ESL, DreamHack announce one-year deal with Huya for Chinese language streams

One of the largest streaming platforms in China, Huya, has become the exclusive digital media partner for ESL's and DreamHack's major esports competitions in Chinese languages.

This agreement will see the Chinese-language broadcasts of both CS:GO and Dota 2 events by ESL and DreamHack streamed exclusively on Huya in 2020, "delivering a dedicated stream in standard Mandarin and other Chinese languages and dialects", according to the press release.

The deal covers "all upcoming Masters properties from the ESL Pro Tour", such as ESL One, IEM, and ESL Pro League events, as well as DreamHack's CS:GO and Dota 2 events. The first tournament to be broadcasted as a part of this deal is ESL One Cologne 2020, which will have an Asian division featuring TYLOO and three yet-unconfirmed teams.

This is not the first time ESL and Huya have entered a project together, as in September 2019 the two companies announced a "joint venture", with the plan being for Huya to invest into ESL - a company which is a part of the Modern Times Group (MTG) portfolio.

MTG, the digital entertainment company which acquired ESL and DreamHack, announced at the start of 2020 that the joint venture was terminated, and with it, Huya's plan to acquire a $30 million minority stake in ESL. "Differing views between the two parties on allocation of contractual risk and other key commercial terms" were cited as the reason.

In terms of esports broadcast rights, Huya also has exclusivity in China for the biggest League of Legends tournaments: LCK, LCS, and LEC. Huya's largest shareholder since April 2020 is Tencent, the multinational conglomorate which also owns League of Legends publisher Riot Games and stakes in gaming companies such as Epic Games and Supercell.