ePlay announce partnership with Chinese esports leader Next Joy

Mobile game developer ePlay Digital have announced a partnership with Next Joy for distribution and marketing for the Chinese market.

Next Joy is a major leader in esports, gaming, and augmented reality in China as well as an esports broadcasting and news service in China that reaches over 100 million viewers.

Andrew Wang, CEO of Next Joy said: “ePlay and Next Joy have started working together to create a great platform for mobile gaming and esports. We look forward to the first results of our teams’ collaboration with upcoming Big Shot launches in North America and China.”

ePlay is the developer of Big Shot Basketball, an augmented reality app that allows users to draft NBA players onto their team by walking around and finding them using the in-game camera app, similar to games like Pokemon Go or Ingress.

Philip Chen, Advisor for ePlay Digital, said: “ePlay’s partnership with Next Joy is the first step of the company’s strategic execution in China. China represents 38.7% global mobile esports game revenues on iOS and 30% for Android.”

“ePlay and Next Joy have started working together to create a great platform for mobile gaming and esports”

Mobile esports in China is a booming market, with Tencent’s Arena of Valor peaking at 200m players and hitting almost 10m hours watched(not including Chinese viewers) during the World Championships in 2018 according to Esports Charts. In our recent interview with Anthony Wong of  Jiang Hu Esports Club, he also revealed how mobile is now the mainstream for Chinese esports. 

Esports Insider says: The concept for Big Shot Basketball is interesting, attempting to leverage the popularity of Pokemon Go and fantasy sports with a big brand like the NBA. Bringing the app to China is a good move, as basketball is one of the most popular sports in that country. We are keen to see how this partnership capitalises on the huge popularity of mobile gaming and mobile esports in China. 

Join our Discord Server!