Jan. 9 (NBD) -- Greenland Financial Holdings Group, a subsidiary of Shanghai-based real estate Greenland Group, announced that it has invested 60 million yuan (9.2 million U.S. dollars) to acquire a 50 percent stake in an e-sports startup, Amazing Center. 

A model of "Real Estate + Finance + E-sports" comes under exploration

The move differs from not only the usual models of "Finance Plus" or "Consumption Plus" adopted by real estate enterprises but also the company's previous investment.

With this regard, Zhang Yuliang, chairman and president of Greenland Group explained that he highly values the potential of the e-sports industry, saying that the young industry holds enormous promises and will exert a synergistic effect on Greenland Group's real estate business.

Zhang further noted that e-sports arenas are expected to become hotspots for development in the coming years, given that, Greenland Group can combine its strengths in the real estate with Amazing Center's advantages in e-sports operation. In joint hands, the two sides can build a leading enterprise in the e-sports industry, Zhang added.

Geng Jing, a vice-president of Greenland Group and chairman of Greenland Financial told NBD that Greenland will develop pan-entertainment centering e-sports in the country's 10 main cities, taking customer experience and content as the starting point and integrating game scenes, content with offline facilities, so as to generate new profit points including entrance tickets and catering service.

Geng revealed that Greenland Financial will work together with the government of Qingfu District in Shanghai to build the nation's largest e-sports stadium and prepare for the construction of e-sports towns in the future.

To Geng, the foray into the e-sports industry represents Greenland's efforts to integrate the company's existing business with the e-sports to realize a new business model of "Real Estate + Finance + E-sports +".

The role which the company will play in the process is to provide a platform and to support its partners to create more attractive game contents, Geng commented.

Photo/VCG 

Newcomers flocks in the blue ocean market of e-sports

Over the past several years, China's e-sports industry has been taking off and gained a fast growth.

According to data released by industry research institutes such as iResearch, NewZoo and Analysys, China's e-sports market reached around 33.76 billion yuan (5.19 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017, up 49.2 percent compared with 22.63 billion yuan (3.48 billion U.S. dollars) in 2014. Besides, in 2017, e-sports attracted over 220 million users in total.

NBD noticed that besides the new players from the real estate field like Greenland Group and Dalian Wanda Group, TMT (Technology, Media, Telecom) giants including Tencent, Suning, JD.com and Softbank, Sequoia Capital and other venture capitals had flocked in this blue ocean market.

Shenzhen-listed Lander Sports has made several investment moves into e-sports events and platforms.

Chinese outdoor advertising firm Focus Media led the investment in the e-sports operator Hero Sports with 300 million yuan (46.2 million U.S. dollars).

In general, be it an internet company, a TV/film company, or real estate enterprise, they all want a slice out of the big pie of the e-sports market.

So far as it goes, NetEase and Tencent dominate China's online games market, taking as much as 70 percent of the market share.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn