Hero Esports has won the Webby People’s Voice Award for Best Use of Immersive in the Video & Film: Performance & Craft category, recognizing the company’s production of the Honor of Kings King Pro League (KPL) 2025 Grand Finals Opening Ceremony. The recognition came as part of the 30th Annual Webby Awards, which considered nearly 13,000 entries from around the world across its broader awards program.
Presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, the Webby Awards are among the most prominent honors for digital content and internet creativity. The KPL 2025 Grand Finals Opening Ceremony became the first Chinese esports event to be nominated for, and win, a Webby Award. In keeping with Webby Awards’ iconic five-word acceptance speech tradition, Hero Esports delivered the message: “Play. Win. Be a Hero.”
The award adds international recognition to one of the largest esports productions ever staged in China. Hosted by Tencent and organized by Hero Esports, the KPL 2025 Grand Finals took place Nov. 8, 2025, at Beijing National Stadium, widely known as the Bird’s Nest. The event drew 62,196 attendees, setting a Guinness World Record for the largest attendance at an esports match. Tickets sold out online in 12 seconds, underscoring the commercial scale of China’s mobile esports market.
The event featured a prize pool of ¥70 million RMB ($10.3M USD). Hero Esports shared that 85% of attendees travelled from outside of Beijing, including fans from overseas markets such as Malaysia and Australia.
The Webby “Best Use of Immersive” recognition specifically highlights Hero Esports’ technical execution and stadium-scale immersive production. For the opening ceremony, the company transformed the Olympic venue with a 3,663.75 square meter (39,436 square feet) LED floor screen, integrated lighting, and 10 movable screens to turn the stadium into a synchronized digital environment. The production combined esports presentation with elements inspired by traditional Chinese culture, including visual motifs drawn from embroidery and mythology.
“This Webby Award affirms what we have long believed: esports is the future of sports, and one of the most powerful creative platforms of our time,” said Danny Tang, co-founder and CEO of Hero Esports. “The KPL Grand Finals at the Bird’s Nest brought that vision to life at stadium scale, combining the emotion of live sports, the imagination of digital culture, and the shared energy of a global fan community.”
For Hero Esports, the award further positions the company alongside global entertainment and technology brands competing for recognition in digital production. The broader Webby field included projects and nominees associated with companies and creators across entertainment, technology, music, and media.
The production also reflects the scale of the Honor of Kings ecosystem. The title has reported more than 139 million daily active users in China and more than 260 million monthly active users globally, making it one of the largest mobile game properties in the world.
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Shanghai, Hero Esports has grown into Asia’s largest esports company. The company produces more than 7,000 matches annually, operates across 12 global offices with more than 1,100 employees, and manages eight esports arenas, offering services that include tournament organization, broadcast production, marketing solutions, and venue management.