Hero Asia Champions League debuts as Shanghai cements esports role

摘要： by Fan YichengHeld from May 16 to 18 across three major venu...

by Fan Yicheng

Held from May 16 to 18 across three major venues—Oriental Sports Center, Jing’an Sports Center, and the National Exhibition and Convention Center—the ACL drew more than 10,000 players from 1,200 teams competing in nine events, including Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, League of Legends, Honor of Kings, Valorant, and Street Fighter 6. The total prize pool reached 15 million yuan (US$2.1 million), and the event was expected to attract over 80,000 on-site spectators and more than 40 million online viewers.

ACL venue Oriental Sports Center.
Photo by Fan Yicheng

Organized by Shanghai-based Hero Esports, the ACL is the first third-party-hosted international comprehensive esports event in Asia. It also marked a significant shift from game publisher-led events, offering a new model with broader game coverage and a stronger emphasis on esports as a recognized form of competitive sport.

"Only in Shanghai can you feel the atmosphere of so many top-tier global esports events," said Lin Zhiyu, a long-time fan, while attending a Counter-Strike 2 match on the first day of the finals.

According to Zhu Qinqin, secretary general of the Shanghai Electronic Sports Association, the ACL's format is a rare and pioneering attempt. "Unlike publisher-driven tournaments focused on game promotion, this format covers diverse genres and is geared more toward public recognition of esports as a sport," she told Jiemian News. "In the long run, such events will strengthen Shanghai's esports ecosystem and global competitiveness."

Counter-Strike 2 competition at ACL.
Photo by Fan Yicheng

The ACL also partnered with DreamHack, a global gaming festival that co-hosted some final matches at the National Exhibition Center. Another highlight of the event was its alignment with the Esports World Cup (EWC), scheduled for 2025. Sixteen winning teams from ACL competitions will qualify directly for the EWC, which is currently the world’s largest international esports tournament, with prize money expected to exceed US$70 million this year.

The collaboration reflects the close ties between Hero Esports and the Saudi esports industry. In 2023, Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group, a subsidiary of sovereign wealth fund PIF, invested 1.8 billion yuan (US$250 million) in Hero Esports, becoming its largest outside shareholder.

Speaking to Jiemian News in Shanghai, Saudi Prince Faisal bin Bandar Al Saud, president of the International Esports Federation and vice-chairman of Savvy, praised the ACL for opening the door to a broader range of players, including university and grassroots teams. "We want to give all talented players a chance to compete on the global stage," he said.

Saudi Prince Faisal bin Bandar Al Saud, president of the International Esports Federation and vice-chairman of Savvy.

Faisal noted that last year’s Esports World Cup drew more than 500 million viewers globally, with over 250 million viewing hours, nearly half from China. He added that this year’s tournament will expand partnerships with Chinese game developers and feature more Chinese-language content.

Hero Esports CEO and co-founder Wang Xinyang said Shanghai's strengths in venue infrastructure, operations, and audience engagement made it the only viable host for ACL. "We’ve held events in many cities, but only Shanghai gave us the confidence to launch something this ambitious," he told Jiemian News.

Founded in 2016, Hero Esports has organized major events such as the Hangzhou Asian Games esports segment, the King Pro League (KPL), and Olympic Esports Games. With ACL, the company is aiming to build an independent commercial model for multi-game esports competitions. Wang acknowledged the pressure of launching such an initiative but said the team was "excited to create a new IP that belongs to the city."

Wang said he hopes to turn ACL into a Shanghai esports fixture akin to the city’s iconic marathon. "Big events like the CS2 Major or LoL World Championship rotate locations. Shanghai has hosted them, but there's no guarantee they will return," he said. "ACL is something we can keep here."

Shanghai has steadily built its esports credentials. Last year, it became the first city to host all three of the world’s top-tier esports championships. According to data from Gamma Data, the city held over 2,300 esports events in 2024, drawing 2.31 million offline spectators. Industry revenue reached 6.13 billion yuan (US$847 million), with esports tournaments contributing 1.115 billion yuan—nearly 47% of China’s total.

In Huangpu Riverside, two dedicated arenas—the KPL Esports Center and Valorant Arena—have opened since 2023. The KPL Center, completed in just over four months, seats 1,200 and hosts the world’s top mobile esports league, which now boasts over 100 million unique viewers.

The city’s latest esports policy blueprint calls for cultivating local IP tournaments, expanding industry revenue beyond 8 billion yuan by 2026, and reinforcing Shanghai’s status as a global esports hub.

For Hero Esports, establishing ACL as a permanent fixture in Shanghai could serve as the final puzzle piece in that vision—a homegrown IP tournament that turns the city into not just a host, but a symbol of global esports leadership.