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China fails to reach world’s biggest esports tournament finals for first time since 2018, disappointing fans at home

  • The JDG team, backed by e-commerce giant JD.com, on Saturday lost 1-3 against South Korea’s T1 team in their best-of-five semi-final match
  • That defeat proved a big letdown for Chinese esports fans, who expected JDG to go all the way to the 2022 League of Legends World Championship finals

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Fans wave inflatable batons during the League of Legends World Championship semi-final match between JD Gaming and T1 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on October 29, 2022. Photo: Agence France-Presse
Ann Caoin Shanghai
China has failed to reach the finals of the League of Legends World Championship, the esports industry’s biggest tournament, for the first time since 2018, triggering an outpouring of disappointment online among Chinese video gaming fans.
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The JD Gaming (JDG) team, backed by Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, on Saturday lost 1-3 against South Korea’s T1 team in their 2022 League Worlds best-of-five semi-final match held in the United States, at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. T1 advanced to the finals that will be held on November 5 in San Francisco, where the winning team will get to hoist the coveted Summoner’s Cup trophy and a pool prize money of US$2.225 million.
“Our Season 12 journey comes to an end here,” the JDG team said in a statement posted in English on Twitter and in Chinese on domestic microblogging service Weibo. “Unfortunately, we failed to be the ‘chosen one’ … Nobody wanted to win the ticket to the next round more than we did.”
The last Chinese esports team to make it to the tournament finals was Shanghai-based Edward Gaming, which beat South Korean defending champion DWG Kia to win the 2021 League Worlds title in Reykjavik, capital of Iceland, last November. China’s FunPlus Phoenix and Invictus Gaming won the League Worlds title in 2019 and 2018, respectively.
Members of the JD Gaming team are seen at their match against South Korea’s T1 during the League of Legends World Championship semi-finals held at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on October 29, 2022. Photo: Agence France-Presse
Members of the JD Gaming team are seen at their match against South Korea’s T1 during the League of Legends World Championship semi-finals held at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on October 29, 2022. Photo: Agence France-Presse
JDG was formed in 2017 after JD.com acquired the roster and spot of the QG Reapers team in the League of Legends Pro League (LPL), China’s top-level professional esports tournament owned by Tencent Holdings. The LPL playoffs’ top-three finishers get automatic berths at the group stage of the League Worlds, while the fourth seed from LPL enters through an earlier play-in stage.
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After winning the 2022 LPL Summer tournament, JDG took part in the 2022 League Worlds alongside Chinese rivals Top Esports, Edward Gaming and Royal Never Give Up. The League Worlds, founded by Riot Games in 2011, started this year on September 29, with 24 teams from around the world competing in matches held in multiple cities across the US and Mexico.
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