While Tencent tries to grow the Arena of Valor [Free] esports scene in the west, the Chinese esports scene is on fire right now with a million-dollar player transfer that just took place. Chinese team GK E-sports Club recruited player-coach Zhang "Loa Shuai" Yuchen, a former player for AG Gaming in the Kings Pro League, for 8 million yuan, or about $1.2 million USD. He will serve as a player-coach for GK's Honor of Kings (the Chinese name for Arena of Valor) team. What makes him worth so much" He boasted an average 3.4 kills to 1.8 deaths, and averaged 5.7 assists in a total of 38 matches, helping AG Gaming reach the KPL Playoffs.
According to esports industry analyst Sheng Yi, this is a record for Chinese mobile esports, and likely a record fee for mobile esports in general. This isn't a record for esports yet, as reports that League of Legends star Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao reportedly had a transfer fee for $7.85 million USD.
Chinese mobile esports set a new transfer fee record.
King of Glory(Chinese version Arena of Valor)Pro League Team GK paid 8 millions Yuan (1.2 millions USD) to acquire former AG.Laoshuai.https://t.co/WidLW4UfAD pic.twitter.com/VPnrmox3eB
— Sheng Yi (@Marco_YS35) February 7, 2018

The Kings Pro League had a crowd of over 11,000 fans attend the 2017 Kings Pro League fall season final in December 2017, with QGhappy defeating XQ to win 1.2 million yuan. The league has existed since 2016, and has seen a meteoric rise in popularity...