During the Tencent Esports Global Summit, Steven Liang, the general manager of Tencent’s LightSpeed-S Studio, and head of Peacekeeper Elite, detailed the company’s Peacekeeper Elite esports plans for China on the main stage.
Four key highlights from the presentation about the Peacekeeper Elite franchise league—Peace Elite League (PEL)—are worth noting during his presentation.
PEL has signed a three-year strategic partnership deal with China Mobile. China Mobile’s live streaming platform Migu will have media rights to broadcast PEL, and all PEL teams and players will also make content on Migu.
PEL has added heart rate detectors for players taking part in competitions, and audiences will be able to see this data (player’s heart rate) during the broadcast. Liang believed it was a new and first of its kind interaction between players and audiences.
PEL has opened access for foreign players (whose nationality is not Chinese) to play in the league. Wolves Esports, the esports arm of the English Premier League team Wolverhampton Wanderers, also joined PEL.
International events for Peacekeeper Elite this year will include the Peacekeeper Elite World Championship (PEC), Riyadh Masters, and Hangzhou Asian Games, according to Liang. In addition, the PEL Summer Split Finals will be held at Shanghai Oriental Sports Center, featuring a ￥11.24M RMB ($1.56M USD) total prize pool.
Peacekeeper Elite is the official esports title of Riyadh Masters and Hangzhou Asian Games. Like CrossFire, PEL is also centralized within the Chinese city of Chengdu, and currently has four partners including McDonald’s, OnePlus, Stride, and TT Voice.
