iG wins first League of Legends Worlds title for China-China Daily

What happened: Chinese eSports club Invictus Gaming (iG) claimed Chinese mainland’s first world championship in League of Legends (LOL) after beating European team Fnatic 3-0 in Incheon, South Korea on November 3.

Why it’s important: Chinese public attitude toward video games, which was considered as a meaningless pastime that could do harm to academic achievements of juveniles, is changing in recent years with the popularity of competitive video gaming or esports. China won a gold medal in the first-ever Asian Games early this year. The news also draws wide attention because the team is backed by Wang Sicong, the outspoken son of multinational Wanda Group’s Wang Jianlin. Wang Sicong also builds his reputation as an e-sports player and investor of several Chinese tech startups such as PandaTV.

Emma Lee (Li Xin) was TechNode's e-commerce and new retail reporter until June 2022, when she moved to Sixth Tone to cover technology and consumption. Get in touch with her via lixin@sixthtone.com or Twitter.

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