Suzhou

Inspired by the growth of esports globally, and the development of esports in Shanghai in particular, a number of Chinese cities are accelerating the development of their local scenes and Suzhou is no stranger to this trend.

Creating its very own esports hub

AUTHOR Chenglu Zhang  @MeepoChenglu

Suzhou, a major city located in the Southeastern Jiangsu Province of East China, is about 62 miles northwest of the Shanghai Esports Centre. Inspired by the growth of esports globally, and the development of esports in Shanghai in particular, a number of Chinese cities are accelerating the development of their local scenes and Suzhou is no stranger to this trend.

To understand the development and the future of the local esports industry in Suzhou, we spoke to Yu Yuan, President of Suzhou Esports Association.

The Esports Journal: Can you explain why so many Chinese cities are accelerating the development of local esports industries? Yu Yuan: China has become the most dynamic esports market in the world.

According to a report by Tencent in June, the number of Chinese esports users is expected to exceed 350 million and the market revenue is the second highest in the world, after the United States. For such a dynamic and fast-growing market with such a huge number of potential customers, the best choice for us is to embrace it. Currently, the Chinese government has defined esports as an important component of digital sports and culture. Due to the Chinese government’s macro policy support for esports, multiple local governments have also published some supportive policies focused on encouraging local enterprises to invest in the esports industry. In addition, China is still very much at the stage of formulating regulations for the esports industry, which means that it’s a market currently full of opportunities!

ESJ: Can you tell us how Suzhou is developing its local esports industry? YY: We established Suzhou Esports Association under the guidance of the Suzhou Sports Bureau and have always promoted esports industry energetically. Various famous esports events have been organized successfully in Suzhou, including World Cyber Games (WCG) in 2012 & 2013, National Electronic Sports Tournament (NEST) in 2014, Tai Lake Esports Invitational (TEI) in 2017, and World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) China Finals in 2019.

To show esports to the public and provide a platform for esports practitioners to exchange views, Suzhou Esports Association has held the

China Suzhou Esports Expo for three consecutive years. We have combined international esports tournaments with local culture and tourism to show our city to global esports enthusiasts.

In the meantime we’ve built an esports industrial park called TAI PARK in cooperation with Suzhou Wuzhong Economic Development Zone, a local economic and technological development zone. TAI PARK can be considered as a combination of the cultural industry, sports industry, technology industry, and media industry. It integrates entertainment with technology.. Moreover, it aims to create a positive ecosystem for the local esports industry - we are trying to attract, encourage, and support esports start-ups to launch their business in this industrial park.

ESJ: What are the future plans for esports in Suzhou? YY: In order to expand the ecology and contents of the esports industrial park continuously, we will attract more global esports companies to enter the industrial park and provide advanced and comprehensive facilities for them to run their business.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the People’s Republic of China published New Occupation - Analysis Report on the Current Situation of Esports Employment in June. The report pointed out that China has become the most influential and promising esports market in the world. At the same time, the demand for high-level, high-standard, high-quality esports players, team coaches, and other related positions has become more and more urgent.

Therefore, we will focus on finding colleges and potential partners to launch our esports education plan. We hope to activate the creativity of Suzhou’s esports community and cultivate more talent for the local esports industry through educational projects. Furthermore, we will actively communicate with brother esports associations across the country, especially in the Yangtze River Delta region. We will build the Yangtze River Delta esports integration and carry out cross-regional esports cooperation in the future.

ESJ: What do you think the future will look like for the esports industry? YY: The future development of esports will be an ecological coexistence of globalisation and localisation. More and more esports games will be organized based on the concept of internationalisation. For example, Dota 2, League of Legends, and Overwatch all have established their own global league systems. It is believed that the esports rivalry between nations will be the most attractive event in esports.

Meanwhile, with the launch of a home and away game system in the esports world, more and more esports venues will be established and this kind of esports regionalisation will attract more local residents to take root in the local esports teams. Besides, local esports teams will also become business cards for the city and link residents to the city.