of the franchise expressed their shock and questioned the reason being their exit. This forced the Chinese franchise to further clarify that the esports title has been shut down and as such, they are unable to compete.

The future of the Overwatch League remains uncertain as the league’s start date is yet to be announced by the event organizers. The free agency has been delayed on multiple occasions as the game developer attempts to find a last solution that sees its games back online in China, and teams have been asked to sign the minimum of players on or before March 13, having previously pushed the date from January 16. This is causing major concern among fans as they are speculating that the league could commence in April or later.

Teams were originally required to have six players signed by March 1, but that deadline has been pushed back without a new date being announced. The uncertainty has raised questions about whether teams will relocate in order to continue competing, or if they will wait for the game to come back online in China. Overall, the situation has left the Overwatch League community in a state of uncertainty and anticipation as they await further updates from the league and Blizzard.

The Overwatch League is one of the most popular esports leagues in the world, with a significant following of the league coming from China. The situation is a difficult one for the league, teams, and fans likewise, as they are now unable to access the game and compete. Fans are teams are eager to see everything back to normal.

In a statement, the Head of the Overwatch League, Sean Miller, commented on the ongoing crisis. While he anticipates the commencement of the 2023 season, he revealed that the organizers will be sharing more details with the Overwatch community in the coming weeks.

��We can��t wait for the 2023 season to start and have been working hard behind the scenes to iron out details,” Miller said.

“We��re hoping to share more with the community in the next couple of weeks and are looking forward to OWL��s sixth season where we expect a full slate of teams from the East and West.��
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As a result of this, the Overwatch developer is set to exit the China domain if it does not find a new publisher before January 23, which is the stipulated time for its existing contract with NetEase to expire.

“We approached NetEase again last week for assistance in exploring a six-month extension of our existing agreement �� to allow everyone to continue playing without disruption and for Blizzard to continue exploring a reasonable and long-term path forward in the China region,” it said in a press release.

“Unfortunately, NetEase did not accept our proposal to extend the existing game service agreement following last week’s extension negotiations. We will therefore have to comply with NetEase’s offer. Therefore, we will have to follow NetEase’s suspension announcement to discontinue the game service in China on January 23.”

NetEase also released a statement, explaining what prompted its denial of the six-month extension. According to them, the agreement that was proposed by Blizzard was unfavourable and “unfair”, hence they could not come to an agreement to extend their partnership.

“Considering the unequal, unfair, and other conditions attached to the cooperation, the two parties failed to reach an agreement in the end,” a NetEase statement read. “We believe that Blizzard’s proposal–including today’s sudden statement–is outrageous, inappropriate, and not in line with business logic.”

Blizzard is the developer of games such as Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Starcraft, and a couple others. This news has definitely plagued Chinese gamers, as in a few days they will not have access to these titles.

However, with the hope and motive that it will find a new publisher in China, Blizzard has advised its Chinese gamers to archive their gaming history and items so that when they get a new partnership, they will be able to continue gaming from where they left off.

“It’s important for everyone at Blizzard to properly save your game progress, items and memories – we create these worlds so that you can feel you are a part of them. We want you to be able to move on from where you left off. We hope that NetEase will follow its previous end of service announcement and properly seal all players’ game data. To give CN World of Warcraft players an additional peace of mind, in addition to the game data sealing provided by NetEase; Blizzard will also launch a feature tomorrow (January 18, Beijing time) that will allow CN World of Warcraft players to download their game progress for the future,” Blizzard stated.

“When the game comes back online in the future, you will be able to upload your saved game history in order to continue playing. This feature will continue to be available until the game ends service in China. We will share more information about the World of Warcraft progress archive with you on Weibo.”

The Blizzard game titles for China users will cease to be available; this does not include Diablo Immortal, as this game was born out of a different long-term partnership agreement with both parties.

The Overwatch developer also briefed the public on its progress towards finding a new partner in China. It said it is already in talks with some potential partners and is hoping that its goals align so it can commence a partnership as soon as possible. Blizzard also promised to keep its Chinese players abreast of its plight in finding a new partner.

“We have started talks with a number of potential partners who share our player-first values. We continue to prioritize potential partners that can provide high quality and consistent game play, create a positive gaming environment both inside and outside of the game, and work with us to bring our games back to our players in China,” Blizzard revealed.

“We will share new developments with you in the future. Unfortunately, NetEase is unwilling to extend the service for six months based on the terms of the existing partnership while we look for a new partner. However, we will not give up and will still do our best for everyone. We want you to understand that it’s not over yet. We will still try to find a national partner who shares our beliefs.”

