If anyone here was looking forward to esports events that were set to be hosted in China like the League of Legends World Championship (stop laughing), then you’ll want to keep eyes on this developing story: The Chinese government announced yesterday that it will not be hosting any international sporting events for the remainder of the year with the exception of trials for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
This not only puts “real” sporting events like tennis and golf competitions on hold but also the aforementioned LoL championship, though reporting from Forbes China contradicts this, stating that Tencent’s COO Ren Yuxin is still actively preparing for the finals. A quote from an exec associated with Riot Games and Tencent Esports’ TJ Sports says, “We don’t have a conclusion right now, but will announce soon the decision according to the further instructions.”
It’s important to note that the story from Forbes China comes ahead of the Chinese government’s official declaration, so it’s very likely that things are in a state of flux. At the time of this writing, there are no official statements from Riot Games or Tencent, and there are no changes to the schedule or announcements on League’s esports section of its website.
