China's e-sports market has great prospect on fast-growing demand: business insider

NEW YORK - China's booming e-sports market is expected to continue on a strong growth trajectory, propelled by robust demand, a business insider said.

"China has a huge e-sports market and a tremendous user base," Chen Shaojie, founder and CEO of DouYu International Holdings, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"The industry will expand further as a growing number of gamers in China are interested in competitions between players," he added.

Founded in 2014, DouYu is a leading live e-sports streaming platform in China. It ranked first among China's game-centric live streaming platforms during the first quarter of 2019, in terms of average total monthly active users and average total daily time spent by active users, according to consulting firm iResearch.

E-sports, a form of competition through multi-player video games with online functionality, has evolved into one of the most popular game genres given its high demand of dexterity, foresight and strategy.

Chen said that China's e-sports players are high-quality users with fervent desire to acquire thorough knowledge about the games via live-streaming, which also made him confident about his company's future development.

The company made its debut on the Nasdaq last week, expecting to raise about 775 million U.S. dollars, the largest IPO (initial public offering) by a Chinese firm in the United States so far this year.

"It is an effective way to raise game level and a good leisure entertainment to enjoying e-sports through live broadcast. I think the industry has great potential in the future given the enlarging gamer population," said the Chinese entrepreneur.

China's games market is becoming increasingly e-sports-based and the nation has been developing itself toward a global leader in the industry, according to industrial reports.

China's e-sports gamers as a percentage of overall gamer population increased from 19.4 percent in 2015 to 51.3 percent in 2018, and are expected to reach 57.4 percent by 2023, which will be higher than that of any other major games markets in the world, according to iResearch.

China is set to overtake the United States as the highest-earning e-Sports country in 2019, a separate report by e-sports prediction company BetHut revealed.

Chen also noted that China's e-sports industry is poised for long-term and stable development, bolstered by favorable programs from institutions and policies from authorities.

To accommodate the increased interest, many Chinese colleges have opened e-sports related courses focused on supporting and cultivating talents, as well as management, event operation and broadcasting.

Earlier this year, China officially recognized "e-sports operator" and "e-sports player" as two new professions in the country.