The Hong Kong-based entrepreneur reveals how his company is bringing traditional sports concepts to competitive gaming
Sean Zhang is at the forefront of professionalising the fast-growing but often chaotic world of e-sports. The China-born, Australia-raised CEO of Talon Esports worked in investment banking before co-founding the Hong Kong-based, pan-Asian e-sports team in 2017.
With a diverse range of revenue streams including tournament winnings, sponsorship, player transfers, publisher fees, and the sale of merchandise both physical and digital, as well as events and its own creative studio, Talon brings the discipline of traditional sport to competitive gaming. It is particularly known for its PSG Talon team, which plays League of Legends, in partnership with the e-sports division of legendary French sporting club Paris Saint-Germain.
Here, Zhang explains how Talon Esports is taking e-sports to new competitive and commercial levels.
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I was always interested in gaming. When I was a kid, my dad bought me my first computer, a 486. He was an architect, so the machine was loaded up with Microsoft Paint to see if I was interested in drawing. I forgot it in about 10 minutes and got into gaming instead. I’ve also always been a passionate believer in traditional sport; I’m a football coach. I’m fortunate those two things have come together in e-sports.