Netease to Invest RMB 30 Mln to Promote Competitive Gaming
Sina Tech, 9/04/13
William Ding, CEO of Chinese internet company Netease (Nasdaq: NTES), has announced that the company will invest RMB 30 mln to promote the development of competitive gaming in China as part of the company's "Bread Campaign" ("Mianbo Xingdong"). The first game featured in the campaign is Netease's self-developed MMORPG Heroes of Three Kingdoms, which will launch unlimited closed beta testing on September 11. At the end of 2013, Netease will launch a "NET" e-sports competition in China, featuring MMORPGs such as StarCraft II, Warcraft III, and DOTA, in addition to Netease's Heroes of Three Kingdoms.
As part of the Bread Campaign, Netease will reward the top 200 gamers on the Heroes of Three Kingdoms monthly leaderboard with an average of RMB 1,600 in prize money (giving them "bread" to eat), with the first place gamer receiving RMB 10,000. In addition, Netease has put together an RMB 10 mln prize pool to encourage competitive gaming clubs and publications to organize Netease-affiliated gaming competitions. At the end of September, Netease will also launch a game competition linking internet cafes in 100 cities across China, and promote the creation of competitive gaming clubs on college campuses across the country.
Keywords: StarCraft II Starcraft William Ding Netease Internet NTES Heroes of Three Kingdoms Warcraft III online gaming
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