(Chinese Version)

　　“How is that possible for a team that had seven consecutive wins in the King Pro League (KPL) spring season to lose control over the match and get a headcount ration of 7:0?” 26-year-old Fanfan said angrily.

　　Fanfan is a typical young fan of Tencent’s big mobile game hit Honor of Kings, who got the e-sports event ticket through the mini game of Honor of Kings.

　　On April 15th, professional game club XQ competed with GQhappy. The first round of the competition took 12 minutes and 28 seconds and ended with a 13:1. The rather large score gap disappointed the QGhappy’s supporters.

　　Luckily, the next two rounds were as “dramatic” as the first one. In the end, QGhappy turned the tide at 2:1 and achieved eight consecutive wins. To date, QGhappy has had 15 consecutive wins.

　　Tencent’s Honor of Kings has become a phenomenal game. In the game, players’ goal is to eliminate the crystals in the other team’s base. The game went popular for its fast-pace game play, perse game characters and short game play per round (around 20 minutes), etc. It’s estimated that the game has accumulated 200 million players, or let’s say, fans, in China.

　　The fan economy is development is still in the early phase

　　At the competition venue where XQ was competing against QGhappy, Tencent’s staff interviewed Fanfan for a survey involving the acceptable price range of the regular seasons, playoffs, and finals of the KPL live event. According to Fanfan, the ticket price for regular seasons should be below ￥50, the playoffs should be around ￥50 - ￥100, and the finals should be around ￥100 - ￥300. “I would watch it if the regular season is around ￥50. It’s like watching a movie,” Fanfan told TMTPost.

　　However, he criticized that the commentators of Honor of Kings weren’t professional. “When you watch League of Legends Pro League, the commentators almost make zero mistake. But the commentators of the Honor of Kings make several mistakes during each match. It really affects the whole experience,” Fanfan said, commenting that the match he watched today only got a 3.0 score rating from him.

　　In other sports realms, basketball players for example, their fans would pay ￥300 to ￥1500 for their customized basketball shoes. But such phenomenon is not common in the e-sports sector. Fanfan told TMTPost that he wouldn’t buy the fan merchandise from the club or player he liked despite he admired them for being hardworking.

　　The 21-year-old audience Shasha expressed the same view: “I wouldn’t spend money on the fan merchandise. I am just not that into them.” It’s apparent that the fans haven’t become a business driver here. “It’s ￥50. Why not just use it to watch a game?” Shasha said.

　　She told TMTPost that she personally prefers Xiaozhu from sViper, Xiaoyu from eSta, and Chengui from ASxiange. TMTPost learned that these players shared a common feature: outstanding appearance. In fact, Shasha asked to take photos with a good looking player after the XQ VS QGhappy match.

　　When asked about if she supported any specific team, Shasha expressed that she had no preference and that she only liked some inpidual players instead of the whole team. But for the teams, winning the championship in the KPL is essential. And for inpiduals, the championship is an indicator of their performance as professional players. It’s like Kevin Durant having no choice but joined Golden State Warriors in pursuit of the championship.

　　KPL Trophy

　　So what are differences between professional e-sports players and traditional celebrities? Why do they take photos with their fans like that of celebrities and their fans?

　　They are a team, not celebrities, Shasha said. From her point of view, they are not considered as idols. “They are people who are really good at games,” 22-year-old Wenwen added.

　　It’s apparent that the connection between fans and professional players is still weak, which explains the weak fan economy here.

　　At present, e-sports clubs, live-stream platforms and e-sports event organizers are actively making strategies on representing professional players and the greater entertainment businesses, exploring consumption scenes and stimulating the consumption demand of the fans so as to boost the fan economy.

　　Happy Share Café’s owner Fengcheng told TMTPost that they played the live show of Honor of Kings in his café because he personally liked playing the game and that his customers also tended to be interested in the game. But he hasn’t had any further business ideas concerning this.

　　We have Stephen Curry in basketball, Lionel Messi in football, Ruofeng and MISS in League of Legends, but we still don’t have a representing figure in Honor of Kings. It’s known to all that mobile games have rather short life cycle despite having been enhanced from the 12 months in the past. Mobile games target audiences aged between 10 to 40, which is considered as a healthy structure. Tencent, the Chinese Internet giant that wants to build up an e-sports industry single-handed, still has to figure out ways to alter fans’ perception within the mobile game life cycle, build up player IP, and forge a complete fan economy chain. This is no doubt an incredibly hard obstacle for Tencent to tackle.

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