Spanish soccer giants Barcelona FC have teamed up with Chinese technology and gaming giant Tencent for strategic esports collaboration. The agreement covers esports competitions, education and industry exchange with a few to further explore new opportunities in competitive gaming and traditional sport.
Barca has been speeding up their efforts in esports to capitalise on the big and growing industry. According to a market research, despite the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown enforced in most of the countries across the globe, esports has revenues of US$1.05 billion this year.
One more report later suggested that their was increase in the marketing and advertising spend which saw a growth of 9.9% and valued at US$844 million in 2020.
Barca is also looking at securing a partnership with a Chinese esports team. The club is looking to franchise their brand to an existing marketer who has a strong presence in the market, so that they can enter this vertical with a solid base in place.
Tencent own League of Legends and Clash Royale games. It also co-owns TJ Sports and has a 40 per cent stake in Fortnite publisher Epic Games. The strategic tie-up with Tencent speculates that Barca is a step closer on entering the League of Legends.
Tencent is already associated with a major Premier league club Manchester City FC and collaboration with Barcelona FC is second of its kind.