Chinese Tournament Operator VSPN Rebrands to VSPO

Picturd: Snapdragon Global VP Mingjuan Hou (left) and VSPO Senior VP Yang You shake hands at recent signing ceremony. Credit: VSPO

VSPN, one of China’s biggest esports tournament organizers, has rebranded to VSPO. On Feb. 2, Snapdragon signed a partnership deal with VSPO for Honor of Kings esports, becoming the official Chinese partner of King Pro League (KPL), Honor of Kings Challenger Cup, and Honor of Kings International Championship (KIC).

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

VSPO Senior Vice President Yang You signed the contract along with Snapdragon Global Vice President Mingjuan Hou at a signing ceremony, where the new name was first featured on the background wall (pictured above).

The company did not disclose publicly the reasoning behind this rebranding, but a source
from VSPO (who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the matter) told The Esports Advocate that the company changed its name because it wanted to differentiate itself from “ESPN,” (which the company felt was too similar to) and that the “O” actually does not have a specific meaning, but VSPO is a part of “vsports.” VSPO’s official Twitter account has also been changed to VSPO.

VSPO is recognized as one of China’s biggest esports production companies, as it has hosted competitions for multiple esports titles including Honor of Kings, Peacekeeper Elite, CrossFire, and PUBG in the past. It also has venues in Shanghai, Xi’an, Chengdu, and Seoul, South Korea. From 2020 to 2021, VSPO raised over $160M USD in a Series B funding round (led by Tencent Holdings), Series B+ (led by Prospect Avenue Capital) and Series 2B (led by Morgan Stanley).