From January to June, the revenue of China’s esports market decreased 10.12% year on year to 76.5bil yuan , its first decline in five years, according to data from the country’s semi-official esports industry association.
Income generated from live streaming, tournaments and esports clubs slid 2%, compared with growth of 23.7% in the same period last year. The local esports market counted a base of 487.4 million consumers in the first half of this year. That decline was attributed to the strict enforcement of Covid-19 lockdowns and other control measures in major Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen, as local governments tried to prevent the spread of theShanghai, which hosted about 40% of esports competitions in the first half of this year, went under a citywide lockdown from April to June that affected its entire 25 million population.
On the video gaming regulator’s slower pace of approving new titles, Zhao said the situation has not made any substantial difference to the staging of local esports tournaments. “Esports mostly rely on games that are already published, so the slowdown in new game licences has had little effect,” Zhao said.