NetEase

NetEase, Inc. (simplified Chinese: 网易; traditional Chinese: 網易; pinyin: Wǎngyì) is a Chinese Internet technology company providing online services centered on content, community, communications, and commerce. The company was founded in 1997 by Ding Lei. It develops and operates online PC and mobile games, advertising services, email services, and e-commerce platforms in China. It is one of the largest Internet and video game companies in the world.^[4] NetEase has an on-demand music-streaming service (NetEase Cloud Music). The video games include, Fantasy Westward Journey, Tianxia III, Heroes of Tang Dynasty Zero and Ghost II.^[5] NetEase has partnered with Blizzard Entertainment to operate Chinese versions of their games, such as World of Warcraft, StarCraft II and Overwatch from 2008 to 2023.^[6][7][8] In August 2023, NetEase launched an American studio led by Bethesda and BioWare veterans.^[9]

NetEase, Inc.

Headquarters in Hangzhou
Company type	Public
Traded as	Nasdaq: NTES SEHK: 9999
Industry	Internet
Founded	June 1997; 27 years ago (1997-06)
Founder	Ding Lei
Headquarters	Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China[1]
Key people	Ding Lei (CEO)
Products	Online services
Revenue	CN¥ 59.24 billion (2019)[2]
Operating income	CN¥ 13.79 billion (2019)[2]
Net income	CN¥ 21.43 billion (2019)[2]
Total assets	CN¥ 112.12 billion (2019)[2]
Number of employees	18,129 (December 2017)[3]
Divisions	NetEase YanXuan NetEase Cloud Music NetEase Games (Thunder Fire) NetEase Games (Interactive Entertainment) NetEase D&R Center Lab NetEase Wisdom Enterprise Youdao NetEase News
Subsidiaries	See § Development studios
Website	163.com

History

The company was founded in June 1997 by Chinese entrepreneur Ding Lei, and grew rapidly due in part to the investment in search engine technology.^[10] In 2012, the official name was changed from NetEase.com, Inc to NetEase, Inc.^[11]

The company's top executives quit amid possible advertisement revenue misreporting, and buy-out talks with i-Cable Communications and others were reported.^[12][13]

In 2008, the 163.com domain attracted at least 1.8 million visitors annually according to the Compete.com survey.^[14] In 2010, the site was the 28th most visited site in the world according to Alexa Internet rankings.^[15] NetEase's official website address is 163.com. It was attributed to the past when Chinese internet users dial "163" online, before the availability of broadband internet.^[16][17]

Tencent sued NetEase alleging copyright infringement in 2014.^[18]: 102 Tencent used its leverage from the suit to convince NetEase to sublicense music rights from Tencent.^[18]: 102 The sub-licensing arrangement that resulted became a model used by other online music platforms in China.^[18]: 102

NetEase is the largest provider of free e-mail services in China with over 940 million users since 2017. The company also ran 188.com and 126.com.^[19]

The company operates a news website at news.163.com and an associated app.^[20][21] Riot Games sued NetEase over alleged copyright violation concerning Valorant in 2022.^[22][23]

Expansion and acquisitions

NetEase launched the first western headquarters in August 2014, bringing one of the largest tech companies from China to the United States.^[24] In January 2020, NetEase discussed secondary listings with the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing.^[25]

NetEase invested US$100 million into Bungie for a minority stake in the company and a seat on the board of directors in June 2018.^[26] NetEase invested Aurora 44 in New Zealand and sold the comic books to Bilibili in December 2018.^[27][28] NetEase acquired Quantic Dream in August 2022 after the 2019 minority investment.^[29]

In June 2020, NetEase established Ouka Studios (Sakura Studios) to develop next-generation console games.^[30] The company has offices in Guangzhou, China and Shibuya, Tokyo.^[31]

NetEase acquired Grasshopper Manufacture from GungHo Online Entertainment in October 2021, incorporating the developer within the division.^[32]

