China building world's first video game stadium

Chris Morris
League of Legends live events are watched by millions. (Credit: AP Phot/Mark J. Terril)

China is getting serious about eSports.

Located in the country's Guangdong province and off the coast of gambling paradise Macau, Hengqin Island will play host to a 15,000 seat arena designed specifically for competitive video game events.

The stadium will be the centerpiece of a $2.8 billion gaming theme park currently dubbed the 'V-Zone'. The first phase of the park's development is expected to be complete in 2017 and will cost roughly $480 million.

“We started with a blank sheet of paper, and we were looking for what would be the fastest-growing field in the world,” Chew Fook Aun, chairman of Lai Fung, which is overseeing development on the overall project, told Bloomberg. “The trends were with video gaming.”

Major League Gaming will run the stadium's operations, and events will be streamed on MLG.tv.

Games had to prove their merit, though. Other proposed themes included music and cars.

But gaming is huge in China. Over 500 million people in the country play video games, 145 million of which play for more than an hour a day, according to analysis firm EEDAR.

It’s just the latest sign that eSports is here to stay. Last year's League of Legends finals sold out the Staples Center in Los Angeles in just one hour, with scalpers commanding prices of up to $2,000 per seat soon afterward. Over 32 million tuned in at some point to watch the finals online.

Major League Gaming says it has seen a 1,376 percent increase in MLG.tv viewership in the first quarter of this year, with 60 percent month over month growth since the platform launched late last year.

“MLG has been at the forefront of the global eSports phenomenon for over a decade and we’re taking our leadership position to new heights with this expansion into the world’s fastest growing eSports market – China,” said Mike Sepso, President and co-founder. "This is yet another step in our plan to make eSports and MLG a part of mainstream culture worldwide.”

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