Image courtesy of IeSF
The multi-billion dollar Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, has announced that they will begin investing in eSports. Their sports branch, Alibaba Sports Group, which was established late last year, has announced that it will be partnering with the International eSports Federation (IeSF).
They claimed that their ultimate goal in this “exclusive strategic partnership” is to expand the global recognition of eSports as a legitimate sport. Together, the two companies will create both amateur and professional eSports tournaments, establish eSports as growing sports worldwide, and create an IP with no details disclosed as of yet.
Alisports have also disclosed that with the endorsement of IeSF, they will be reviving the old World Cyber Games tournament and will launch 1,200 events across 15 cities in China this year. The tournament is advertised to have a prize pool of more than $5.5 million which will be provided by more than $149 million in investments.
On top of reviving old tournaments, Alisports also plans to build eSports-exclusive stadiums across china in an effort to make eSports “a way of life.” Through this they hope that not only will people think differently of eSports, but also that this will attract eSports players from all corners of the world to one dedicated venue.
The CEO of Alisports, Mr. Zhang Dazhong has claimed that Alisports and IeSF are also looking into “pushing [eSports] into the Olympic Games.” They plan to do this by “preparing documentation to submit to International Olympic Committee (IOC)”, due to being approved as a big part of eSports by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
This not only seems like a big step forward for bringing eSports into the mainstream but also like a very big commitment by the two companies. It will be very interesting to see whether the two can bring to the table all they have promised or if they will fall short and provide nothing whatsoever.
