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China’s answer to Ninja fined US$7 million for switching streaming platforms
Haishi made US$1.5 million in less than a year by streaming Honor of Kings
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This article originally appeared on ABACUS
Streaming games online is big business. Proof? Playing Fortnite was making American streamer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins more than US$500,000 a month earlier this year.
The same thing is happening in China. Haitao “Haishi” Jiang made more than US$1.5 million in less than a year on streaming platform Huya by playing Honor of Kings, known as Arena of Valor in the West.
Arena of Valor, China’s mobile League of Legends, is aiming to be the world’s go-to mobile esport
But apparently, despite that mind-bogglingly fat paycheck, the then 19-year-old had other ideas. He decided to switch over to rival streaming platform Douyu.
Huya then took it to court, which issued a US$7 million fine to Haishi for knowingly violating its contract with Huya. Haishi tried to appeal the court’s ruling but was unsuccessful.
Unlike in the US where Twitch is undisputed market leader, China’s streaming business is still seeing a number of companies ferociously battling for more eyeballs. It was reported last year that China had more than 100 live-streaming platforms.
Josh joined the Post in 2016 to cover politics and business in mainland China and Hong Kong. Since 2018, he has covered China's emerging tech sector. Having graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in English and philosophy, he is now pursuing a master's degree in law at the University of Hong Kong.
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