Shanghai-based Edward Gaming clinched the Valorant Champions 2024 title in South Korea, a historic victory for China region in the popular first-person shooter game.

EDG beat the EMEA team Team Heretics, or TH, with a 3-2 victory on Sunday night. EDG’s Zheng Yongkang or “ZmjjKK” was awarded the first MVP trophy for Valorant Champions 2024.

“We made new history. We are the champions,” EDG said on its Weibo account.

The news generated significant online attention in social media, with the EDG post forwarded 13,000 times and earning 42,000 Likes.

Shanghai aims to become global eSports hub

Valorant, a popular five vs five first-person shooter game, officially debuted domestically in July of last year. It is operated by Tencent locally, which planned to invest 1 billion yuan (US$140 million) over three years to boost the game’s ecosystem development. Valorant has quickly become one of the most popular FPS games in China.

Sixteen international teams attended the global Valorant event held in South Korea, including four from the Chinese region. These teams qualified based on their performance in regional leagues.

China’s Valorant league, or VCT CN, made its debut this year, drawing peak viewership of 1.84 million people. In a Shanghai Master Valorant event, 30,000 on-site tickets sold out within 33 seconds, according to Riot Games, the game’s developer.

The events fit well with Shanghai’s strategy to develop its eSports industry and become a “global eSports hub”.

Shanghai’s gaming industry revenue reached 144.5 billion yuan in 2023, representing a 13 percent increase from the previous year. Shanghai hosted 1,902 eSports events in the first half of 2024, drawing 2.7 million visitors. These included eSports competitions, gaming concerts, carnivals, and exhibitions, according to the Shanghai Publicity Department.

Shanghai officials said eSports had become a new engine for the city’s economy, fueling offline consumption while also boosting the local economy.