Wanda Group, owned by China's richest man Wang Jianlin, made its official entry into the game sector when it set up a new game unit Wanda Cinemas Games yesterday.
It's a new piece of Wanda's business covering real estate, cinema, tourism and e-sports to offer global consumers "various experiences, digital entertainment services and a modern lifestyle," said Zeng Maojun, president of Wanda Cinema Line Co, the Shenzhen-listed subsidiary of Wanda Group.
"Wanda's membership and content resources will become major drivers to Wanda's entertainment services" in the future, Zeng added.
The formation of the game unit came after Wanda acquired a game firm for 2.6 billion yuan ($377 million) last year.
Wanda Cinemas Games, now under Wanda Cinema Line, will distribute dozens of new games in 2017 and 2018 and hopes to lead China's game industry.
But analysts warned that the firm faces strong competition from Tencent and NetEase, which have captured 70 percent of the domestic game distribution market.