Net cafe's new avatar is video game destination

China's internet cafes in the 1990s were where socially awkward young men would shut themselves off the real world and get immersed for long hours on end in video games.

However, now, the majority of Chinese people can afford to play such games on their own computers at home. As the number of visitors drops, internet cafes in China are reinventing themselves.

They have made gaming a social activity. No more is the pastime - indulgence, if you will - a solo act, thanks to the rise of e-sports.

Zhan Bar, an e-sports bar chain, which was recently launched by the Shenzhen-listed Hubei Century Network Technology Co Ltd, is dedicated to helping high-end internet bars in China's major cities boost their attendance by attracting more and more players.

Internet bars can join Zhan Bar as associates and become part of a network. They will receive a full package of support services from Hubei Century Network Technology, a major gaming service provider in China.

Customers of such internet cafes could easily meet and know fellow e-sports fans at the same cafe and agree to do e-battle online. Else, they are free to pick the brains of expert players and receive tips to improve their gaming skills.

"The commercial potential of the e-sports industry lies not in the few professional gamers but in the massive number of ordinary players," said Zhang Pan, marketing director of Hubei Century Network Technology.

"With our strategy, we hope internet bars can become the venue for the 127 million e-sports fans in China to find suitable partners to team up, do battle and enjoy e-sports," he said.

According to Zhang, with the company's support in technology, event-planning and marketing, city- or province-wise patrons of internet bars will be able to team up and battle in national e-sports tournaments organized by Zhan Bar. They can even gather at local internet bars to watch live webcasts of e-sports competitions together.

About 100 internet bars across China have already signed up to join the Zhan Bar network. The company said it plans to enroll 500 internet bars in all by the end of this year.

China is the biggest e-sports market worldwide by the number of players, according to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of China.

"With the boom, e-sports bars now meet users' need to meet offline. Creating e-sports themes can help internet bars get core resources and withstand competition," said Teng Hua, president of CNG Games Research Center, a leading gaming industry research institution in Beijing.

Located in the premises of the Liudaokou subway station in Beijing, White Night Internet Cafe has reformatted itself as an e-sports destination, thanks to support from Hubei Century Network Technology since mid-2015. White Night is keen to test e-sports waters as part of the Zhan Bar network.

Spread over an area of 1,000 square meters, White Night has 235 top-end personal computers, including a business and leisure zone composed of all-in-one iMacs, a high-end e-sports battling zone and an area dedicated to couples.

"Zhan Bar's support in marketing and event-planning has increased our popularity and promoted our business. Now, the average daily traffic has reached 2,000 visits with the highest daily turnover hitting 30,000 yuan ($4,545)," said Li Jin, planning director of White Night.

Since his junior years, before he graduated from Beijing City University this summer, Xuan Haoran, 24, has been a frequent visitor to White Night. "E-sport competitions need a teamwork. Internet cafes enable me to have face-to-face interaction with my friends so that we can better play games together. It is a great place to have a social life offline," he said.