On June 17, the Jiangxi Shangrao Intermediate People’s Court issued an enforcement ruling against former League of Legends pro Liu “MLXG” Shiyu, ordering him to pay ¥25 million RMB ($3.48 million USD) in compensation to Royal Never Give-Up (RNG) following a contractual dispute. The judgment comes just one day before RNG’s operating company was itself ordered to pay ¥162 million ($22.5 million) in a separate case, as reported by TEA’s Chen Hongyu, highlighting a turbulent period for the once-dominant Chinese...

The Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court has mandated that Royal Never Give-Up (RNG) and its founder Yao “Baixing” Jincheng pay ¥162,118,224 RMB ($22.5 million USD) to an unnamed plaintiff, executing the order on June 18 according to public records reviewed by The Esports Advocate on Tianyancha—under the case number (2025) 沪01执1816号. Although the ruling does not specify the nature of the lawsuit, it represents the first in a series of at least 10 pending legal disputes against the organization—spanning alleged...

The Chengdu Sports Bureau, the official government body in charge of sports development and administration in the city, released a list of all sports/esports events in Chengdu, China,  for the second half of the year, and it showed that the BLAST Dota 2 Slam event will be held in Chengdu in November. The specific date of the event was not disclosed. The prize money for the previous BLAST Slam II in Copenhagen was $1 million USD. Tournament organizer BLAST has...

Chinese livestreaming platform Huya announced it will host the Immortal Cup, a Dota 2 tournament taking place June 14-15 at Suzhou’s Yang Cheng Hu Esports Center. The event features retired Chinese professional Dota 2 players and prominent streamers from both Huya and rival streaming platform Douyu, competing for a prize pool totaling ¥1 million RMB (approximately $140,000 USD). Notably, the 2,000-seat venue, home to League of Legends Pro League (LPL) team LNG Esports, saw tickets sell out within seven minutes,...

Chinese smartphone brand OnePlus announced this week that it has signed a strategic partnership with TJ Sports for its upcoming Valorant Mobile esports competitions and activities. TJ Sports is a joint venture of game developer Riot Games and its parent company Tencent Holdings. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bobby Jin, CEO of TJ Sports and Valorant Mobile China Publishing and esports director, made an appearance at OnePlus’ Ace 5 product launch event, and revealed more details: The...

Hero Esports, formerly VSPO, which operates China’s first Asian Champions League (ACL), has announced its partner lists for the event, as well as the DreamHack Shanghai, a part of ACL from May 16-18. It is also the first time DreamHack has come to China. ACL is a multi-title esports tournament that features a ¥15 million RMB ($2.04 million USD) total prize pool. It will include competitions for Dota 2, Counter-Strike 2, Teamfight Tactics, CrossFire, Honor of Kings, Delta Force, League...

Activision Blizzard and its Overwatch esports operator, ESL FACEIT Group announced that the first international Overwatch esports event - Overwatch Champions Clash, would take place at Hangzhou Esports Center from April 18-20. The event will feature eight esports teams qualified from Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS) Stage 1, including North American teams NTMR and Spacestation Gaming; and EMEA teams Virtus.pro, AI Qadsiah, Saudi Team Falcons; South Korean Crazy Raccoon; and two Chinese Overwatch teams (to be announced). In addition, the event...

European esports organization OG Esports announced on Saturday that it had established its first mobile esports division in Honor of Kings, and will represent the Western Europe region as a partner team for 2025. OG Esports Co-Founder Johan “Notail” Sundstein announced the news via OG Esports’ official X account. Sundstein is a former OG Dota 2 player and won Dota 2’s The International 2018 and 2019. He is also the highest prize money-earning player in esports history with $7.1M USD...

The Olympic Council of Asia has confirmed that the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, scheduled from September 9 to October 4, will feature 11 medal-contending esports titles. Curated Esports Lineup The esports titles selected span both Chinese and Japanese developers, with six games published by Chinese studios and five by Japanese studios. The roster includes: Competitive Martial Arts (Only one medal) Street Fighter Series (Capcom) Tekken Series (NAMCO BANDAI) King of Fighter Series (SNK and Nintendo) Pokemon UNITE (Tencent’s TiMi Studio...

Tencent announced that it has signed a strategic partnership with Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (Rednote) for China’s top Honor of Kings competition, King Pro League. Under the terms of this new partnership, Rednote will become one of the official streaming platforms alongside gaming-focused live streaming platform Douyu and Huya, as well as the official KPL network of communities. Financial terms of this new deal were not disclosed. It’s the first time that Rednote has signed a partnership within China’s...