A fully privately-funded project, driven by investor Zhang Haohan, six years after its inception.

Invictus Gaming officially announced on May 5 the opening of its new arena in Shanghai's Putuo district. The first official match held at the venue will pit iG against BLG on May 12, 2026, as part of the LPL championship. Named the Inzone Esports Industrial Park, the complex is part of the Inzone real estate project that Zhang Haohan operates in Shanghai.

While the announcement was made public today, the complex is not entirely new: it has already hosted several productions over the past year. What's new is that the building will also become an official production studio for Huya, the Chinese broadcaster that took a stake in iG in 2024.

The exact capacity of the main arena has not yet been announced it is expected to be confirmed during the first game.

A self-funded project

The arena was entirely financed by Zhang Haohan, without any major sponsor or backing from a corporate group. The iG shareholder and well-known figure in Shanghai's business scene also owns the Inzone City Plaza shopping complex.

On his Weibo account, Zhang accompanied the opening with a personal message. He recalls launching the project six years ago, without public subsidies or backing from a publisher, and having weathered industrial partner failures as well as the pandemic.

He himself describes the arena as "the worst-return-on-investment project of his entire career", adding that the project nearly had to be abandoned midway through.

According to the investor, the project will have cost at least $20 million.

An esports conglomerate

The arena is part of the local strategy iG announced in April 2025: iG's offices are based at the Inzone Cloud Center, while the arena and the PGC production center sit about one kilometer away. The stated goal is to cover, within a single perimeter, the group's entire value chain: pro team, home league, event production, player management and game distribution.

The district welcomes the project

The opening of the complex is being closely followed by the Putuo district, which is making iG one of its flagships, hailing through its official media "the strong return of this historic franchise". The district also specifies that Aiji Sports, the venue's operating company, was brought to Putuo by the Bureau of Culture and Tourism — a way for the municipality to claim the project as a 10,000 m² territorial asset, and not merely as the personal investment of an iG shareholder.

Who owns iG today?

This new arena belongs to the post-Wang Sicong era of the club. As a reminder, iG was acquired in November 2024 by Huya and Yangwang Sports, who took an 80% stake, with historic founder Wang Sicong retaining a minority share but no longer involved in management. Zhang Haohan, for his part, acts as an investor. He pointed out earlier this year, during a public dispute with Doinb and Zhu Kai, that his public statements "only commit himself, not the club".

Sources : 叫张总也不行 (Weibo) shpt.gov.cn @Igenico (X/Twitter)