In May 2022, NetEase opened Jackalope Games, founded by former Daybreak Game Company employee Jack Emmert.^[33] The company is later changed to Jackalyptic Games on May 18, 2023, and has a partnership with Games Workshop.^[34]

Toshihiro Nagoshi, Daisuke Sato, and several other former Sega employees established a new studio called Nagoshi Studio, which is part of their subsidiary.^[35]

NetEase established Jar Of Sparks on July 18, 2022, founded by former 343 Industries employee Jerry Hook.^[36] Polish VR studio Something Random announced that it had received an investment from NetEase.^[37]

In August 2022, NetEase acquired Quantic Dream after the 2019 minority investment in the company. It became a subsidiary part of its parent company and had NetEase objective to have more console game releases.^[38] Something Wicked Games founder Jeff Gardiner announced that NetEase had invested $13.2 million for the studio.^[39]

In October 2022, NetEase established a development company GPTRACK50 Studio, focused on console releases and led by former Capcom producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi.^[40]

In November 2022, NetEase announced that it had invested in Polish studio Rebel Wolves founded by Konrad Tomaszkiewicz,^[41] and the Norwegian fitness startup PlayPulse.^[42] NetEase acquired a minority stake for Liquid Swords in Stockholm.^[43]

NetEase acquired the Canadian studio Skybox Labs in January 2023.^[44]

In February 2023, NetEase opened the studio Spliced,^[45] and acquired the video game company Studio Flare which was established on September 6, 2022. It was founded by former Marvelous vice president Toshinori Aoki, and former Arc System Works employee and BlazBlue game creator Toshimichi Mori.^[46]

In March 2023, NetEase launched the Anici anime brand to "support the anime industry", delivering a variety of animation together with various partners.^[47]

In April 2023, NetEase opened Anchor Point Studios in Barcelona.^[48]

In May 2023, NetEase established Bad Brain Game Studios in Toronto and Montreal, Canada. It was founded by Watch Dogs and Driver: San Francisco game producer Sean Crooks. He is joined by a team of veteran developers who have worked on Far Cry 2, Child of Light, Just Dance, Army of Two, Splinter Cell: Conviction and Splinter Cell: Blacklist.^[49] NetEase established PinCool, a video game company in Tokyo, led by representative director and president, and Dragon Quest producer Ryutaro Ichimura.^[50]

In August 2023, NetEase established T-Minus Zero Entertainment. It is working on the online multiplayer-focus sci-fi action game.^[51]

In November 2023, NetEase established Fantastic Pixel Castle, founded by former Blizzard lead system designer Greg Street.^[52] NetEase opened the studio Worlds Untold, founded by Mass Effect game writer Mac Walters with the first project being a near-future action adventure game.^[53]

In February 2024, NetEase opened BulletFarm in Los Angeles, founded by Call of Duty veteran David Vonderhaar. The studio is working on a AAA co-op game with Unreal Engine 5.^[54]

Partnerships

The company has a history of partnerships with other companies. Blizzard Entertainment partnered with NetEase to bring some games for the Chinese market in 2008.^[55] NetEase and Blizzard announced the suspension of most game services within Mainland China, due to the expiration of current licensing agreement in January 2023.^[7] According to NetEast's statement on 17 November 2022, Overwatch 2, Diablo III, World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm, no longer received service in mainland China on 23 January 2023, and was not renewed.^[8]

In April 2012, NetEase began testing a restaurant recommendation mobile app called "Fan Fan".^[56][57] In 2017, NetEase made an agreement with the American company Marvel Comics to develop a comic based on a Chinese superhero. In addition, 12 comic copies by Marvel would be released online, such as The Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America and Guardians of the Galaxy.^[28]

The company collaborated with coursera.org to provide Massive Open Online Course in China.^[58] In 2014, NetEase launched an online course platform with educational content.^[59]

