Tencent and Riot Games join forces to set up eSports company TJ Sports

Tencent and its wholly-owned company Riot Games have co-established a new eSports company, TJ Sports, to focus vertically on the operation of eSports related business. 

TJ Sports was announced on Jan 10 by the two parties. The official corporate name is Tengjing Sports Culture Development (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and has a registered capital of CNY530m. The company is wholly invested by the non-Chinese company Chamomile Sports Limited, according to the public company registration information. 

Senior management from both Tencent and Riot Games will take up positions on the board of management. For example, the legal representative of the TJ Sports is HUANG Lingdong, Vice President of Tencent Games, with Tencent Group Senior Vice President MA Xiaoyi becoming President. Both JIN Yibo, LPL Head, and LIN Song, Riot Games Head of China were announced as CEOs. 

For their short and medium-term strategy, TJ Sports will operate around their core property and brand, the League of Legends Pro League, in China. In the long term, they aim to become an internationally competitive eSports operator, extending businesses across all the eSports industry chain, combining content production with platform operation. 

As eSports is still developing at its starting stage, TJ Sports also value the importance of a solid foundation and business revenues. They will work on youth training camps, title sponsorship of clubs and help clubs to look for sponsors and develop commercial revenues. TJ Sports will also start by offering title sponsorship to LPL. 

They will also take on the responsibility of promoting Riot Games international events in China and its business development. 

They have set out three goals for the next three years. First, to achieve CNY1bn total revenue for the league. Second, to reach 4 billion hours of LPL viewing time and lastly, to build the LPL into one of the most valuable sports properties. 

Reference: Jiemian 

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick