During the Honor of Kings World Championship Grand Final on Saturday at Beijing, China’s National Stadium (The Bird’s Nest), Tencent announced that the event had reached a Guinness World Record of the largest attendance for an esports event – 62,196 attendees. The announcement was made in the presence of Guinness staff, who were on hand to confirm the milestone.
The Honor of Kings World Championship features a total prize pool of ¥70 million RMB ($982,000 USD), with the winner taking home ¥20 million ($280,000 USD), and the FMVP player receiving exclusive in-game cosmetics.
On Oct. 30, Tencent announced that the Honor of Kings World Championship Grand Final tickets sold out in 12 seconds. The grandstand tickets have three tiers and are priced at ¥488 ($69), ¥688 ($96), and ¥888 ($124), while the inner field tickets range from ¥1,288 – ¥2,088 ($180 – $293).
The Bird’s Nest has a seating capacity of 80,000, and the venue hosted the League of Legends World Championship 2017, one of the most significant esports events in history. Sources close to the venue and Riot Games told The Esports Advocate that the attendees were around 40,000.
In addition to the Honor of Kings World Championship, China also has two more major esports events this weekend—the League of Legends World Championship Grand Final (Worlds 25 Grand Finals) and Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) in Chengdu.