In collaboration between NetEase, The Pokémon Company and Game Freak, an expanded version of Pokémon Quest called Pokémon Adventure was released in China on 13 May 2021, which receives regular updates and events unlike other versions.^[60][61]

Chinese government regulation

In October 2020, the Cyberspace Administration of China ordered NetEase to undergo rectification and temporarily suspend certain comment functions, after censors found inappropriate comments on the news app.^[62]

Gamers trying the new release of Speedy Ninja at PAX 2015

Games

Year	Title	Developer	Publisher	Notes
2001	Fantasy Westward Journey	NetEase Games	NetEase Games
2002	Westward Journey Online II	NetEase Games
2015	Revelation Online	NetEase Games
2017	Rules of Survival	NetEase Games		Discontinued on 27 June 2022
2018	Creative Destruction	NetEase Games		Discontinued on 27 June 2022
	Galactic Frontline	NetEase Games		Online title, Closed in 2020[63]
	Identity V	NetEase Games
	LifeAfter	NetEase Games
2019	Cyber Hunter	NetEase Games
	Sky	Thatgamecompany		Published in China only
	Marvel Super War	NetEase Games
	Super Mecha Champions	NetEase Games
2020	Marvel Duel	NetEase Games
	Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night	ArtPlay		Android and iOS ports
2021	Ace Racer	NetEase Games
	Naraka: Bladepoint	24 Entertainment
	Astracraft	NetEase Games		Discontinued on 21 December 2022
	The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War	NetEase Games	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
2022	Diablo Immortal	NetEase Games, Blizzard Entertainment	Blizzard Entertainment
	Eggy Party	NetEase Games	NetEase Games
	Hyper Front	NetEase Games, BattleFun Games
	Lost Light	NetEase Games
2023	Dead by Daylight Mobile	Behaviour Interactive, NetEase Games	Behaviour Interactive, NetEase	Published in China only
2024	Bloodstrike	NetEase Games	NetEase Games	Available on iOS, iPadOS, Android and Windows
	Once Human	NetEase, Starry Studio	NetEase Games, Starry Studio	Available on Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows
	Marvel Rivals	NetEase Games	NetEase Games
TBA	Racing Master	Dahua Studios, Codemasters
	Tom and Jerry: Chase	NetEase Games
	Harry Potter: Magic Awakened	NetEase, Envoy Games	NetEase Games, Portkey Games, Envoy Games
	Where Winds Meet	Everstone Studio	NetEase Games
	Project: BloodStrike	NetEase Games
	Project: E.O.E
	Project: EXTREME
	Project Mugen	NetEase Games, Naked Rain

Licensed online games

• Three-year agreement to license Blizzard's title Overwatch in PRC^[64]
• Agreement to license Mojang's Minecraft and the pocket edition in China^[65]
  • Operated the Chinese third-party Minecraft Hypixel server, which was shut down on June 30, 2020^[66]
• Assumed the publishing of Eve Online in the Chinese market in October 2018^[67]

Development studios

Studio	Location
NetEase Games	Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou, China
Ouka Studios	Tokyo, Japan and Guangzhou, China
Grasshopper Manufacture	Tokyo, Japan
PinCool
Nagoshi Studio
NetEase Games Tokyo
GPTRACK50 Studio	Osaka, Japan
Studio Flare	Gotanda, Tokyo, Japan
Quantic Dream	Paris, France
Jackalyptic Games	Austin, Texas, United States
T-Minus Zero Entertainment
Jar of Sparks	Seattle, Washington, United States
Anchor Point Studios	Seattle, Washington, United States and Barcelona, Spain
NetEase Games North America	Los Angeles, California, United States
BulletFarm
NetEase Games Montreal	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
SkyBox Labs	Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Bad Brain Game Studios	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Worlds Untold	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Spliced	Manchester, United Kingdom
NetEase Games Korea	Seongnam, South Korea
Fantastic Pixel Castle	Remote studio

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External links

• Official website
• Business data for NetEase:
  • Google
  • SEC filings
  • Yahoo!