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Xtreme Gaming had a rough start to the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season. They needed three maps to defeat Aster.Aries (2-1) and then lost against Team Aster (1-2). But there’s a silver lining: Xtreme Gaming played well against Aster on Sunday and had their chance to win.

EHOME won both of their DPC 2023 CN Week 1 series against Invictus Gaming (2-0) and Dawn (2-0). They had a fairly easy schedule, so we wouldn’t overreact to EHOME’s perfect run, but they have played much better than expected.

EHOME are in much better shape ahead of this bout, but they’re still individually weaker than Xtreme Gaming, so it makes sense to see them priced as underdogs. Still, if EHOME keep their wheels spinning into the week of the season, it’s not too crazy to believe that they can win at least one map.
Xtreme Gaming looked lost against Aster.Aries on Friday, and if we see another such performance on Tuesday, EHOME might even come out on top.

Despite the roster changes, PSG.LGD looked just as good in the season’s opening week as you would expect from this team. They demolished Dawn Gaming (2-0) and added another commanding victory against Aster.Aries (2-0).

Even though PSG.LGD had to face fairly weak teams in Week 1; they hadn’t shown anything that would make us doubt them ahead of this match. However, they’re set to face a capable team that had some glimpses of greatness last week.

Knights lost their opening match of the season against Team Aster (1-2), but they fought well and added a strong performance against Invictus Gaming (2-0). It’s difficult to make any conclusions from just two games, but the Knights look strong, and they just might be able to cause some problems for PSG.LGD.

At the offered betting odds, we wouldn’t back PSG.LGD. Even though they’ve shown more in the first week of the season, it’s hard to believe that they’ll look as dominant when faced with stronger teams. This is a crucial match for Su “Flyby” Lei and his crew, and if they can show the same performance as they did against Team Aster, we should be in for a close series on Tuesday.

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Knights is a new team entering the Chinese Dota Pro Circuit (DPC), fielding a roster built around the ex-Sparking Arrow Gaming duo Xiao “XCJ” Chaojian, Su “Flyby” Lei. They teamed up a strong trio of Luo “eGo” Bin, Vincent “AlaCrity” Hiew, and Chong “FelixCiaoBa” Wei Lun.

The roster has some talent but features mostly tier-two talent who are coming in from SEA and China, which doesn’t sound too promising. But Knights have the potential to be good, and we wouldn’t be shocked if they turn some heads in the first tour of the season.

Team Aster made two roster changes in November, with the addition of Zhai “Xwy” Jingkai and former head coach of Elephant and Vici Gaming, Bai “rOtK” Fan. Aster were powerful last year, with a silver medal from ESL One Malaysia 2022 and a top-four finish at The International 2022, and there’s nothing to suggest Aster can’t be as dominant in 2023.

Still, at $1.10, we wouldn’t bet on Aster to win, nor are they appealing at $1.50 to cover the map handicap. Knights look weaker, but they are stronger than the market suggests. Moreover, we’re early into the season, so we expect a bit shakier performance from Aster, which should be enough for the outsiders to steal a map.

Xtreme Gaming made two roster changes, signing Thiay “JT-” Jun Wen and Daniel “Ghost” Chan from Invictus Gaming and Royal Never Give Up, respectively. The latest additions make Xtreme Gaming a very scary team, but it’s not like they weren’t solid last season.

Throughout 2022, Xtreme Gaming underperformed a bit relative to the expectations, but they have finished inside the top three in all but one event �C The International Last Chance Qualifier (fifth-sixth). They claimed silver medals from Intel World Open Beijing, DPC CN 2021/2022 Tour 2: Division I, and Chinese TI 2022 qualifiers, a title from OGA Dota PIT Season 6: China, and third-place finishes in DPC CN Tour 2 Regional Final, and Tour 3: Division I.

Due to not making many roster moves, Xtreme might be one of the top teams in the opening tour and should eventually find themselves in a tight race with PSG.LGD and Team Aster for the status of China’s top Dota team.

Aster.Aries didn’t achieve much last season besides reaching the upper division with a runner-up finish in DPC Tour 2: Division II. For 2023, Aster.Aries added just one new player in Liu “WhiteؼAlbum” Yuhao, and replaced coach Chen “86” Yuxuan with from Ou “Op” Peng.

On paper, it seem like Aster.Aries should be more competitive this term, but they’re going against one of China’s most stacked teams with solid synergy. There’s room for upsets in the new season’s opening week, but this looks like a clean 2-0 sweep for Xtreme Gaming.

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In the International 11 tournament, China places third in the number of players representing the country. They narrowly lost their lead position to Russia and Peru, both of which had 13 pro gamers each in the event, while China had 12.

For the last TI tournaments, China has had between 19 and 27 representatives, so the recent drop is quite noticeable. Upon further investigation, the issue was traced to The International 2022: Last Chance Qualifier, which took place earlier this year.

