Wanyoo, Asia’s largest gaming café chain, is set to open what it claims to be London’s largest esports studio later this month.
And it seems like it’s placing customer service at the top of its agenda. If any assistance is required, gamers can press a bell beside their PC and a member of staff (all be wearing service watches) will provide ‘instantaneous help’. They will tend to the customer within 40 seconds ‘to limit interruptions to the gaming experience’.
The 5,330 sq. ft. esports studio comprises a coffee and food bar with sofas, desks, 1Gbps internet access and a public entertainment area with a 120-inch projector screen displaying esports livestreams.
Esports News UK first broke the news last November that Wanyoo would be opening a string of internet and esports cafes in the UK. Now it has confirmed the first will be opening this month on January 29th.
Last year Red Bull claimed its London Gaming Sphere was the UK’s largest esports studio when it opened in March.
The new Wanyoo esports studio will be located at 77-79 Charing Cross Rd, London WC2H 0NE. It will include multipurpose gaming facilities, leisure services, professional esports equipment as well as 88 PCs, and aims to cater to both the esports community and casual gamers. Players can bring their own devices too.
There will be a 12-station esports area, a public gaming area and a mobile phone gaming space, six private two-player rooms, six private group-gaming rooms with a sofa, and Xbox and PS4 consoles connected to a 55-inch television, as well as a board game room.
“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.”
Zhaorong Chen, Wanyoo UK
Wanyoo UK will provide players with around 50 to 70 games, including League of Legends, Dota 2, Overwatch, Hearthstone, Fortnite, PUBG, World of Warcraft, FIFA 19, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Call of Duty and others pre-installed on the PCs. Other games can be
downloaded on request.
The company 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.
Wanyoo founder Feng Huang said: “By constantly upgrading our facilities and products, we aim to be the leaders of innovation in the internet café industry.”
Zhaorong Chen, director at Wanyoo UK, added: “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.
“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.”
Wanyoo was established in 1998 and operates more than 1,000 stores in over 50 cities. It’s backed by a £21 million investment from Sicong Wang (Sephirex), the son of the Chinese billionaire Jianlin Wang.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
I’ve been to South Korea for the League of Legends World Championship. Being there I was able to visit a PC Bang. In there it is normal for the visitors to click on a button on their rented computer and the staff member will be at their booth almost immediately. So it is nothing new but only for the western audience. Still, a great thing to read about.