Setting a New Paradigm for International Competition

SHANGHAI, Sept. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Asia's biggest esports company VSPO today unveiled the Esports Asian Champions League (ACL), Asia's premier international, multi-title esports tournament.

The new tournament will embody the ethos of "ACL for Everyone." ACL is a paradigm-defining tournament which will be the region's most diverse, and accessible esports event to date. VSPO expects tens of thousands of athletes to compete to be Asia's best in a fleet of next-generation extended reality (XR) gaming arenas across the continent for a 6-month season every year.

Dino Ying, founder of VSPO, announced the upcoming esports league on Tuesday at the famous INS Park in Shanghai, marking a new chapter for esports in Asia. The announcement ceremony was attended by HRH Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan, Vice Chairman of the Savvy Games Group, and Mr. Ng Ser Miang, Vice President of International Olympic Committee (IOC). HRH Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan will also be the Honorary Chairman of the new league.

VSPO created the concept of the ACL as well as being the founding member. The league will be run by the newly assembled Asia Champions League Foundation, which will have its own management. Jonny Wang, VSPO's co-founder, will be the new Chief Executive of ACL while Xie Fan, another VSPO co-founder, will take up the role of President.

ACL is also a partner of the Esports World Cup (EWC). Currently, VSPO and the EWC are jointly evaluating which games and how ACL can be aligned with the Global EWC Qualifications for 2025. While the exact roster of titles that the ACL will feature remains undisclosed, Wang said the new league aims to cover 7 to 10 titles at launch. The inaugural season will last for about six months and will produce more than 300 million minutes of esports content for fans.

With a fleet of transformative XR-enabled gaming arenas spread across Asia, ACL will make international esports tournaments more accessible than ever. This innovative tournament will, for the first time in esports history, allow athletes of key titles from one country to compete with rivals in other countries in the cloud, with unprecedented ease as well as AI-powered immersiveness.

VSPO released a concept video of the tournament at the event. In the concept video, esports athletes, by entering one of VSPO's many "Skyring" arenas located at the hearts of multiple top-tier Asian cities including Shanghai, Seoul and Kuala Lumpur, are digitally teleported to a colossal virtual stadium to play in front of millions of live audience as if they were physically together.

The long-term vision for ACL is to have its stages completely digitally constructed. Entrusted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to provide industry standards for esports under ISO/NP25094-1, ACL will establish a benchmark for what future cloud-based, virtual, immersive sporting tournaments should look like.

HRH Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan said: "Asia is by far, when you talk about esports, the strongest region in the world. With ACL, to be able to bring and unite all these players together and bring them under one tournament is truly fantastic."

Dino Ying said: "ACL will elevate Asian esports to new heights. As esports becomes a widely recognized form of sports thanks to its success at the Asian Games, the Olympic Esports Week and the Esports World Cup, we believe that international multi-title esports tournaments represent the future for esports, and ACL marks a commitment to that future."

Jonny Wang said: "A key focus of ACL is to create more opportunities for top teams from different Asian countries to compete throughout the year. More high-stake regional rivalries are something that fans would love to see and what we want to deliver through ACL."

Xie Fan said: "We have always pursued the aim of turning esports into a lifestyle. With that in mind, ACL has been working with our international partners like the EWC to create top-tier esports content for fans year-round."

About VSPO

Founded in 2016, VSPO is the biggest esports company in Asia, producing more than 7,000 matches every year that captivate an online fan base of over 800 million. With a global presence encompassing 14 office locations and 8 top-tier esports arenas, VSPO offers a comprehensive suite of esports services, including tournament organization, marketing solutions, community development, and more. As a private company, VSPO counts Savvy Games Group and Tencent, among others, as investors, with Kuaishou and Huya as strategic partners.

Headquartered in Shanghai with offices and teams based in a dozen countries, VSPO is a fully integrated operator of esports tournaments and creator of esports content with global reach. We have produced many prestigious tournaments including the Olympic Esports Week, the Esports World Cup as well as the esports series featured at both the Jakarta Asian Games 2018 and the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023. We also worked with the world's top-tier game publishers such as Tencent and Krafton in organizing popular esports leagues such as the Honor of Kings' KPL series and PUBG's PGC series, among many others.

VSPO is also a pioneer in the commercialization of esports tournaments worldwide as we were among the first to start helping brands to tap the power of esports in their integrated marketing strategies. We have partnered with notable clients, including McDonald's, VIVO, OPPO, Pudong Development Bank, BMW, HLAJEANS, and others, to facilitate the commercialization of esports.

Following VSPO's acquisition of Famulei, the leading livestreaming talent agency in Asia, and Banana Culture, a trendsetting esports startup, VSPO launched VSPO+, a content matrix brand that manages and represents more than 15,000 artists.