China Esports Weekly: Beijing Universal Resort Partners With Tencent, League of Legends Wild Rift Receives Game Approval
As the Chinese New Year approaches, the national esports industry is facing a slowdown, as most companies have allowed their employees to go back home to celebrate. Still, we saw several exciting and significant developments in the industry.
Among the top stories in China’s esports industry: Tencent Games’ intellectual property (IP) will be integrated into the entertainment experiences of Beijing Universal Resort (BUR) in 2022; Great Wall Motor subsidiary brand Haval renewed its partnership with Russian esports organization Virtus.рro; Riot Games’ League of Legends: Wild Rift mobile was approved by China’s National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA); Oxygen Yuyin announced a sponsorship deal with Chinese esports organization Suning Gaming (SN).
Beijing Universal Resort Teams Up with Tencent For 2022 Seasonal Events
On February 3, Tencent Interactive Entertainment Group (IGE) and Beijing Universal Resort (BUR) announced the two companies have signed a long-term partnership.
Tencent’s Honor of Kings, Peacekeeper Elite, QQ Speed, and card game Doudizhu, as well as several other games, will be officially added to the BUR 2022 seasonal event. This will be the first cooperation between Tencent and the world-leading theme park, Universal. It is likely that the cooperation between BUR and Tencent will give new impetus to the exclusive theme park IP mode.
“In the near future, we will see cultural elements of esports in the diverse entertainment scenarios of the resort. We believe that this collaboration can create emotion that extends from online to offline, and a richer and more immersive customer experience,” Xiaoyi Ma, Senior Vice President of Tencent, added in the announcement.
“We are committed to continuously expanding our partnership across industries in China, creating innovative theme park experiences for more Chinese guests and supporting the high-quality development of China’s cultural tourism industry,” said Tom Mehrmann, President and General Manager of UBR.
It was recently confirmed that the construction of Universal Beijing is moving “full speed ahead,” with the park on track to debut in May 2021.
Haval Renews Partnership with Russian Virtus.Pro for 2021
Chinese automobile company Great Wall Motor announced that their subsidiary brand Haval has renewed its partnership with Russian esports organization Virtus.Pro (VP).
A global automobile firm, Great Wall Motor sold 17,381 vehicles in Russia in 2020, up 41% year-on-year, the sales champion of Chinese automobile brands in the Russian market.
Virtus.pro is recognized as one of the best esports organizations in Russia, especially for the Dota 2 and CS:GO esports communities.
Haval was the exclusive automotive partner of Dota 2’s EPIC League Season 2 in November of 2020.
“Haval has achieved positive results in supporting the development of the esports industry in the past year, and in 2021, we will expand our partnership with VP Battle Team to accelerate the pace of exploration in the esports field,” Jerome Saigot, the COO of Russia’s Haval subsidiary said.
“We are proud of such a partner as Haval and are pleased with the results of our cooperation last year. Together, Haval and Virtus.pro managed to achieve their goals, so we are very glad to expand the partnership. The audiences of Dota 2 and CS: GO are different, and Haval will have more opportunities to implement its ideas,” argued by Sergey Glamazda, Virtus.pro’s General Manager.
Other Esports Business News:
- Riot Games’ League of Legends. Wild Rift mobile has received the approval of China’s National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) on Wednesday, alongside other 32 games, including Blizzard Entertainment, NetEase‘s mobile game Diablo Immortal, and Nintendo Switch’s Super Mario Party.
- Chat service Oxygen Yuyin signed a sponsorship deal with Chinese esports organization Suning Gaming (SN). The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
