China’s immersive entertainment market is moving faster than many people outside China realise.
So I’m starting a new series:
China Immersive Watch
I’ll be sharing 2-3 posts a week on signals coming from China’s VR, XR, VR cinema, metaverse, immersive tourism and location-based entertainment market.
Not because every project will succeed, many will not.
But because China is becoming one of the fastest live testing grounds for the future of visitor experiences.
Here is the first signal.
Chengdu was recently recognised in China’s 2025 national metaverse case list, with 11 projects selected. That puts it first among China’s sub-provincial cities by number of selected cases.
But the more interesting part is not the award.
It is where these experiences are appearing.
According to the report, more than 80% of Chengdu’s large shopping centres have already introduced VR games or metaverse experience projects.
That is a serious signal.
It means immersive entertainment is no longer sitting only inside specialist venues, tech parks or demo zones.
It is moving into mainstream consumer spaces.
Shopping centres.
Family destinations.
Youth culture.
Weekend leisure.
New retail footfall strategies.
This matters because retail destinations around the world are facing the same problem:
Footfall alone is not enough.
People need a reason to visit.
They need something they cannot get online.
They need social experiences, shareable moments and activities worth leaving home for.
VR and immersive experiences can help, but only if they are treated as real visitor products, not technology displays.
That is the key lesson.
A headset does not create demand.
A story does.
A social reason does.
A strong location does.
A repeatable operating model does.
In China, we are seeing shopping centres test VR, XR and immersive formats at speed.
Some will become strong new entertainment anchors.
Some will disappear after the novelty fades.
The difference will come down to content, operation, audience fit and commercial discipline.
At Immersia XR, this is exactly the area we are exploring in the UK through XR Walking Theatre, where audiences physically walk inside story worlds.
So for me, China Immersive Watch is not about saying “China is ahead, copy China.”
It is about asking better questions:
What is China testing?
What is working?
What is failing?
What can venues, IP owners, investors and operators learn?
And what does this tell us about the future of location-based entertainment?
My view:
The future of shopping centres will not only be retail.
It will be retail plus entertainment, culture, story, technology and experience.
China is testing that future in real time.
China Immersive Watch starts here.
What immersive entertainment formats are you seeing appear in shopping centres or retail destinations near you?
Wim Stocks and 73 others
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Originally published on LinkedIn as part of China Immersive Watch.