On November 5, the Fall Finals of the 2026 Battle of Golden Spatula Open took place at the Shaanxi Grand Theatre. Surrounding the venue is Xi'an's landmark attraction and one of China's first national demonstration pedestrian streets—the Great Tang All Day Mall, the country's only large-scale Tang Dynasty-style architectural complex themed around Tang culture.
During this period, the Great Tang All Day Mall launched an esports tourism series called "Chess Friends Gathering, Meeting Through Chess," open to citizens and tourists. Players can enjoy stage performances featuring Little Legends from Battle of Golden Spatula, personally experience various themed activities including "Swap Your Spatula," or join spontaneous viewer matches if they feel the urge to play... Esports culture collides with traditional culture here, connected by countless Battle of Golden Spatula players.
For Battle of Golden Spatula, which has already been around for five years, having such a large and highly engaged player base is certainly commendable. This may indicate that Battle of Golden Spatula is gradually becoming a common cultural symbol among young people, or that it will continue to expand from gaming onto larger stages. Regardless, maintaining such a massive player base under these circumstances will undoubtedly require careful consideration.
And at the "Battle of Golden Spatula 2027: Esports Upgrade · PC Launch" press conference held on November 6 this year, I saw a quite satisfactory answer.
If summarized in one sentence, it would be: "Let more people be seen."
Of course, you could always say, "Why not just start up Golden Spatula?"
Since its launch, Battle of Golden Spatula has appeared in players' daily lives in various forms. For instance, it can serve as a way to fill a 30- to 40-minute break; it can be a social activity, allowing friends to gather for a quick match; some even play it on treadmill machines at the gym, exercising both mind and body... Countless memes and fan creations illustrate the game's vibrant community presence.
According to data publicly shared by Huang Lingdong, Vice President of Tencent Games and Head of Battle of Golden Spatula China at Tencent Interactive Entertainment, the game has accumulated over 240 million registered users and surpassed 50 million monthly active users in its five years since launch. Total topic views across all platforms exceed 2.7 billion. In September alone, hourly viewership for related content exceeded 10 million. Clearly, Battle of Golden Spatula now boasts a deeply established ecosystem, resulting from joint efforts by the official team and the player community—a valuable asset.
Even more excitingly, Huang Lingdong announced at the press conference that an additional 1 billion yuan will be invested over the next three years into areas such as player culture development, support for content creators, and esports tournament ecosystem construction. To put that in perspective, this amount equals the total investment made in the ecosystem during the first five years of Battle of Golden Spatula. This bold move is based not only on past ecosystem achievements but also aims to further elevate the mass appeal of Battle of Golden Spatula.
The mass appeal of Battle of Golden Spatula has its unique characteristics. As an auto-battler, gameplay relies on situational judgment, economic management, item understanding, and lineup positioning details. It doesn't heavily emphasize team coordination or real-time mechanical skills (although quick adjustments within a round still require fast reflexes). Ultimately, mastering Battle of Golden Spatula hinges on game knowledge: how to use available resources, choose optimal strategies based on the shop pool and Augments, and maximize combat power. Therefore, Battle of Golden Spatula is destined to attract a larger and broader player base. Even casual players have the opportunity to compete with top-tier experts through extensive matches and post-game analysis.
But this is only from a gameplay perspective. From a competitive standpoint, Battle of Golden Spatula has additional considerations. It aims to forge a new esports path where every passion has the chance to reach the stage—namely, "participatory esports."
According to Huang Lingdong, Battle of Golden Spatula has continuously improved tournament tools, competition channels, and professional commentary systems around the concept of "participatory esports." This makes participating easier, matches more enjoyable to watch, and helps spectators better understand players' decisions and strategies. With such strong support, annual participation in Battle of Golden Spatula tournaments has exceeded 10 million participants over the past two years—an astonishing figure.
Because of this, Battle of Golden Spatula has the confidence to take further upgrades—transforming its tournament system into a "Three Major Plus One Super" structure. The "Three Major" refers to three National Open tournaments held annually. On top of that, a new "One Super" will be added: an annual championship held once a year. Top players from different tournament stages will gather here to claim the crown.
