ESL and Dreamhack announced a deal with Huya – China's largest streaming platform. As a result, it will become the exclusive partner of tournament organizers and will broadcast major eSports events in Chinese, including Mandarin and other dialects common in various regions of the country.
For now the contract is concluded for a period of one year. The deal includes broadcasts of all upcoming major events taking place within the framework of ESL One, IEM, ESL Pro, as well as CS GO and Dota 2 tournaments organized by DreamHack. The first tournament to be broadcast on Huya will be ESL One Cologne. It will have a separate division for teams from Asian countries, represented by TYLOO and three more as yet unnamed teams.
This is not the first time ESL and Huya have tried to agree on a partnership. In September 2019, the two companies announced the formation of a "joint venture" and Huya's future plans to invest in ESL. However, at the beginning of 2020, this decision was reversed. The Modern Times Group, which includes ESL, explained this by “divergent views of the parties on key terms and distribution of risks.” Probably, now the partners have managed to find a common language.
Huya is currently one of the most significant Asian streaming platforms. A large share of its shares belongs to Tencent – a multinational conglomerate that owns Riot Games and also has stakes in several other large companies associated with the gaming industry.