The event allowed only two teams to qualify for The International 11 and Dota 2 fans expected that Xtreme Gaming would nab one of the spots. They were in for quite a surprise when Team Liquid and Team Secret qualified instead after an impressive performance during the playoffs. Vici Gaming did not fare much better after losing to Team Liquid during the tournament��s lower bracket semifinal.

Due to the loss, China will have only three representative teams in The International 11. The Chinese squads include Royal Never Give Up, PSG.LDG and Team Aster. While China��s representative count may have increased when all the players were combined, not all players on the three teams were Chinese.

Famous Dota 2 players Yap “xNova” Jian Wei and Daniel “Ghost” Chan Kok Hong of the Royal Never Give Up lineup are both Malaysian players, along with Cheng “NothingToSay” Jin Xiang from PSG.LGD.

While China is lacking in the number of players, the select teams are brimming with talent. Chinese lineup, PSG.LGD is the Chinese fan favorite of the tournament, and the team is expected to bring back the title.

Wings Gaming was the first Chinese team to win the Dota 2 international tournament and did so during The International 6 after facing off against and defeating Digital Chaos. The team placed last during the Manila Major, but they showed no sign of poor performance while beating their opponent in a 3-1 series in the tournament��s Grand Finals.

Wings Gaming, who entered the event as an underdog team, notably faced off against Evil Geniuses and MVP Phoenix before taking home a large chunk of the $20.7 million prize pool.

Current PSG.LGD players Zhang “Faith_bian” Ruida and Zhang “y`” Yiping were a part of Wings Gaming��s winning team in 2017. PSG.LGD previously lost to Team Liquid during the finals of The International 10. With the players on the squad, the Chinese lineup might have a shot at beating Team Liquid and winning this year��s tournament.

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Like stadiums for traditional sports, the LPL team��s new esports stadium will have professional facilities used in the activity, along with new business forms and multifunctional public spaces.

��EDG will have our own home field in Shanghai!�� the Twitter announcement read. ��A thousand seats, brand-new business forms, and professional Esports facilities. Thank everyone for your continuous support to EDG, let’s meet in Shanghai!��

The esports stadium will make EDG one of the few teams like RNG to have their own home. RNG��s own private facility is located in Beijing. The stadium is reportedly in line with EDG��s attempt to establish a ��Super-E�� culture and will allow esports fans to be a part of the esports world.

According to reports, the stadium will be one of the major Shanghai projects and will be located in the Hongqiao Qianwan area of the Minhang District of Hongqiao International Central Business District. The construction will be handled by EDG��s parent company, the Chaojing Group, more commonly known as SuperGen.

The project reportedly proposes a functional and rich-looking layout that will have a particular emphasis on ��new cultural creation.�� The entire venue will be over 50,000 square meters and will strive to create one of the first cultural and creative esports cities in the world.

The establishment will be a place where work and entertainment can be achieved. It will also be a social platform for the younger audience and become a place of pilgrimage for esports fans worldwide and the rest of the industry.

EDG��s SuperGen arena esports facility will reportedly have two stadiums. The first stadium will be “Super-E-Sport”, with a capacity of 10,000 meters and a 10,000 meter long track. The venue will be the central location for international events and also be used for smaller events like fashion shows, small-scale concerts, basketball games, and other sports events.

The second stadium is ��Super-Show�� and will be the organization��s main venue and multi-function exhibition hall and be mostly used for EDG��s games. It will be 6,000 square meters big, with the capacity to hold around 1,000 people.
EDG
Reports also revealed that the arena will have a number of other multi-functional public areas such as cinemas, restaurants, a shopping mall, hotels, working spaces, and dining halls. It would also have an ecological garden and an extreme park located south of Block A Canyon Square in double connection with the sports park erected on the east side.

EDG has already released a concept of the expected final look of the arena. If everything goes as planned, the Shanghai International New Cultural and Creative Esports Centre will be one of the most significant single investment projects in the esports industry worldwide.

The project has already received an initial investment of $720 million (over 5 billion yuan). A follow-up investment for the project will reportedly be more than $1.4 billion (10 billion yuan). Construction for the arena will begin in earnest in 2023 and come to a close in 2025.

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Notable Chinese teams like Invictus Gaming, Xtreme Gaming, EHOME, and Vici Gaming were all placed on the sideline after RNG managed to grab the remaining spot during the Chinese Regional Qualifiers for The International 11.

During the qualifiers, RNG only lost out on one map in all four series played, but closed the competition with a 3-0 win during their rematch against Xtreme Gaming and snagged the last regional TI invite.

