THE 2021 League of Legends World Championship will begin “fighting” Nov. 6 at the Universiade Sports Center in Shenzhen, it was announced Saturday.

Shenzhen Universiade Sports Center, a 60,000-capacity stadium, will be the sixth venue to hold the competition after being held in Seoul World Cup Stadium, Staples Center in Los Angeles, Incheon Munhak Stadium, AccorHotels Arena in Paris and SAIC Motor Pudong Arena in Shanghai.

According to Riot Games, the 2020 Worlds Final had an average number of viewers of 23.04 million per minute, with the peak amount reaching 45.95 million. The League of Legends World Championship is one of the world’s most influential e-sports projects, with over 100 professional teams. Currently, e-sports have been included in the 2022 Asia Games.

The Shenzhen Municipal Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau said that Shenzhen is accelerating the high-quality development of culture, sports and tourism, and strives to build Shenzhen brands of culture, sports and tourism. As a popular cultural industry among young people, the e-sports are in line with Shenzhen’s open and diverse culture.

The emerging e-sports is targeting young people, and the average age of Shenzhen residents is about 32, making it one of China’s youngest cities. Also, Shenzhen is the first city in the world to realize full-scale 5G deployment and has the highest density of 5G base stations globally. The broadcasting of the Worlds Final will be able to use that 5G technology to enhance audiences’ viewing experience, making the city more able to support the growth of the e-sports industry in terms of consumers and technology.

“Shenzhen has solid and fertile foundation for the development of the e-sports industry,” said Lin Song, vice president of Riot Games.

(Xia Yuanjie)