NetEase

NetEase, Inc. () is a Chinese Internet technology company founded by Ding Lei in June 1997. It provides online services with content, community, communications, and commerce. The company 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. The company owns multiple pig farms. 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''. NetEase operated the Chinese version of Blizzard Entertainment games from 2008 to 2023, such as ''World of Warcraft'', '' StarCraft II'', and '' Overwatch''.

NetEase trades on the Chinese and American stock markets. The company trades as 9999 on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and NTES on Nasdaq.

History

Ding Lei founded the company in June 1997. It grew due in part to the investment in search engine technology.

On July 1, 2000, the company was floated on the American stock market with an initial public offering on Nasdaq. 4.5 million shares were issued at $15.5 per share. The IPO was underwritten by Merrill.

In 2012, the official name was changed from NetEase.com, Inc to NetEase, Inc. The company's top executives quit amid possible advertisement revenue misreporting, and buy-out talks with i-Cable Communications and others were reported.

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

Tencent sued NetEase alleging copyright infringement in 2014. It used the leverage from the suit to convince the company to sublicense music rights. The sub-licensing arrangement that resulted became a model used by other online music platforms in China.

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. The company operates a news website at news.163.com and an associated app. Riot Games sued NetEase over alleged copyright violation concerning Valorant in 2022.

Expansion and acquisitions

NetEase launched the first headquarters for the United States outside of China in August 2014. It invested US$100 million into Bungie for a minority stake in the company and a seat on the board of directors in June 2018. NetEase invested Aurora 44 in New Zealand and sold the comic books to Bilibili in December 2018. In January 2020, NetEase discussed secondary listings with the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing.

NetEase opened Ouka Studios in June 2020, but it was shut down in August 2024 after Square Enix completed the game '' Visions of Mana''. In August 2020, NetEase announced a capital and business alliance with anime studio Satelight. Casey Hudson established Humanoid Origin in June 2021, but it was shut down in November 2024. NetEase acquired Grasshopper Manufacture from GungHo Online Entertainment in October 2021.

In May 2022, Jack Emmert founded Jackalope Games. It was changed to Jackalyptic Games on May 18, 2023, and has a partnership with Games Workshop. Toshihiro Nagoshi, Daisuke Sato, and several other former Sega employees established Nagoshi Studio, which is part of their subsidiary. Former 343 Industries employee Jerry Hook, established Jar Of Sparks on July 18, 2022, but it was shut down in January 2025. NetEase received an investment for Polish VR studio Something Random, and acquired Quantic Dream in August 2022 after the 2019 minority investment. It became a subsidiary of the parent company and had NetEase to have console game releases. Something Wicked Games founder Jeff Gardiner announced that NetEase had invested $13.2 million for the studio. Former Capcom producer, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, established GPTRACK50 Studio in October 2022. In November 2022, NetEase made a strategic investment with Rebel Wolves, founded by former CD Projekt employee Konrad Tomaszkiewicz on February 16, 2022. It later acquired the Norwegian fitness startup PlayPulse. NetEase acquired a minority stake for Liquid Swords.

NetEase acquired the studio SkyBox Labs in January 2023. In February 2023, NetEase opened the studio Spliced. Former Marvelous vice president Toshinori Aoki and '' BlazBlue'' game creator Toshimichi Mori, opened Studio Flare on September 6, 2022. It was later acquired by NetEase. In March 2023, NetEase launched the Anici anime brand, making a variety of animation for various partners. NetEase opened Anchor Point Studios in April 2023. Former Ubisoft employee Sean Crooks opened Bad Brain Game Studios, and '' Dragon Quest'' producer Ryutaro Ichimura established PinCool in May 2023. Jeff Dobson, Scott Malone, Mark Tucker, and Rich Vogel, opened T-Minus Zero Entertainment, and NetEase launched an American studio led by Bethesda and BioWare veterans in August 2023. Former Blizzard employee Greg Street established Fantastic Pixel Castle in November 2023. Mac Walters' company, Worlds Untold, had a "paused" operation in November 2024. David Vonderhaar opened BulletFarm in February 2024.

In February 2025, it was reported that NetEase has been shopping around other studios, looking to divest the foreign investments due to changes in the video game industry. Over a dozen studios would have to receive new fundings and avoid potential closure. Many studios had been acquired only five years prior.

Partnerships

The company has a history of partnerships with other ones. Blizzard Entertainment partnered with NetEase to bring some games for the Chinese market in 2008. They announced the suspension of most game services in China, after the licensing agreement expired on 23 January 2023. According to the statement, '' Overwatch 2'', '' Diablo III'', ''World of Warcraft'', '' StarCraft'', '' Hearthstone'', and '' Heroes of the Storm'', no longer received service on 17 November 2022.

In April 2012, NetEase began testing a restaurant recommendation mobile app called "Fan Fan". NetEase and Marvel Comics began making a comic book about a Chinese superhero in 2017. The comic books would be released online, such as '' The Amazing Spider-Man'', '' Captain America'', and '' Guardians of the Galaxy''.

The company collaborated with Coursera to provide Massive Open Online Course. NetEase launched an online course platform with educational content in 2014.

NetEase, The Pokémon Company, and Game Freak, made an expanded version of '' Pokémon Quest'' called ''Pokémon Adventure'', released in China on 13 May 2021. It contains regular updates and events unlike other versions.

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.

Games

Licensed online games

* Three-year agreement to license ''Overwatch'' in PRC
* Agreement to license ''Minecraft'' and the pocket edition in China
** Operated the Chinese third-party ''Minecraft'' Hypixel server, which was shut down on 30 June 2020
* Assumed the publishing of '' Eve Online'' in the Chinese market in October 2018

Game Technology

NetEase develops two in-house game engines for some video games: Messiah Engine and NeoX.

Development studios

References

External links

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{{Hang Seng China Enterprises Index

2000 initial public offerings
Chinese brands
Chinese companies established in 1997
Chinese news websites
Companies based in Beijing
Companies based in Guangzhou
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
Internet technology companies of China
Meat companies of China
NetEase
Video game companies established in 1997
Video game companies of China
Video game development companies
Video game publishers