Promoting Chinese eSports to global stage
A big name in China's eSports industry, Zheng Duo has his sights set on the rest of the world.
Zheng, co-founder of VSPO, a leading eSports event operator in Asia, has spent years working to make Chinese eSports heard on the global stage.
Shortly after co-founding VSPO, which was originally known as VSPN, it formed partnerships with many of the world's major eSports events, including the CFPL (Crossfire Professional League) and the LPL (League of Legends) Professional League.
It has also expanded its operations internationally.
The VSPO Overseas Business Department was established in 2018 to cover business in Asia, Europe and the Americas, as well as to provide customized services for well-known game publishers such as Tencent, Riot Games, Garena, Supercell, Bluehole, Lilith and EA.
Notably, VSPO established a branch in South Korea the same year. Its V.SPACE eSports center opened in Seoul two years later.
VSPO has launched a number of large-scale international eSports events in over ten cities around the world in recent years, including Oakland, California, Berlin, Germany, Seoul, South Korea, Bangkok and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Zheng says that eSports events have become an important way to share Chinese culture and bring people from different cultures together.
VSPO also contributes to the development of eSports in the Greater Bay Area, with Zheng serving as a go-between.
Macau has hosted a number of eSports events in recent years, including the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Asia Invitational PAI.
Zheng considered deepening cooperation between Shanghai and Macau through VSPO after being invited to teach eSports at the Macau University of Science and Technology.
There's a special eSports internship program to help young Macau graduates get internships in Shanghai eSports companies.
The program began in October of last year and ended in January of this year.
It offered 30 different positions, including event execution, director assistant, assistant OB, and others that covered the entire eSports industry chain.
More than 200 Macau youths from the University of Macau, Macau Polytechnic University, Ji'nan University, and other institutions volunteered to take part in this special project.
Through the internship, they gain an in-depth understanding of the production of top-tier domestic and international events, contacts with leading eSports players, and the co-creation of full ecological commercial content, allowing them to quickly master the work skills and abilities of eSports-related positions.
They were expected to help with the landing and development of international eSports competitions in Macau and even the Greater Bay Area once they returned.
Zheng revealed that the second year of the project will begin this year in May.
He also trains more young people to be professionals in this field.
He is a visiting professor at the Communication University of China's School of Animation and Digital Art, where he created an eSports-related major and developed an entire eSports education curriculum system.
He compiled "Introduction to eSports," the first professional textbook.