Shanghai district thinks big on esports

Article posted by Coliseum, June 11^th, 2020

Image: Ti Gong/shine.cn

Putuo district in Shanghai, China, may soon boast a new esports arena. The venue will be developed as Shanghai’s business district tries to bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic.

The ESP ESports Experience Center will cover 36,000m2 in Putuo’s Changfeng business district. The esports arena is expected to be completed in 2025.

The new esports arena will serve as the main host for the top-level Honor of Kings competition, the multiplayer mobile game which has taken China by storm.

The King Pro League’s East China regional competition is also expected to be held in the venue, which will host over 350 games a year.

As per the Culture and Tourism Bureau of the district, Putuo is aiming to make esports one of its key industries and make the area a global esports capital.

In downtown Putuo, several key esports venues have come up, including the IMBA esports center at Global Harbor Mall, the biggest downtown shopping mall and an esports Internet bar at Huxi Worker’s Cultural Palace.

Recent contracts were inked to make Putuo a base and the developments include a lab of the International Innovation Center of Tsinghua University in Shanghai, and an Innovation Center on 5G Communication Technology and Smart Vehicles. The varsity will focus on aerospace, integrated circuits, artificial intelligence (AI) and futuristic technologies.

The Innovation Center of Tsinghua University is a venture between the city Government and Tsinghua. Six labs have been set up in fields such as cloud technology, information safety and automobiles.

The district Government also released policies to help Putuo-based companies recover from losses amid the pandemic and enhance and make robust the district’s business environment.

Another new project, the Weng Tian Xia Innovation Center, will mainly develop and infuse money in 5G, smart vehicles and intelligent hardware. The center will operate out of a new nine-story office building in the Changfeng area.

The District’s Director, Jiang Dongdong, said the focus will be on luring more companies to Putuo as well as projects with preferential policies and services.

New incentives for Putuo companies include additional rent waivers, employment subsidies, online finance services and guarantees for bigger loans.

The district’s Development and Reform Commission informed that the new measures adopted will go on to benefit small- and medium-sized enterprises, private firms and the hospitality sector, the culture and entertainment industry as well as the transport and tourism sectors which has borne the major brunt of the COVID-19 bane.

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