Barcelona Ready to Dive into Esports World, Collaboration with Tencent for League of Legends Content

Spanish football club FC Barcelona has announced that it will establish a strategic partnership with China’s largest gaming and technology conglomerate, Tencent.

This collaboration is Barcelona’s initiative to expand in the e-sports business (esports), one of the fastest growing global industries in recent years. Despite the visible economic impact of the COVID pandemic, the esports market continues to grow and generate revenues of around USD 1.05 billion this year.

However, this is not the first time Barcelona has explored the world of esports. Prior to the collaboration, this soccer club already had two esports teams that had competed in the Rocket League from Psynoix and eFootball PES 2020 from Konami.

According to Barcelona, this collaboration with Tencent will develop and build an esports existence for the soccer organization. This collaboration will bring “a future of esports tournaments, esports education, and industry exchange, with the aim of exploring the full range of potential between esports and traditional sports.”

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According to reports from millennium.gg, earlier this year, Josep Maria Bartomeu as President of the Barcelona club was indeed planning to enter the esports market through cooperation with large esports properties in China. But in an effort to expand his esports footprint, Bartomeu stressed that Barcelona will not participate in games that contain realistic violence, such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Games like League of Legends, which focus more on teamwork and strategy, is one of Barca’s main options.

This collaboration with Tencent is certainly the Barcelona club’s first step in developing their esports business in China. As the biggest company in China’s (and the world’s) esports industry, Tencent owns Riot Games, 83 percent of Clash Royale, 40 percent of Fortinite, and more.

What do you think? After Tencent’s second collaboration with Barcelona, what surprises will be presented next?

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