Esports in Asia are a big deal with arenas selling out and international competitions reaching an all-time high.
The recently completed 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, featured 13 titles across 11 events throughout the esports’ titles, increasing from seven.
Esports are, however, still young compared to the more traditional events at the Asian Games, such as tennis, badminton, and swimming.
One of the challenges is the lack of uniform standards that esports’ traditional siblings have long solved.
That’s where Tencent Esports enters the picture.
The company was named the Official Esports Technology Partner of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) with the aim of solving some of the issues when it comes to standardizing esports events. The agreement was announced in January 2026 and is expected to run 10 years.
“Strengthening these foundations will be important as the ecosystem continues to mature,” Tencent senior director of esports business department Teri Zhang said. “The opportunity today lies in continuing to demonstrate how esports can contribute to the broader sporting landscape, while building the structures, standards and systems that can support its sustainable development over the long term.”
Tencent’s goal is simple – improve the overall quality of esports competitions for all parties involved.
One way Tencent is assisting is finding ways to create consistent environments for esports events. The tasks such as pre-match equipment, monitoring real-time data, post-match review and record management, would be standardized.
The aim is to reduce the number of variables that could impact an event’s competitive integrity.
“esports can be affected by a wide range of factors,” Zhang said. “When an issue occurs, relevant data may be stored within individual devices, making it difficult for referees to determine whether a problem has occurred and identify its specific cause without corresponding records.”
An example, Zhang provided, is the pre-match task of inspecting devices used for competition and peripherals. Tencent’s Esports Competition Solution (ECS) would review the factors that could affect performance, ensuring a reliable environment.
The process will allow technical teams to have information on the pre-match device checks from a central location and provide referees with all the data to make informed decisions.
“ECS is not a refereeing system and does not make decisions on behalf of officials,” Zhang said. “ECS brings together relevant records, devices, and network status and replay footage. Technical officials can use this information to locate and review incidents, while referees remain responsible for any final rulings under the competition rules.”
The thing is that if all works well, fans and players may not even notice the impact.
“If ECS is working effectively, most players and viewers may not notice it at all,” Zhang said. “They will experience the outcome through a competition environment that is more consistent, reliable and well-supported.”
With esports events growing in scale, Tencent’s ECS looks to solve the problem of having repeatable processes to ensure the competition remains fair.
“All competitors should be able to compete fairly and reliably under the same conditions, including consistent equipment and network environments,” Zhang said. “At the same time, local adaptation remains essential. Every host city has unique infrastructure, venue layouts and operational requirements.”
Zhang said Tencent plans on working with the OCA to advance the systems to find best practices and provide the fairest environment for competitors.
“We hope this ultimately translates into more consistent competition standards, more efficient operations and greater confidence that they are competing on a fair and transparent stage, regardless of where the event is held,” Zhang said.