Disney has inked a deal with the Korea Esports Association that will bring
several gaming tournaments to 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