Can backing Dalian WCAA become an iconic event?
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “Game Watch” (ID: gamewower ) , by Gamewower.
With the growing e-sports market in China, third-party events have once again ushered in a climax of development.
On January 18th, the WCAA2020 International College Contest was officially opened at the Dalian Maritime University Gymnasium. Dalian City Deputy Mayor Jin Guowei and other city leaders and Tianshen Entertainment jointly launched the opening ceremony of the WCAA2020 International College Contest! As the first event of the “WCAA World E-sports Contest” series, this international university competition has two projects “Dota2” and “Peace Elite”, with a prize pool of up to RMB 1.92 million.
According to relevant information, the organizers of WCAA are Dalian Tianshen Entertainment Co., Ltd. and Dalian Jingsheng Technology Co., Ltd., Dalian Huayuankou Economic Zone Management Committee as the supporting unit, and Dalian Electronic Sports Association as the guide unit.
For the contestants, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Delhi University, Peter the Polytechnic University of St. Petersburg, British Columbia, etc. were invited from 5 countries, China, India, Russia, Canada, Malaysia, 20 prestigious universities, Participation of 100 “Student Ba” players
In terms of sponsorship, “Jingdong Games” has an exclusive title for this event. China UnionPay, Yunpai, Nature Hall, ASUS ROG, Siberia, Blood Hand Ghost, Pride, His Energy, Piaget, Kai 10 brands of Shili Winery sponsored the event, and the event was exclusively broadcast live on the Douyu platform.
From the prize money, organizers and supporters, participating players, and sponsored companies, on the one hand, the WCAA2020 International College Competition isThe WCAA series started well, on the other hand, it also highlights that third-party events are becoming an increasingly indispensable part of Chinese e-sports.
The significance of WCG
When it comes to third-party events, WCG has to be mentioned in the history of Chinese e-sports.
In 2000, WCG was born under the impetus of Samsung Display. At that time, the era of e-sports, including the entire PC game, had just begun. WCG’s emergence gave PC games a stage.
WCG has advertised the E-sports Olympic Games since its launch. In that era when e-sports events were scarce and lacking in standards, WCG also quickly gained a foothold with its professional business philosophy, and its influence is growing. This is especially true for the Chinese e-sports market.
A most typical case is that when we mentioned the title of “China’s first e-sports player”, it belonged to Li Xiaofeng (SKY). The reason for this is that Sky was on the WCG for two consecutive years in 2005 and 2006 Won the champion of the “Warcraft 3” project, lighting the first fire for Chinese e-sports of that era.
At that time, almost all possible e-sports projects were targeted at WCG promotion, and all professional players were also aiming to win at WCG.
After many years, we will review Sky ’s two consecutive WCG championships. It is of great significance to the development of Chinese e-sports. Perhaps without the championship won by Sky, the development of China ’s e-sports will also be Kangzhuang Avenue. “Without that championship, there will be no Chinese e-sports at this time.”
The important significance is that it has laid a seed for the Chinese e-sports industry, allowing more people to begin to adhere to their dreams of e-sports, whether it is a dream of a professional player or a dream of engaging in industry chain related work. This dream has developed into a towering tree today, and many practitioners in the e-sports industry have been baptized by WCG.
This is the significance of WCG for Chinese e-sports, and also the significance of third-party events for Chinese e-sports. In a wild era, WCG provides a best stage for Chinese e-sports.
Vendor-led, third-party events go to dusk
However, this hugely influential event was finally announced after the final event was held in 2013, and it was not held until another year.
Why is WCG suspended? There are many reasons, such as the event leaderThe door changed from Samsung display to Samsung mobile phone, and the focus of Samsung mobile phone is no longer on PC competitive games. For example, the PC market gradually began to show saturation in 2012 and 2013. Previously, WCG sponsors, Intel and Logitech also divested their capital. Wait.
Among these many reasons, it must be mentioned that game manufacturers have begun to pay attention to the business of e-sports events. As a result, popular projects have begun to enter the era dominated by the manufacturers themselves. The gold content of vertical events has been greatly reduced.
Since 2008, with the launch of “Crossfire”, Tencent actively sent “Crossfire” to the WCG stage. On the other hand, it established its own tournament system. This system is the “Hundred City League” “.
In the beginning of 2009, the “Hundred Cities League” officially started. The competition lasted 6 months and covered more than 150 cities in 23 provinces across the country. With the promotion of the “WCG Finals” main line, a total of 12 places in 7 Olympiad Divisions will qualify for the WCG General In the final, the total number of participating teams exceeded 15,000 and the total number of participants exceeded 150,000.
After the Hundred Cities League, the “CF Champions Cup”, “Online Challenge”, and “All-Star Game” were released one after another. In 2012, the “CFPL” professional league was officially launched, followed by the “CFS” global general manager. finals.
In the early days, logging in to WCG was very important for Crossing the Fire, but after CFPL and CFS, the significance of WCG was also dispensable for Crossing the Fire.
The same situation is also happening in “League of Legends”. In 2011, “League of Legends” first entered the WCG stage, and in 2013 again appeared on the WCG project list.
But unlike “Crossfire”, “League of Legends” has entered the WCG on the one hand, on the other hand, it has also started the S series in 2011, and in 2013, launched LPL in China.
In fact, the situation has begun to change slowly around 2010. It is not surprising that WCG will be shut down in 2013.
Third-party events have become an integral part
On the basis of the suspension of WCG, in the face of today’s LPL, KPL, S series, Ti series and other big single events led by the manufacturers themselves, for WCAA, for third-party comprehensive events In terms of