Disney has inked a deal with the Korea Esports Association that will bring several gaming tournaments to the its streaming platform. Disney+ will be the global live streaming home for Esports Champions Asia Jinju 2026, the 2026 League of Legends KeSPA CUP and some preliminary events ahead of the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026. This agreement expands KeSPA's arrangement with Disney, which only streamed its esports events to viewers in Asia last year.
Esports Champions Asia is the first event on the calendar, occurring April 24-26 with professional teams from across the continent squaring up in tournaments for games including Street Fighter 6, The King of Fighters XV, TEKKEN 8 and the eFootball series. Disney+ will also be an official streamer for the PUBG Mobile and Eternal Return competitions during that weekend.
It could be helpful for western esports fans to have a single location for watching the major events happening in Asia. However, many tournaments are currently free to watch on Twitch or YouTube, so now needing a Disney+ subscription to catch some of these international competitions might feel onerous. Esports might run the risk of turning into the fragmented set of rights deals that plagues traditional sports leagues, where a game could be on one of a half dozen different paid services each night. It's also likely going to mean co-streamers take a hit to their viewership, since Disney seems unlikely to offer the same sort of broadcast access that has made the practice popular on Twitch.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-league-of-legends-kespa-cup-will-air-globally-on-disney-224455083.html?src=rss