China invests over two billion euros in eSports city

The new city will not only provide large-scale training facilities for a wide range of eSports teams, but also a hotel, its own amusement park, and a hospital specially designed for eSports players and their medical conditions.

A total of 14 building complexes are planned for the eSports city. Until completion, around 2.2 billion euros will flow into the Chinese eSports project - all financed by the state in personal union with the local city government.

LGD Gaming, known for its successful League of Legends and Dota 2 teams, was the first to move into Hangzhou, designating it as its headquarters. Allied Sports, a joint venture that operates various eSports arenas, is now also based there.

Among them in China are the Beijing Arena, the Tianjin Arena in China and the eSports arenas in Oakland and Las Vegas in the USA. The consortium is backed by various eSports companies as well as game manufacturers and publishers. One of the best-known partners is probably Ourgame International, the organizers of the WPT World Poker Tour.

If the makers of the eSports City have their way, many more teams are to follow, thus attracting several 10,000 gamers to Hangzhou in the next few years. At the same time, the city also expects a financial return of more than 100 million euros in the form of various tax revenues.

In addition, the city will also host the Asian Games in 2022. Already at last year's Asian Games in Indonesia's capital Jakarta, eSports was successfully included in the program as a demonstration sport. Thanks to this alignment, the central government in Beijing wants to guarantee sustainability and ensure a large utilization of the facility in the future as well. The metropolis with millions of inhabitants is to become the capital of eSports.

These are not the only plans for the creation of an eSports center in a Chinese city. Tech company Tencent - the makers behind Fortnite and PUBG - has signed a deal with Wuhu, a city of around four million people in Anhui province, to establish an eSports City.

Interestingly, the two cities are only about a three-hour drive apart. Unlike Hangzhou, the eSports area in Wuhu will be built outside the city gates. Unfortunately, it is unclear whether the foundation stone has already been laid, and a date for the end of the project has not yet leaked out. One thing is certain, however: Just like in Hangzhou, everything will revolve around the topic of eSports.

That's why the plans include a training center, a leisure park, a tech center and an eSports university . The university will train and support eSports players. In addition, the new cloud center of the Chinese tech giant is to be built alongside an animation studio. The plan is also to hold eSports tournaments and other events related to the topic of eSports.

In the city of Chongqing in the Chinese province of Zhongxian, another location for eSports has been built in recent years in the form of the "Zhongxian Stadium", which is scheduled for completion later this year. A total of 20,000 spectators are to be seated here. In addition to the arena, a hotel and a center for more than just gaming start-ups will be built in the coming months.

Just like Hangzhou, Wuhu and Chongqing also want to profit financially from the eSports boom and hope for a tourism boom from the project in addition to the possible tax revenue. It remains to be seen whether an eSports city can prevail and other countries dare to undertake similar projects.