Esports clubs are teaming up with Twitch-like streaming sites to enter China

TSM said it will develop a base in China by 2020 while Team Liquid signed a deal with Huya

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Team Liquid, which has won the last three NA LCS titles, revealed its fancy training facility last year. (Picture: Team Liquid)

Josh Ye

Published: 9:48pm, 11 Jul 2019Updated: 9:08am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Gaming is serious business, as any esports team could tell you. That’s why expansion is important, and why the largest esports teams in the world are now taking a hard look at China.

The world’s second most valuable esports club, Team SoloMid (TSM), said that it will develop a base in China by 2020. The announcement comes just a month after the third most valuable team, Team Liquid, signed a partnership with Huya, a Chinese game streaming site likened to Twitch.

TSM has “major plans in 2020 to develop a base and also pick up teams and players in China,” group CEO Andy Dinh said at Hong Kong’s RISE conference on Wednesday.

Dinh didn’t reveal any potential business partners, but he indicated the group would be making a big play in China, the most significant gaming market outside the US.

“From a content perspective, we are going to plan to subtitle or basically translate all our content shortly,” he said. “[China is] definitely a major market for us.”

It’s not clear what TSM’s move into China will look like, but Team Liquid did it by signing an exclusive streaming deal with Huya. The team’s livestreamed content on the popular Chinese platform will include real-time translation.

Andy Dinh (left) has turned TSM into a North American esports powerhouse, being the only team to qualify for all of the first ten North America League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS) Finals. (Picture: TSM)