ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) has reportedly invested $16 million to set up an esports headquarter in mainland China, according to multiple Chinese news outlets.
The Taiwanese technology company’s subsidiary will be named “Huajing Culture Media Co., Ltd.” and will focus on the development of esports in the country.
Jerry Shen, ASUS’ CEO, said that the company’s business in China will not be “limited to esports product sales, but instead, ASUS aims to create its own esports industry,” news outlet YT Sports reports.
Therefore it is assumed the company wants to get involved with ticket sales, event organization, and player training
As part of its new Chinese esports project, ROG launched an esports team, called Rogue Warriors.
ASUS is thus trying to conquer China, a market with an estimated 72 million esports enthusiasts. According to ASUS’ latest annual report (covering 2016), the revenues from the Chinese market are equal to 18 percent of the total company yearly revenues of $429 billion NTD (around $14.5 billion USD).
ROG has been actively involved in esports for a number of years.
The brand is partnered with over 20 teams, including NRG Esports, SK Telecom T1, and Echo Fox, while it is the name sponsor of ROG female, a CS:GO team from the Czech Republic.
The company even ran ROG Masters, a cross-continent CS:GO and Dota 2 tournament, in 2017, with a combined prize pool of $500,000.
Originally appeared on Esports Observer.
