At the Tencent Esports Global Summit, Mars Hou, vice president of Tencent Games and general manager of Tencent Esports, revealed Tencent Esports’ new business and commercial plan. The plan will focus on esports hotels (tourist economy), internet cafés (entertainment economy), esports coffee bars (food and restaurant), and esports home products.
Tencent Esports announced the signing of a partnership deal with Canadian fast-food restaurant chain Tim Hortons at last year’s summit. Tencent Esports and Tim Hortons will remain partners, and build more coffee bars in Chinese cities, as well as a co-branded flagship store in Shenzhen, alongside Tencent Holdings headquarters.
For new partnerships in esports hotels and esports homes, Tencent Esports has signed partnership deals with Hong Kong-based luxury hotel group Shangri-La, and Swedish home furniture Ikea, respectively. Tencent Esports and Ikea will provide co-branded home furniture, such as gaming chairs, hardware storage walls, and desks.
The first co-branded hotel rooms will be produced at 13 Shangri-La hotels around five Chinese cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an, Chengdu, and Haikou. Even more hotel brands have shown interest in the esports business, including HYATT, Wanda, ASCOTT, among others.
Tencent Esports has also signed a partnership deal with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE), the world’s largest electrical and electronic association. The two will design the standard draft for “Esports Broadcasting,” and “Esports Fairness.”
