China's e-sports market may be developing too fast
The nation's electronic sports (e-sports) industry is developing at a rapid pace but challenges remain, experts told the Global Times during an e-sports summit held in Shanghai on Sunday.
According to Li Yanfei, spokesman and vice president of the World Cyber Arena (WCA), there are about 100 million e-sports players in China and about 3.5 million people work in the industry.
The most successful e-sports broadcasters can earn more than 20 million yuan ($3.01 million) annually, Li said.
The revenue of the nation's e-sports industry was 12.12 billion yuan in the first quarter of this year, according to a report published by the China Game Publishers Association Publications Committee in June.
In 2015, e-sports industry revenue was 27 billion yuan, according to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television in January.
Large investments started to flow into the domestic e-sports industry around 2014, driving its rapid expansion, Li told the Global Times. Investment increased by about 30 percent to 45 percent between 2014 and 2015, he said.
But growth cooled this year, according to Li, who said that was "normal".
All that money flowing into the sector carries risks, according to Alex Lim, secretary-general of the International E-Sports Federation.
"In my opinion, this might create a bubble. We will need to see who's making money and who's spending money in the market, not just focus on the size of the market," Lim told the Global Times on Sunday.
According to Lim, the business-to-business segment of the market has developed quickly but the business-to-consumer segment (B2C) is not that big. So if the industry bubble bursts, the relatively small B2C segment may not be large enough to sustain the whole industry.
Lim said he's concerned that China's e-sports market developed too fast in recent years.
Li said it's important for the industry to foster domestic e-sports players and get the public more interested.
Local governments have lent support to the industry. The WCA was organized by the government of Yinchuan, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
