The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and giant Tencent Esports have struck up a strategic alliance for 10 years — now the conglomerate’s technology division has officially become the council’s main tech partner in the world of digital sports. The parties officially sealed the agreement at the October meeting of the OCA Executive Committee in Bahrain in 2025, setting a goal — in fact — to combine esports with the usual stadium disciplines as quickly as possible.
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Yati Zhang and the development of the OCA esports ecosystem
As part of this agreement, Yati Zhang, who holds the post of director at Tencent Esports, assumed the position of OCA esports manager — now he will manage the organization of the largest events across the continent, which, apparently, will give a wild boost to the entire ecosystem. OCA CEO, Dr. Hussein Al-Musallam, among other things, emphasized that this alliance is not just a change of signboard, but a transition from simple participation to the era of joint construction of a global system. It would be strange to expect less — an example of the “healthy development” of the industry awaits us, not only in Asia, but, in fact, all over the world.
The history of the partnership between Tencent and OCA from the Hangzhou Games
We must agree that the roots of this friendship go back to 2022, when Tencent and OCA began — for the first time — to jointly push the industry forward, preparing the ground for the 19th Asian Yoke in Hangzhou. To be honest, those games had to be postponed to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the partnership has only hardened, and now we see a logical outcome. It seems that the company is not going to slow down — there are big things ahead.
Global expansion and new Tencent Esports projects
Over the past 12 months, Tencent has literally flooded the market with money, actively investing in global projects — for example, in February 2025, they partnered with the Esports World Cup Foundation. The goal is simple — to maximize the scale of the World Esports Championship in China, and this, frankly, looks like a plan to take over the world. Plus, in July 2025, the publisher rolled out an ambitious roadmap for VALORANT Mobile — now Chinese FPS fans will have their own legitimate platform for demonstrating skills. It’s cool, really — such investments clearly show that Tencent is playing for a long time and is not afraid to take risks.
