New game and better lineup for Shanghai E-Sports Masters

Top eSports teams and players from China and overseas are again gathered in Shanghai for the 2024 Shanghai E-Sports Masters.

The five-day event, which is being held at the Jing'an Sports Center through December 8, has set the four competition games of Honor of Kings, Valorant, Naraka: Bladepoint, and Street Fighter 6.

For the Honor of Kings, the King Pro League sent eight teams featuring most of the league's main players. The emerging game Valorant involved the new world champion EDG and the Asia-Pacific powerhouse PRX from Singapore.

People can buy tickets through online vendor damai.cn.

The seat layout of Jing'an Sports Center's indoor stadium has been adjusted for this year's competition, allowing 2,000 spectators for each game.

While eSports competitions have always been dominated by game manufacturers, the Shanghai Masters, launched in 2019, has gradually established its own brand value over the past five years.

"As a third-party competition hosted by the government, we were initially inferior to commercial competitions of a single manufacturer or game in terms of prize money and attention," said Zhu Qinqin, secretary general of Shanghai eSports Association.

"After these years, we have gradually gained recognition and support from game manufacturers," he said.

Zhu said that over 10 games have sent applications for this year's Shanghai Masters. Due to the length of the tournament, four were selected for their lineup, the impact of the game, and the hardware requirements.

Zhu also explained the social value of a third-party competition such as the Shanghai Masters.

"In order to achieve the goal of building Shanghai into China's eSports capital, we need more events other than manufacturer competitions so that more people can learn about and understand eSports," Zhu said.

"The district government departments have participated to help with communication and liaison, so as to integrate city resources and better develop eSports."

Jing'an District is known as the cradle of Shanghai's eSports industry. Aside from the establishment of the Shanghai Masters, the district also launched the development of the Lingshi Road as the core of China's eSports, followed by the release of a series of favorable policies and programs.

The 2024 Shanghai E-Sports Masters tickets are available on www.damai.cn.

If you go:

Venue: Jing'an Sports Center 靜安體育中心體育館

Address: 116 Wenshui Rd 汶水路116號

Tickets: 68-258 yuan