Nurturing talent

With no shortage of gamers, China's e-sports industry desperately needs to fill positions in roles such as management, coaching and broadcasting. According to the E-sports Industry Talent Supply and Demand Survey released by Tencent, only 15 percent of positions within the industry have sufficient human resources.

The survey also indicated the industry will need to fill 570,000 positions in league management, media production, data mining, commentating and training.

In September 2016, the Ministry of Education listed "E-sports and Management" as a major for colleges, paving the way for higher-education institutes to offer e-sports-related courses and official diplomas.

In 2017, the Communication University of China added an e-sports-dedicated subject entitled "digital media art", aimed at developing gaming management and design talent. In 2004, the school became one of the first in the country to offer degrees in game design.

In the first few years, cultivating graphic designers and game programmers were the major goals, said Chen Jingwei, head of the school's game design department. The course launched last year is aimed at cultivating talent in designing game narrative, which Chen describes as "the soul of a game and requires a blend of skills in both creativity and technology".

The renowned Shanghai Theater Academy, meanwhile, is offering an e-sports commentating course. Forty students signed up for its launch last fall.

E-sports leagues and clubs are also trying to cultivate talent. The KPL has been working with its clubs to get players assigned to professional training sessions, coaches and data analysts, while the QGhappy provides players with physicians and psychologists.