A major stake holder since 2012, Tencent Holdings Limited is bringing Epic Games’ Fortnite Battle Royale to the Chinese digital market this year. The Chinese investing conglomerate struck a deal this past week to bring the gaming sensation to the Chinese audience and plans on the creation of an esports scene for the game. Registration for the game, which is still technically in early-access from Epic, has begun now. The sensation is now sweeping in between nations, which is exactly what Tencent wants for the region. Earlier this year, the conglomerate brought PUBG mobile to Chinese players, with the help of a South Korean conglomerate, Bluehole. They have every intention to let the Battle Royale rush of games play out to whatever end may come. The company has a vision of a games industry in China that is even bigger than the US, and Fortnite will be the first stepping stone to the industry, whether it takes off and holds popularity or not. With how popular the game is, it will be big enough to supplement the 15.8 million dollar investment into content creation and esports organizations, according to Variety’s report, well.

The game will be ported as-is in its current state, no word on season changes or region-specific patches yet. China’s policy on foreign content coming into the country was likely persuaded by Tencent’s CEO, Ma Huateng, China’s richest man according to CNN and Forbes. The addition of the Chinese region to the player base is good for the longevity of the game and the budding esport that Ninja and co. want to build for it. Overwatch currently has a World League that includes a team from Shanghai, and perhaps in the future we can see clans or teams from the region create interesting battles and stream content battling American greats to see who’s best in the East vs. West debate of Fortnite.