The iG club, financially backed by Wang Si-Cong, is a very important club within the esports industry. From the perspective of the club manager, Su Xiao Luo, boss Wang has only positive influences towards the growth of the esports industry despite him being the target of various nicknames. As an investor, Wang runs the club rationally and doesn’t treat it as a game.

Q: What kind of support has Wang provided to iG? I know he is a very strict person. Would he demand a lot from you guys?

Manager Su: Our investor, Wang Si-Cong, is a person who is very passionate about esports. He is one of the earliest participants since the beginning of esports in China. He has always thought that esports is a belief, something that can be inherited.

Therefore, aside from the financial support he provides us on all of the mainstream esport projects we cover, he also guided us towards finding the competitive spirit within esports.

He is indeed a very strict person. He knows that victory and defeat are very common in battle. At times when we were in a decline, he would give us encouragement to get up where we fell down.

We have already tried to qualify for Worlds for two years straight and failed, but we continued to walk forward for the third year, and that’s how we arrived here today.

Q: He didn’t give you any special kind of demands?

Manager Su: Usually we create a plan at the start of every year, which is no different from any other companies that create yearly targets.

If we achieve our targets, then we would receive a great deal of rewards; if not, then too bad. Honestly, he still gave us a lot of encouragement, hoping that we would do better next year.

Q: How was the result last year?

Manager Su: For the League of Legends division, our goal was to qualify for Worlds. When we did not accomplish our goal, he was very disappointed and sad. But we still brought ourselves up and prepared to start over next year.

Q: Did you adjust any goals for this year?

Manager Su: We discussed with boss Wang about bringing in two strong reinforcements from Korea. Our results this year were not bad.

Q: How many imports does the team have currently?

Manager Su: The global ruling states that every team can only play with a maximum of two imports in game. We are developing additional reinforcements in our youth training camp and our substitute squad.  

Q: How tough is their workload?

Manager Su: Very tough. Our regulated working hours are 5 days a week, 8 hours a day. Outside of our regulations, there are volunteered overtime. We usually compete during weekends, so they rest on Mondays.

Q: What is the income like for the players?

Manager Su: I will talk about the regular income first. We have two leagues, the primary league usually pays about five-figures RMB per month.

Q: Is that the player income in your club?

Manager Su: I am just saying that’s the norm, in other words, something that is common within the scene.

Q: Are your player incomes higher than other teams?

Manager Su:  I think it’s about the same. Maybe a bit higher but not as much as everyone exaggerated it to be. Just because we have a famous investor as our financial backer, doesn’t mean that our income are extremely high. It’s not like that.

Q: After Wang joined the team, did he say that he will make sure to create the strongest roster in the country or in the world?

Manager Su: This is hard to test. Let’s say we bring in Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Does that make us the strongest team in the world?

Q: Have you thought about this? Bringing in all the people like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi?

Manager Su:  But after you brought all of them in, you would realize that there are more geniuses out there. You can never recruit all the geniuses. And there is also this implicit balance within the scene that we possess in the esports industry just like traditional sports. Nobody will compete maliciously.

Therefore, boss Wang’s wealth only had positive influences towards the esports scene. Since he came from an industrial background, everybody knew him very well. After he came into the esports scene, he also brought along second-generation rich investors and other industrial bosses. There were many investors that came into our scene, which were very beneficial for us.

 Q: How is the club operation doing at the moment? Breakeven financially?

Manager Su: Yes.

Q: What are the main sources of income for the club?

Manager Su: There are a few different sources. Prize money earned by the players, of course shared in a certain ratio.

Q: What is the sharing ratio? When Wang first came in, you guys said that you won’t split the prize money.

Manager Su: Of course prize money is just a small part compared to all the expenses invested by the club, just like a soccer club. For example, prize money from winning the Euro Cup cannot compare with an average player’s transfer fees. Most of the income comes from endorsements and sponsorships, which is the same as traditional sports.

For example, our current sponsors consist of a net cafe chain, Logitech, and a new streaming platform. The sponsorships they gave us will receive great returns. For example, having their logos shown during our matches as advertisement.

Of course, our endorsements within the industry are better. Things such as net cafe, streaming platform, and computer accessories are all very simple but interrelated. Right now we want to expand our horizons, but at the moment we don’t have any problems breaking even.

Q: What territories will you guys adventure into when expanding your horizons?

Manager Su: Still waiting for opportunities. Currently thinking about it.

Q: Are partnerships something that you decide whenever an idea pops up, or something that Wang actively participates in?

Manager Su: We will talk about it when we run into a problem. But since Wang is an investor that listed 5 different companies, we approach him with an attitude to learn. If we have any ideas, we will discuss with him first.

Of course, he encourages us to do them directly, and discuss with him if we run into any problems. Therefore, I think that (people like him) are hard to come by.

Q: Are these recent partnerships related to him? Did he bring the business partnerships directly?

Manager Su: We pitched these partnerships. As long as he thinks that we don’t have any problems, then we will run these things ourselves.

If he feels that something is wrong, he will give us some advice. We will think about it after he recommends them.

Q: Has Wang Si-Cong requested anything from the club? Or what is the vision he desires?

Manager Su: His vision is that we increase the range of our audiences, let more people accept the competitive spirit within esports, and let everyone understand that esports is not just “opium” in the eyes of the general public. (Translator’s note: possibly referring to the notion of video game addiction.) We should never stop fighting to let everyone view this topic without any biases. We do not want to become a niche market.

Q: Can you give us an example of what he said to you guys?

Manager Su: The most memorable thing he said to us was we should go all out to fight for every victory. This is something that all of us team members remember very clearly. Our fans also say that we are a team that always go all out.  

This is a translation of an interview for Chinese League of Legends site Wangyou that was translated by Steven Yu. The original interview can be found here.