NetEase does not anticipate releasing any new video games with foreign developer...

NetEase does not anticipate releasing any new video games with foreign developers until at least 2025

NetEase does not anticipate releasing any new video games with foreign developers until at least 2025

February 25, 2023 5:35 pm

Following its protracted split with US company Blizzard Entertainment, a senior NetEase official has stated that the video game company won't be publishing any games with foreign companies until at least 2025.

On an earnings call on Thursday, Charles Yang Zhaoxuan, chief financial officer of China's second-largest video game company, stated that while the company is still investing in foreign studios, the earliest any foreign titles would be available for purchase is 2025.

As a result, unless the company's investment in foreign studios is able to produce any "good surprises" for revenue, Yang predicted that the company's earnings will stay "pretty steady" over the next two to three years.

The Hangzhou-based firm considerably increased its foreign investment as it struggled with a local regulatory crackdown that caused video game sales to decline by almost 10% in 2022.

The overseas strategy of NetEase Games has been centered on obtaining high-profile intellectual property from well-known brands. It bought French video game company Quantic Dream in September 2022, giving it permission to publish a planned Star Wars game. Mobile games based on the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings brands have previously been produced by NetEase, enabling it to reach a worldwide audience and monetise properties on a global scale.

Purchasing and funding game companies can also help NetEase in achieving its goal of creating consoles. Toshihiro Nagoshi, previously of Japanese game company Sega and producer of the Yakuza franchise, a well-known Japanese console game title that is only released on Sony Play Station, founded the "Nagoshi Studio" in Japan in January 2022.

According to statistics from American analytics company Sensor Tower, NetEase was sixth among Chinese gaming businesses in terms of international income in 2022, after miHoYo, Tencent, Funplus, 37Games, and Lilith Games.

Games and associated value-added services accounted for approximately 80% of NetEase's yearly net revenue of 74.6 billion yuan ($10.8 billion), an increase of 10% from the previous year. Moreover, total sales climbed by 10% to 94.5 billion yuan, down from the 15% rise in 2021.

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