News

NetEase plots $725 million esports park investment in Shanghai

The facilities will be located in Shanghai

Date Type Companies involved Size
August 7th, 2019 investment NetEase $725m
NetEase plots $725 million esports park investment in Shanghai

Chinese publisher NetEaseis planning to invest over ¥5 billion ($725 million) on building an esports park in Shanghai.

As reported by Technode, planning and construction for the first stage of the facility has begun.

The park will be centred in Shanghai's western Qingpu District and will include what NetEase is claiming to be China's first large professional esports stadium. Several facilities will be hosted at the park, aiming to aid in game development, team building and talent training.

NetEase is looking to rival fellow Chinese tech giant Tencent in the esports space, which owns two leagues in the esports sector, the League of Legends Pro League in China and the Honor of Kings World Cup on mobile.

Currently, NetEase owns an esports team in the Overwatch League, Shanghai Dragons.

Making Shanghai an esports capital

In June 2019 the Shanghai government revealed it wanted to make the city an esports capital in three-to-five years, boosting support given to the competitive gaming sector.

As part of its city guidelines, the Shanghai government is encouraging companies to invest in several esports stadiums designed to host high profile tournaments.

"Shanghai has world-class location advantages in terms of incentive policies, upstream and downstream industries, infrastructure, and purchasing power and habits of local residents," said NetEase games president Ding Yingfeng.

Learn more about competitive gaming on the Esports and Influencers track at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2019 on October 1st and 2nd.


Staff Writer

Kayleigh is the Staff Writer for PocketGamer.biz. Besides PGbiz and PCGI she has written as a list writer for Game Rant, rambling about any and all things games related. You can also find her on Twitter talking utter nonsense.