NetEase Shines as Dominant Force in China's Online Game Market

GUANGZHOU, China, Nov. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES), one of China's leading Internet and online game services providers, highlighted its all star line-up for upcoming mobile games at the Global Game Exhibition G-STAR 2015. The international expo kicked off in Busan, South Korea on November 12, 2015 with many of China's core game giants participating, such as NetEase, as China's online game industry is on track to become the world's largest game market.

NetEase's games carry a strong reputation among game professionals and enthusiasts with products known for their quality and innovation. Flexing its muscles at global game exhibitions is one of the ways NetEase has been expanding its business in international markets. In recent months, NetEase has launched a handful of new mobile games for overseas audiences to a positive reception.

From Chinese self-developed IP to international licensed products, from masterpieces of extreme visual art to images of great American heroes, NetEase is dedicated to developing and operating various brands and products. Dedicated to successful leadership in China's online game market, the Company has established its own "NetEase Model" for the online game industry in both China and overseas.

NetEase currently has two of the top grossing games in the iOS China app store, Westward Journey Online mobile and Fantasy Westward Journey mobile. Fantasy Westward Journey mobile has also been ranked ultiple times as a top 10 app on Worldwide App Annie, supporting the rising domination of China's online games in the international market. NetEase's mobile portfolio stands strong with more than 50 titles. The company is actively growing this position through the addition of more exciting self-developed and licensed games, where it has experience cooperating with international online game giants to bring relevant titles to Chinese audiences.

Blockbuster games and famous IPs are arousing NetEase's partnership interests as it seeks to bring the game industry in China new and exciting game experiences. Let's take a glance of those world famous mobile games and movie publishers NetEase has cooperated with. 

NetEase is excited to launch open beta testing for Raven, Korea's top-hit mobile game,  in coming months. . Raven, known as the Korean "Fantasy Westward Journey," is a super action role-playing game of console quality with amazing action and dynamic real time battles.

The 3D action-adventure game, Blades of Time, created by U.S. nWay and +GTA also became one of NetEase's licensed products, sweeping China's social media platform, WeChat.

With NetEase's strong operating capabilities, Japan's famous card game,KAI-RI-SEI MILLION ARTHUR, was ranked at the top of China's ACGN mobile games.

NetEase has also worked with Oriental DreamWorks to launch a three series mobile game, Kung Fu Panda. This successful series one was ranked as one of the top paid games in China's iOSapp store. The past two open beta testings of the official Kung Fu Panda mobile game has received positive reviews, and has been called the "King of the Action-adventure Game" for both 2015 and 2016. NetEase will launch open beta testing for the game on November 26, 2015.

Named after the hit Korean drama My Love from the Star, the community mobile game Dream City also won the admiration of game professionals and players, and its popularity swept through the China mobile game market.

World of Warcraft^®, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game created by Blizzard Entertainment is also operated by NetEase in China. The game is set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, and is greatly enjoyed by players worldwide. Blizzard Entertainment licensed World of Warcraft to NetEase to operate the game in China, forging a longstanding partnership between Blizzard and NetEase that has been well received by China's game market.

Hearthstone^®: Heroes of Warcraft^™ -- an online collectible card game developed by Blizzard Entertainment -- was licensed to NetEase in China as well, and reached a record peak concurrent user level in the second quarter of this year.

The action role-playing (ARPG) game, Diablo III^®: Reaper of Souls^™ was launched on March 25, 2015 and is also operated by NetEase in China.  

Facebook's annual recommended mobile game Cookie Jam, a casual, match-3 puzzle baking adventure, has also became part of the NetEase family.

99 Bricks: Wizard Academy, rewarded as the recommended puzzle and defense game by app stores of 127 countries and areas, was licensed to NetEase in China. NetEase launched open beta testing for this game on August 28, 2015.

NetEase partnered Warner Bros. Movie and launched Tom and Jerry, marking the first chasing mobile game in China, with more than 20 million users.

NetEase Games' IP is diverse and expanding with a brand that is driving fast growth in China mobile game market. NetEase has solid capital and industry leading product development and operations capabilities, which proves attractive to existing and potential partners. In addition, NetEase is dedicated to investing in its self-developed products, with mobile games that domestic players love and their popularity continues to spread in international markets.

Most recently, NetEase has launched the action mobile games Monkey King Smash Brawl and The World HD in international markets. Monkey King Smash Brawl was launched in November 2014, recommended by the iOS app store five times, and won more than 20 world mobile game prizes. As the first in a series of self-developed mobile games by NetEase, Monkey King Smash Brawl has been launched for one year, and was upgraded as Monkey King Smash Brawl 2 in July 2015. The World HD offers a stunning 3D action adventure experience, a convenient smart operation mode and variant fight experience, which has been touted as a great mobile game in MMORPG. Monkey King Smash Brawl and The World HD have dominated the international game market. The successful launch of Monkey King Smash Brawl paved the way for smooth global launches of subsequent games such as Lunar Flowers and The Beautiful Dream.

NetEase Games launched its self-developed Lunar Flowers -- an atmospheric puzzle game - on iOS app on September 22, 2015. The game received the recommended game title by iOS app store, and was ranked the Best New Game in the store. NetEase released its second atmospheric puzzle artwork The Beautiful Dream worldwide. The game ranked No. 2 in the free app store, receiving good reviews from worldwide users. The action-RPG mobile game Eternal Arena was launched in international markets and NetEase is pleased with the favorable feedback from media and users alike. NetEase's R&D team is devoted to applying the art of the games to their overall performance, a strategy that has proved successful so far. For example, the MMORPG genre online game Grand Parade in West and the blockbuster self-developed mobile game The X-World are designed to showcase traditional Chinese culture, an attribute to the NetEase's brand.  

In summary, NetEase operates diverse genres of games including puzzle, action, defense and card games, and is dedicated to carrying out a "Go Global" and "Bring in" strategy. By collaborating with global renowned game publishers, NetEase is well positioned in international and domestic game market.

NetEase has a strong community with hundreds of millions of users with numerous successful self-developed games and products.

NetEase has strong game pipelines and is planning to launch a variety of mobile games in 2016. With solid market share in China, and a strategy to expand its reach internationally, NetEase is driving additional growth for the Company and the broader global online game market.

Financially, NetEase is also performing extremely well. On November 12, 2015, NetEase announced its unaudited financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2015 demonstrating record quarterly net revenues and net profit of RMB6,672 million (US$1,050 million) and RMB1.9 billion (US$296.1 million), respectively.

We look forward to seeing NetEase grow its loyal base of online game users in China and expand its reach to players in international markets.