NetEase, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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William Ding: [Foreign Language]. Thank you. So, for games that we are targeting towards a massive user base, the Party games, games that are targeted for all ages, for these types of games, the distribution platforms are more effective in reaching out more users. But for games such as Basketball game, it requires a specific group, a specific community of game players. So, we can find these players through various different platforms and channels. So, in order for us to bring them onto to NetEase platform and to operate this game for a long period of time, in order for us to get to know these users a little bit better and then to continue to perform different situations to give better service and experience to our platform users. We also want to add that, for Android platform users, they can also download our games through our own website and TapTap and various other channels. Thank you. Next question, please.

Operator: Our next question comes from Alex Poon with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Alex Poon: [Foreign Language]. Congratulations on a very strong quarter. My question is related to AIGC. And can AIGC for our future game updates, and expansion packs be much more frequent than the current three months to six months, becoming on a monthly basis or even weekly basis, and such that the longevity and gaming user stickiness monetization can go, can get better? Thank you, very much.

William Ding: [Foreign Language]. Yes. We agree that AI is extremely helpful in increasing, enhancing the R&D efficiency, particularly in areas of game designs, storyline design, mission designs, and art et cetera. So almost every year, we can, every month, we can see another upgrade in terms of R&D efficiency. But while the productivity is increasing, but the pace of us pushing out expansion packs is not completely dependent on that. We need our users to enjoy our content fully. So, the pace and frequency has already now expansion packs is still very much dependent on the preference of our gamers. So, we want to run each of our game for a long period of time. So, with the increased efficiency, we can provide higher quality content within the same amount of time frame. Thank you. Next question, please.

Unidentified Analyst: [Foreign Language]. My second question is about Naraka: Bladepoint mobile and Project Mugen. Are they likely will be released in 2024? Thank you very much.

William Ding: [Foreign Language]. So, for Naraka: Bladepoint mobile game, as you know, the game has been under translation for a little, for a while now, and I think we are fully prepared. The only thing we are waiting for is the license approval. So, once we receive license approval, the product should be ready to go. In terms of project medium, it’s one of the games that’s highly anticipated by both us and the gaming community. So, we want to keep surprise our players with great content, so we’re going to continue to invest in more resources in developing that game in order to create next-generation quality content. So, for now, we do not have a timetable to share. Thank you. The last question, please.

Operator: Our last question comes from Alicia Yap with Citigroup. Please go ahead.

Alicia Yap: [Foreign Language]. My question is related on Justice Mobile. So, in addition to the new user for those existing NetEase gamers, where do these gamers come from? Which NetEase game had they were playing before and which non-NetEase game that these players used to play before Justice? Is the paying ratio and also, the ARPU for Justice much higher than the other NetEase game? Thank you.

William Ding: [Foreign Language]. So, for Justice Mobile, based on our stats about roughly a third of our users have never played NetEase games before and this game has mostly come from other large DAU products around the market, which means that this is actually a very friendly among many other types of users. In fact, I mean, this year, some of the other games that we launched, such as the Basketball game and the Racing Master, they also enjoyed many a large portion of gamers who have never played NetEase games before. So, in terms of the paying ratio, and monetization of Justice Mobile. So, for Justice Mobile, we have actually we opted a more a lighter monetization model. And because of that, the ARPU is relatively lower with a much higher pay-in ratio.

So, we purposely chose this monetization model so that we can create a more healthy, and balanced in-game environment, giving our game players less pressure in terms of paying to give them a long-term enjoyable environment in which they can enjoy their games. Thank you. Yes. So, I think that’s all the questions we have for today. Operator?

Operator: Thank you. That concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to management for any additional or closing comments.

Margaret Shi: Thank you once again for joining us today. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us directly at Piacente Financial Communications. Have a great day. Thank you.

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