Asia’s largest esports company, VSPO, has officially launched the esports Asian Champions League (ACL), an international multi-title esports tournament. Announced during a live event on September 24 at Shanghai’s INS Park, the company aims for ACL to become the most inclusive and diverse esports event in Asia.
A New Era for Asian Esports
Dino Ying, founder of VSPO, introduced the ACL with a vision of bringing together tens of thousands of athletes from across Asia in cutting-edge extended reality (XR) arenas. While the exact roster of ACL titles has yet to be disclosed, Jonny Wang, ACL’s new Chief Executive, said the new league aims to cover seven to 10 titles at launch. The inaugural season will last for about six months and will produce more than 300 million minutes of esports content for fans.
While based in Asia, the league has backing from Saudi Arabia and His Royal Highness, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan, (Vice Chairman of the Savvy Games Group) has been named Honorary Chairman of the ACL. “Asia is by far, when you talk about esports, the strongest region in the world,” he said. “With ACL, to be able to bring and unite all these players together and bring them under one tournament is truly fantastic.”
Expanding Esports Accessibility
With XR-enabled gaming arenas across key Asian cities like Shanghai, Seoul, and Kuala Lumpur, ACL aims to transform the esports experience. Jonny Wang, ACL’s new Chief Executive, shared the goal of expanding regional rivalries, creating more opportunities for teams throughout the year.
“A key focus of ACL is to create more opportunities for top teams from different Asian countries to compete throughout the year,” he said. “More high-stake regional rivalries are something that fans would love to see and what we want to deliver through ACL.”
Creating Industry Standards
With more competitors and organizations getting involved in esports, VSPO is also taking steps to ensure that ACL will become the blueprint for establishing industry standards. Dino Ying, VSPO’s founder, said the long-term vision for ACL is to have its stages completely digitally constructed. Entrusted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to provide industry standards for esports, ACL will establish a benchmark for what future cloud-based, virtual, immersive sporting tournaments should look like.
“ACL will elevate Asian esports to new heights,” Ying said. As esports becomes a widely recognized form of sports thanks to its success at the Asian Games, the Olympic Esports Week and the Esports World Cup, we believe that international multi-title esports tournaments represent the future for esports, and ACL marks a commitment to that future.”
No Stranger to Esports
Although the ACL will be a newcomer to the universe of esports, VSPO has already established itself in the industry. Since its founding in 2016, the firm has grown to be the biggest esports company in Asia, producing more than 7,000 matches every year watched by an online audience that numbers over 800 million.
Operating from its headquarters in Shanghai with offices in a dozen countries, VSPO has already produced esports tournaments including the Olympic Esports Week, the Esports World Cup as well as the esports series featured at both the Jakarta Asian Games 2018 and the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023.
Investing in the Future
Developing the new technologies to make the ACL a reality will not be cheap, but VSPO and its partners appear prepared to shoulder the cost. According to reporting by the South China Morning Post, Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group invested $265 million in 2023.
Bin Sultan said the investment would pay off with the completion of VSPO’s “Skyring” arenas which will fundamentally change they way esports competitors will face off in the future. “To be able to do something to bring and unite all these players together, we want to do it in a way where they don’t have to jump on a plane and travel … but to give them a chance to do this in an easier way that can really take a step forward as a regional competition,” he said.
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