Hero Esports Transforms Beijing’s National Stadium into Record-Breaking Mobile Esports Tournament

• 62,196 fans attended the 10^th annual King Pro League (“KPL”) Grand Finals, the largest attendance at a single esports event
• Hosted by Tencent and organized by Hero Esports, the Honor of Kings tournament drew crowds from both China and overseas including, but not limited to, Thailand and Australia
• China is home to an esports user base of over 495 million^[1]

SHANGHAI, Dec. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — As the year draws to a close, Hero Esports celebrates the record-breaking success of the KPL 2025 Grand Finals, hosted by Tencent and organized by Hero Esports. 62,196 fans attended the 10^th annual KPL Grand Finals at Beijing’s National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest, to set a Guinness World Record for the ‘largest attendance at a single esports event’.

Honor of Kings is both China’s most popular mobile game and the world’s most-played mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game.

With tickets selling out in just 12 seconds, the Grand Finals drew a diverse audience. Less than 15% of attendees were local to Beijing, with over 85% traveling from across China and countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Australia.

The event provided a significant boost to local businesses, with restaurant sales in nearby commercial areas surging 177% year-on-year and hotel bookings rising 143% during the event.

Since the launch of the KPL in 2016, both the league and mobile esports have experienced unprecedentedly fast growth. However, for Hero Esports, investing in mobile gaming and Honor of Kings was a calculated bet from the start.

“About ten years ago, when we founded Hero Esports, we built our vision around two assumptions about the future,” said Danny Tang, CEO and co-founder of Hero Esports, during an interview at the KPL Grand Finals.

“First, we believed that esports would become the future of sports, and we wanted to help build that future. Second, we believed mobile esports would be the engine driving that transformation. From day one, Honor of Kings stood out to us as the title that could take mobile esports to the next level.”

Bringing mobile esports to a world-class stadium like the Bird’s Nest, with its 204,000 square meters of floor area and 258,000 square meters of total construction space, was no small feat. Unlike traditional sporting events, esports competitions demand more from venues: larger and higher-resolution screens, cutting-edge presentation methods, and immersive experiences for fans.

To celebrate nine years with the KPL and Honor of Kings’ tenth anniversary, Hero Esports delivered a landmark opening ceremony that fused cultural artistry with cutting-edge innovation. Inspired by traditional Chinese embroidery, the show transformed an embroidered dragon into a stunning 3D illusion and concluded with a full augmented reality (“AR”) spectacle inside the Bird’s Nest.

Using ten movable mechanical screens, real-time tracking and synchronized effects across 6,000 stage lights and 180,000 lighting parameters, Hero Esports set a new benchmark for live esports production.

The KPL Grand Finals 2025 has become one of the most talked-about esports events of the year, drawing massive attention both onsite and online. The spectacle captivated millions, with key moments from the opening ceremony and the championship match spreading rapidly across social platforms. Several clips went viral—most notably the AR dragon sequence, which alone amassed over millions of likes on Instagram—demonstrating the global reach and cultural resonance of the event.

Providing an outlook on the future of the global esports industry, Danny Tang said: “This is just the first decade of esports’ 100-year journey. The KPL 2025 Grand Finals is both a milestone and a new beginning. We are incredibly excited for what comes next.”

About Hero Esports

Founded in 2016, Hero Esports is the biggest esports company in Asia, producing more than 7,000 matches every year that captivate an online fan base of over 800 million. Headquartered in Shanghai and employing more than 1,100 employees, Hero Esports boasts a global presence encompassing 12 office locations and eight top-tier esports arenas. Hero Esports offers a comprehensive suite of esports services, including tournament organization, marketing solutions, community development, and more.

[1] 2025 China Esports Industry Report, released by the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association

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SOURCE Hero Esports