Wanyoo, Asia’s largest gaming café chain, has announced it will open a brand new esports studio in London later this month on the 29th January.
With the opening of the café, it is set to instantly become the largest public esports studio in the UK, providing multi-purpose gaming facilities, professional esports equipment and gaming PCs. The café will cater to the more hardcore esports community, as well as casual gamers.
Wanyoo Information Technology Co. Ltd. is the company set to open the studio, backed by a £21 million investment from Sicong Wang (Sephirex), the son of the Chinese billionaire Jianlin Wang. The company has outlined its mission as to promote the growth of the gaming industry in the United Kingdom.
The space, set to open on Charing Cross Road, will feature a 12-station esports “battle area”, a public gaming area, and a mobile phone gaming space – which will all be available to the general public. In addition, the space features six private two-player rooms, six private group-gaming rooms with sofas, Xbox and PS4 consoles with a 55-inch television. There will also be another room with popular Eastern and Western board games available for public use.
The release states that if gamers require assistance, they can press a bell beside their PC and members of staff – each adorning a service watch, will be with them in under 40 seconds so as not to interrupt the gaming experience.
Wanyoo has worked with Tencent, Shanda Group, Intel and Invictus Games, and has partnered with League of Legends and Dota 2, to provide members with exclusive benefits.
Wanyoo UK is also planning to launch an online platform for gamers and the company will collaborate with universities and esports societies to hold training sessions, workshops and events for the general public.
Feng Huang, the founder of Wanyoo, made the following pledge: “Wanyoo is dedicated to meeting customer needs and demands. By constantly upgrading our facilities and products, we aim to be the leaders of innovation in the internet café industry.”
Wanyoo UK will provide players with between 50-70 popular PC and console games including, but not limited to: League of Legends, Dota 2, Overwatch, Hearthstone, Fortnite, PUBG, World of Warcraft, FIFA 19, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Call of Duty. These will be pre-installed on all 88 PCs within the facility and additional games can be downloaded on request.
Wanyoo UK will also offer 1G dedicated internet access, and exclusive “UK 100M Premium China Traffic”. Peripherals are provided, although gamers have the option to bring and use their own.
To ensure a smooth gaming experience, Wanyoo UK will offer players 1G Dedicated Internet Access and exclusive UK 100M Premium China Traffic. Professional esports peripherals are provided but gamers also have the option to plug in their own devices.
The 5,330 sq.ft. esports studio also holds a coffee/food bar with sofas, desks and high-speed internet access as well as a public entertainment area with a 120-inch projector screen on which guests can watch live streams of esports broadcasts.
Zhaorong Chen, a Director of Wanyoo UK, commented: “We hoped to create a platform to help gamers turn their hobbies into a career by providing them with the tools to succeed and the opportunity to connect with professional gamers, professional esports organisations and gaming associations in the UK.”
Chen added: “I wanted to develop a gaming environment and social platform for the entire community; one that would allow people to have fun, relax, interact and socialise.”
Esports Insider: Is this heaven? Or just Wanyoo? We’re loving what we’re hearing here. With a fabulous location in Central London, and what sound like phenomenal facilities – this is going to be a hive for esports activity right on our doorstep. We can’t wait to check the place out and probably spend half of our lives in the new café.