Esports organisation Beyond Gaming shuts down

Taiwanese esports organisation Beyond Gaming has shut down and exited the Pacific Championship Series (PCS), League of Legends’ Asia-Pacific competition.

The news was shared by PCS’ social media platforms and Beyond Gaming’s channels, with the latter highlighting a lack of funding and increased costs as the main reasons for the closure.

Based in Taiwan, Beyond Gaming was created by former Taipei Assassins and Hong Kong Esports player Xue ‘DinTer’ Hong-wei in 2021 after he acquired the PCS spot of ahq eSports Club. The organisation was a respected and successful competitor in the PCS, the region’s main League of Legends competition. Notably, the organisation finished second three times and appeared at the 2021 and 2022 League of Legends World Championship.

The unfortunate turn of events came due to the rising costs of operating a team in the region. In a translated statement via Facebook, the team’s owner noted that Beyond Gaming had difficulties finding sponsors and struggled to meet the growing costs of operation, which in turn took a toll on the mental health of Hong-wei. The statement went on to describe the various health issues Hong-wei faced, and that he has become incapable of continuing to operate Beyond Gaming due to his deteriorating health.

On Beyond Gaming’s fate, the PCS commented via social media: “We regretfully acknowledge Beyond Gaming’s decision to withdraw from the Pacific Championship Series. We thank them for their contribution and their role in growing the sport in our region. We are now focused on Summer Split preparation and MSI.”

The league’s organisers will need to find a new team to fill the vacant spot, however, further details about those decisions were not made public to date.

The PCS, which for 2024 integrated the League of Legends Japan League (LJL) into its ecosystem, will have one competitor at this year’s MSI event in Chengdu. That team will be PSG Talon after beating Japanese team SoftBank HAWKS in the finals. The 2024 PCS Spring Split recorded a peak viewership of 129,489, according to Esports Charts.