Esports market roars in China

Game research company Niko Partners says in a report on China's online games industry that China's PC online games market revenue grew 22% from 2013 to 2014. Much of the revenue growth is attributed to higher demand for Massive Online Gaming, the games which are boosting China's overall e-sport market. 

The growing interest in e-sports means more and more people are attracted to watching online matches as well as in playing themselves.

Zhang Yu is one of those taking advantage of the growing interest.

After working four years in China's leading game company Tencent, Zhang set up his own company last October offering online live broadcasts of e-sports games. He says his business is doing well. 

The company now broadcasts around 60 e-sports games, and has more than a hundred game anchors explaining the matches.

"After 2010, lots of leading game companies brougt in a large number of good e-sports games, and these games have attracted lots of users. Another reason is that Internet access is getting better and better, and is now able to meet the need for fast interaction in e-sports games," said Cao Di, Analyst of iRESEARCH Co.

Cao estimates that China's e-sports games market is now worth around 15-20 billion yuan, and has spread to some 30 million enthusiasts. The great popularity of e-sports games have made many young Chinese begin to look at high-profile professional gamers as cultural icons.

Professional league matches are in a stadium, and the admission fee is not expensive. For game lovers, professional e-sports gamers are not wasting their youth.

However, life as a professional gamer is not as easy as people might think. The Association of China E-sports says that China only has around a thousand professional e-sports gamers, and their income is very irregular.

There are reports that top prizes in some of the professional matches can be as much as several million yuan.