Entertainment stars Lu Han and Xiao Jingteng invest in eSports

Lu Han

Last week, the Chinese eSports industry welcomed two new investors from the entertainment industry, Chinese singers Xiao Jingteng and Lu Han. 

Media from Taiwan reported that Xiao would set up a new eSports club “The Jams”, together with China Digital Culture (Hong Kong). More details regarding this new franchise club, as to which online games the club will focus on and what is Xiao’s philosophy in the eSports business will reportedly be unveiled on Feb 7. 

Over the weekend, the Chinese eSports club Armani Gaming announced on its Weibo account that it has reached a partnership with Lu Han, the former member of K-Pop group, EXO. Under this partnership, the club has been renamed as “Luminous Stars Gaming (LStars)”.

Prior to this partnership, it was widely known among Lu’s fans that their idol is an eSports fan. As reported by TMTPost, the Chinese technology media, what role Lu will play in the club has not yet been disclosed but TMTPost predicted that Lu will act as an LStars investor and ambassador, to attract more people to follow the club. 

Founded in June 2017, LStars is an eSports club specializing in Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. TMTPost said that many eSports fans have been impressed by the club’s brilliant ideas and technical proficiency in the games, but the lack of star players in the team limited the club’s popularity. Fortunately, the club’s fame is rising after this partnering with Lu, a superstar who is very popular among the young and has over 40 million followers on Weibo.   

Over the past years, the emerging eSports industry has attracted many stars from the entertainment industry. Jay Chou, one of the most popular singers in China, set up his first ever professional eSports club in 2015. As the Chinese eSports website TGBus.com reported, the club was called MRJ and has competed in League of Legends Master Series, the professional LOL league located in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. 

The following year, Jay Chou acquired Taipei Assassins, the League of Legends World Champions with Chou acting as the team leader and renaming them as JTeam. With such massive support from a superstar, the club revived its declining fortunes and has retained its edge in the eSports area of Taiwan. 

Other entertainment stars who have taken steps into the eSports industry include the Singaporean singer JJ Lin, Chinese actor Chen He and Hong Kong actor, Shawn Yue Man-lok.

Source: Sina Technology

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick