The announcement of the Star Sea Cup's three-million prize pool was like a huge magnet thrown into a capital lake, creating a powerful and rapid Adsorption effect.
Previously hesitant capital, after seeing Riot Games' clear official support, real money investment, and the clear business model displayed by Star Sea Team, finally couldn't hold back and entered the arena.
The first to act were industries closely related to youth consumption.
A well-known domestic functional beverage brand, 'Jinneng,' was the first to announce the establishment of the 'Jinneng Esports Club' and high-profile recruitment of players, directly targeting the upcoming Star Sea Cup.
Their marketing director stated in an interview: "Esports represents youth and vitality, which highly aligns with our brand's positioning.
Investing in a club is not just marketing; it's a long-term investment in future core users."
Following this, 'Phantom Technology,' a hardware company that started by producing high-end gaming peripherals, also announced the formation of Phantom Team.
They already have a vast gaming user base, and forming a team can both strengthen the brand's professional image and feed back into product research and development and marketing, a perfectly smooth logic.
Even more remarkably, some powerful internet companies and real estate groups also began to act.
A large video platform,'Shandong Video,' formed the'Shandong Star' team, intending to connect content and traffic; even 'Lafu,' a chain catering brand previously unrelated to esports, announced its cross-industry entry to form the 'Lafu Hotpot Team,' attempting to attract young diners with this highly Topic approach.
The torrent of capital, in the most direct and explicit way of forming clubs, surged into the league of legends esports ecosystem.
Suddenly, major recruitment platforms and gaming forums were flooded with advertisements from various clubs recruiting players, coaches, and operations staff.
The value of players, especially those already famous in high-level matches, began to rise.
Without exception, these newly established clubs regarded the Star Sea Cup as their first stage to debut and prove their strength.
After the registration channel opened, the number of participating teams far exceeded expectations, including pioneers like Star Sea Team, but more so new forces with capital backing, and some established strong teams that had long been dormant in the community, finally getting their chance.
Even before the Star Sea Cup began, its lineup of participating teams had already become a hot topic in the player community, with unprecedented popularity.
Meanwhile, positive signals also came back from overseas through the assessment team dispatched by Riot Global Events Company, led by Qin Feng.
North America's North America Star Invitational successfully attracted sponsorship from several local hardware and software manufacturers; South Korea's 'Peak Arena' even secured naming rights from one of the country's largest telecom operators; European competitions also successfully leveraged some traditional sports sponsors who were beginning to pay attention to esports.
Global capital undercurrents were converging into an undeniable wave.
Inside Riot Games' president's office, Qin Feng stood before the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking the city below, where lights were beginning to glow and traffic flowed like a river.
Neon lights flickered, outlining the city's contours, and seemingly reflecting the blueprint slowly unfolding in his mind.
On the desk, the latest reports were spread out: a list of domestic Star Sea Cup participating clubs and their capital backgrounds, a summary of sponsors for invitational tournaments in various overseas regions, and trend charts of active users and viewership data for major global servers...
All the lines, all the data, all the movements, pointed to the same conclusion.
His lips curved into a deep and satisfied arc, involuntarily.
The market's reaction was even faster and more enthusiastic than he had anticipated.
Capitalists no longer needed him to painstakingly persuade and guide them; they had already spontaneously seen the value of esports and were eager to jump in and seize the initiative.
This combination of a live streaming platform leading the organization of events, official endorsement and sponsorship from Riot Games, and stimulating capital to form clubs to participate—this set of moves had successfully fostered a preliminary mature and self-sustaining esports ecosystem in the Chinese market, and even in major global regions, an ecosystem led by officials, driven by capital, with clubs as the main body, and players as the foundation.
In this ecosystem, there is Riot Games (game operator + event manager) providing core content and rule-making, Star Sea Live (platform) responsible for content distribution and community building, various clubs (capital + participating entities) investing real money to compete, a vast number of players (users) consuming content and derivatives, and an increasing number of brand sponsors (business partners).
Every link began to perform its duties, interdependent, forming a vibrant value cycle.
"It's time..."
Qin Feng murmured softly, his gaze withdrawing from the window and falling on the custom-made glass cabinet in the corner of the office, intended to display future professional league championship trophies.
The cabinet was currently empty, quietly awaiting its owner.
The influx of capital, the regularization of clubs, the preliminary establishment of a tournament system, the consolidation of the audience base... all of this had paved almost all the ways for his ultimate blueprint—to establish a global, league-based league of legends professional league system.
However, Qin Feng knew very well that all of this had to wait until the Star Sea Cup concluded before it could truly set sail.
Currently, in addition to the Star Sea Cup, various events were being held enthusiastically in different places.
And the game league of legends had already reached a very high level of popularity.
Qin Feng knew that the opportunity he had been waiting for had arrived, but it was just the last step.
He just needed to calm down and patiently wait for that critical moment to come.
It is worth mentioning that the successful hosting of two consecutive competitions gradually familiarized Riot Games' event company with the rhythm of the arena.
This is undoubtedly a very good sign for hosting professional competitions in the future.
It is believed that under their meticulous planning and organization, subsequent professional competitions will proceed smoothly without major problems.
His esports empire was no longer a theoretical concept but had broken ground, nourished by global capital, revealing a clear and solid prototype.
Next, it was about casting this prototype into a truly immortal Palace.
And the Star Sea Cup and its global repercussions would be the loudest salute at the groundbreaking ceremony of this Palace.