Prior to the grand finals rematch against RNG, Xtreme Gaming played against the team during the upper bracket finals in a three-series match. Although the series started well for Xtreme Gaming with an early win, RNG eventually bounced back and emerged as the victors in the next two games. The team received a pass to the event’s grand finals, while Xtreme Gaming were moved to the lower brackets.

Xtreme Gaming had their rematch with RNG after playing and winning against Vici Gaming in the lower bracket finals. The first game between the teams saw Lu “Somnus” Yao and the rest of the squad win in 38 minutes as a result of the efforts of their Bloodseeker and Puck combo.

Xtreme Gaming had a higher chance of winning in game two due to their Wombo Combo Ultimates. However, the attack failed when faced with RNG��s use of Bristleback and QoP.

The final game was 48 minutes long and saw Xtreme Gaming struggle to defeat RNG after losing out on the two previous games. They used one of the new meta carriers, PA, and while their pick surprised RNG, it was not enough to counter the team��s use of Necro and Bristleback.

RNG have maintained a commendable performance since the team changed their roster after the TI10, where they added Somnus, Yang “Chalice” Shenyi, and Yap “xNova” Jian Wei to their lineup. The players were previously a part of PSG.LGD��s roster before signing onto RNG.

The only time they finished outside the top five teams in an event was at the Arlington Major. At the time, they had Anathan “ana” Pham play as a team stand-in.

For the entirety of the 2022 Dota Pro Circuit season, RNG have proven to be one of the strongest teams. However, they were only able to participate in the Arlington Major as a result of COVID and travel issues.

The team finished in ninth place, and their DPC points were reduced as a result of midseason roster changes and the Chinese Regional Final replacements. As such, they were unable to get a direct invite in the regular season.

Their regional qualifier win placed them beside PSG.LGD and Team Aster as the third team to represent China in the TI11, set to start in October. A fourth regional squad still have the chance to join the three teams in the Last Chance Qualifier. Xtreme Gaming and Vici Gaming will reportedly play against the two teams that were placed second and third in their regions during the event scheduled to be held in Singapore.

The Last Chance Qualifier will have two final slots available for the event, which will kick off on October 8. Dota 2 The International 11 will have the best teams from around the world competing to secure not only fame but an impressive prize pool of over $10,000,000 USD.

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As a country which values ethics very highly, China is known to ban video games depicting any kind of excessive violence, nudity, bones and anything deemed to be inappropriate for the younger population.

Years ago a very well-known MMORPG, World of Warcraft (WoW) had to change the models of their Forsaken (Undead) race to suit strict Chinese regulations.

China’s State Administration of Radio and Television (SART) recently implemented new bans on gaming content, which could change the way CS: GO is played in the nation. The prohibited content which can be found in CS: GO includes blood and any kind of corpses, which as dark as it may sound, is a major part of the game.

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With the newly-implemented regulations, publishers will not be able to sell their video games in China without a licence from SART, who will decide if the game is suitable for the Chinese audience or not.

But what does that means for CS: GO?

For Counter-Strike to meet the regulations, the game will need to get rid of all dead bodies and all blood from the game. While the regulations may seem negligible, it would change the game in a huge way.

This now puts CS: GO in an unenviable position. Should they regulate the game to meet SART standards, it would not be the CS: GO we know anymore, not to mention the huge amounts of money it would cost to do so. On the other side, if CS: GO remains the same, it would not be allowed to be sold or possibly even viewed in China.

This now puts CS: GO and the whole esports world in a terrible position. One of the fastest-growing industries in the world could potentially miss out on huge amounts of capital from one of its biggest revenue streams.

Bear in mind, the ban could also mean that Chinese CS: GO fans will not be able to watch the “regular” version of CS: GO, but rather only the ��regulated�� version. This would, of course, result in CS: GO taking a drastic hit to its viewer base as well.

How exactly will this conflict be solved is still unknown, however, if not approached correctly, CS: GO and esports, in general, would take a huge hit from an economic standpoint.

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In a truly-bizarre annual tradition, the nation which is well known for its social points program and overriding Government control added 15 new professions to its ‘official list of occupations’. On that list were esports professional player and esports operator.

The move is a bizarre one, given the amazing strength of the esports industry in the nation.

China has one of the biggest esports markets in the world and was represented ably in the 2018 League of Legends World Championships, which they won.

The Government recognition can only improve the standing of the industry in China, which already invests significant funds into developing its players.

While this statement will seem unnecessary and even comical, China has been an innovator and actively encouraged the growth of the sport.

And that investment is paying off as China places itself at the forefront of the world’s fastest-growing sports.

Chinese players should now enjoy extended working rights and complete freedom of movement. They should also have simpler access to working visas and an easier tax structure after this announcement.