Representatives from Tencent’s CrossFire (CF) esports operations recently held a closed-door meeting with French government officials in Paris, with both sides discussing possible cooperation on hosting international esports events, working with French clubs, and running youth exchange programmes.
The meeting took place at the offices of France’s Ministry of Sports. On the French side, the delegation was led by Emilie Montané, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Minister’s Office at the Ministry of Sports.
The Chinese side was led by Darren Gu (Gu Yue), who is the Publishing Producer of the CrossFire game franchise and heads esports operations for the CrossFire Series.
According to a summary of the meeting, the conversation covered several topics: what China and France could learn from each other’s approaches to sport, how the two countries’ esports industries might work together and ways to keep young people engaged in a positive way.
One specific area of discussion was the practical side of running large esports events. The French delegation shared their experience organising a major international event on a tight 45-day preparation schedule and explained how they handle things like visas and legal protections for players who travel from other countries to compete.
France’s representatives also said they were interested in CrossFire’s scale as a competitive game and raised the idea of CF holding future events in France. For context, CrossFire is a highly popular PC and mobile esports title in China, boasting over one billion registered users and peaks of 8 million concurrent players.
They discussed what kind of support the French government could offer toward that goal, including help with visa procedures and other administrative processes for international competitions.
On the club side, the Chinese delegation pointed out that several French esports organisations, such as PSG Esports, Team Vitality, and Karmine Corp, already run CrossFire teams and have competed internationally. Both sides said this existing activity gives them a starting point to explore deeper collaboration between Chinese and French esports clubs.
The two sides did not announce any finalised plans. Instead, they agreed to keep talking about specific next steps, including the possibility of hosting a CF event in France, club partnerships, and youth exchange programmes.
