Asian Champions League unveils prize pool, adds two games to line-up

Asian esports event organiser Hero Esports has revealed the prize pool of its new multi-title tournament, the Asian Champions League (ACL).

According to a social media post on the official ACL page, the total prize pool of the competition will be 15m RMB (~£1.67m). The prize pool split between game titles is yet to be confirmed.

Additionally, the tournament organiser has confirmed Crossfire and Delta Force as participating game titles for the first edition of the ACL. It will join the likes of CS2, Street Fighter, League of Legends, Honor of Kings and PUBG.

Announced in September 2024, Hero Esports aims to make the ACL a yearly tournament with a six-month-long season, covering seven to 10 game titles at launch. The 2025 edition will take place at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center, in conjunction with the debut of DreamHack Shanghai.

The ACL will be run by a newly founded body called the Asia Champions League Foundation, which will have its own management structure. VSPO’s Co-founders Jonny Wang and Xie Fan will become the Chief Executive and President of the ACL, respectively.

Founded in 2016, Hero Esports (previously known as VSPO) is one of the biggest tournament operators in Asia. The company made headlines in 2023 when it received a $265m (~£219m) investment from Savvy Games Group, a Saudi Arabian investment group launched and owned by the government’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Headquartered in Shanghai, Hero Esports has worked closely with esports competitions such as the Olympic Esports Week, the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games and the Esports World Cup (EWC).

In particular, the ACL has also been announced as a partner of the EWC with the two parties discussing how the multi-title esports tournament can be integrated into global EWC qualifications this year.