Even more excitingly, the total prize pool for Battle of Golden Spatula esports in 2027 will double. The annual championship ecosystem prize pool will exceed 10 million yuan, with the annual champion taking home 3 million yuan alone. When Huang Lingdong announced this news, the audience erupted in applause, and I heard someone nearby quietly discussing, amazed by the prize amount.
In addition to attracting competitors with prize money, the viewing experience for spectators has also been significantly enhanced, which I find particularly interesting. Future tournaments will feature an octagonal stage where eight players sit together. Different screens will display each player's perspective, while the area in front of each player becomes a dedicated fan zone. From a spectator's point of view, this brings substantial improvements in both entertainment value and immersion.
For Battle of Golden Spatula, every spectator has the potential to become a player. The connection between the professional stage and ordinary players is much closer than one might imagine. This may well be why Battle of Golden Spatula is willing to increase its investment in future tournaments and community ecosystems.
This long-term value is not limited to tournament upgrades. At this press conference, Battle of Golden Spatula also announced a plan eagerly anticipated by countless players: the PC version of Battle of Golden Spatula. Many players had already been using emulators to play the game, so for these users, a native PC version represents an urgent and significant long-standing demand.
At the press conference, Ye Jing, Executive Producer of Publishing for Battle of Golden Spatula at Tencent Interactive Entertainment, announced that the PC version of Battle of Golden Spatula will arrive in the next season. We also took the opportunity to try out a brief hands-on experience during the event.
Of course, there isn't much to say about the experience because it was smooth to the point of being self-evident. From my initial impression, the biggest advantage of the PC version of Battle of Golden Spatula is the more convenient native hotkeys. Compared to emulator key mapping, the official PC version offers a smoother and more intuitive control experience, allowing quick execution of various basic operations. Meanwhile, the visual experience on PC is significantly improved compared to mobile, with rich details in model quality, lighting rendering, and texture maps.
At the press conference, Ye Jing also stated that the PC version of Battle of Golden Spatula will enable cross-platform compatibility between mobile and PC, preserving account data, matchmaking mechanisms, and friend lists, while supporting cross-device competitive play in the same match. This will allow players' Little Legends and arenas to shine with new vitality on the PC platform.
Looking back, it's clear that the core of Everythinggj at this press conference revolves around the players—whether it's tournaments with mass participation, building a broader player community and ecosystem, more engaging viewing formats, or game optimizations tailored to each player's style. All of this is designed to serve an even wider player base.
Battle of Golden Spatula has entered players' daily lives, and now it shines the spotlight on them, growing alongside players and reaching many different places. I have witnessed such scenes firsthand.
Here, on November 8, is the site of the Battle of Golden Spatula JOC Finals. It features the prosperity of Chang'an transcending time, along with players and spectators coming from across regions. United by their love for Battle of Golden Spatula, they meet here, bask in the golden rain, and then part ways.
What does the future hold for Battle of Golden Spatula? No one knows for sure. But Battle of Golden Spatula and its players are indeed stepping onto bigger stages, encountering various cultural symbols, and ultimately becoming a new cultural symbol recognized by more people.
After the "golden rain" fell, I was leaving the spectator area heading backstage when I met an elegant auntie who looked somewhat like a teacher. She was a theater staff member who, due to work responsibilities, had not watched the match inside the venue.
"Who won the championship?" she asked me, hearing the cheers from the arena.
I pointed to Hui Yuan's image on the nearby electronic poster and congratulated him on winning the championship. The staff member remarked emotionally, "A million-yuan prize for the champion—that's incredible. I always thought gaming was purely entertainment, but today's event truly relies on intellect. The winning player must be very smart. Is playing this their profession?"
"Contestants come from all walks of life. One of the players I'm about to interview is even a college student (Gao Shou Diao Mei)."
Her eyes widened in apparent disbelief, reminding me of the tournament upgrade plans announced at the press conference.
Then I responded, "There will be more players like this in the future."