Jul 31, 2020|
JD Launches E-Sports Plan with Industry Partners
by Rachel Liu
JD announced today to launch JD E-Sports Plan with partners including Tencent, Black Shark, Red Magic, ROG, Lenovo, telecoms, and several mobile phone supply chain manufacturers. The announcement was made at ChinaJoy, the largest gaming convention in China.
The initiative aims to accelerate the development of the gaming phone industry. This will be achieved by focusing on gaming devices and e-sports competitions and providing a better gaming experience to players. JD was the first company to create the concept of a “gaming phone” back in 2017, and quickly started to work with mobile phone brands to develop gaming phone products using the C2M model.
The mobile gaming industry is growing rapidly. According to industry data, there were 630 million mobile phone gamers in China in 2019. Demand for gaming products is increasing. During JD’s 618 sale this year, the transaction volume of gaming phones increased 150% year-on-year.
“With the launch of JD E-Sports Plan, we hope to leverage JD’s advantages in user traffic, technology, supply chain, and payments to help industry partners amplify the value of their businesses. This could happen through holding gaming competitions, building marketing platforms, empowering supply chain manufacturers, or exploring innovative technologies.” said Daniel Tan, president of JD Mobile Devices.
For marketing programs, JD will hold themed marketing campaigns based on big data and customer behaviors to precisely target at game lovers.
For hardware and device development, JD will co-develop standards for gaming phones with Tencent, as well as gaming phone brands and manufacturers, ultimately providing better C2M gaming phone products. JD has also launched a series of services including trade-ins and 30-day trials, both targeting gaming phone customers.
JD will work with its partners to hold exciting e-sports competitions, the organization of which has been recognized by the industry. JD Cup, an e-sports competition sponsored by JD, has been the organizer Honor of Kings (one of the top mobile games in China) tournaments for two consecutive years. JD was also the exclusive e-commerce partner for KPL Spring, KPL Fall, and the Honor of Kings Anniversary in 2019. Moving forward, JD plans to work in close conjunction with Tencent Games on e-sports clubs and competitions.
JD will also promote mobile gaming in universities and build a player ecosystem among college students. In an upcoming JD livestreaming project held for them, over 10,000 teams are expected to join over 50,000 live broadcasts.