NetEase, Inc. engages in online games, music streaming, online intelligent learning services, and internet content services businesses in China and internationally.
Services
The company has a successful online game business, developing and operating a rich portfolio of highly popular titles. The company offers over 100 mobile and PC games across a wide range of genres, satisfying the ever growing and diversifying needs of the gamer community. Leveraging the company's user insights and executi...
NetEase, Inc. engages in online games, music streaming, online intelligent learning services, and internet content services businesses in China and internationally.
Services
The company has a successful online game business, developing and operating a rich portfolio of highly popular titles. The company offers over 100 mobile and PC games across a wide range of genres, satisfying the ever growing and diversifying needs of the gamer community. Leveraging the company's user insights and execution expertise, the company has also incubated and developed in-house a pipeline of innovative and successful businesses, including intelligent learning and other businesses, ranging from music streaming and e-commerce to advertising services, e-mail, payment platform and other services.
Games and Related Value-added Services
Games
The company's game products and services are consisted of in-house developed mobile and PC games as well as games licensed from renowned global developers. As a global early mover that anticipated and captured the trend toward mobile games, the company has significantly expanded its portfolio of mobile game offerings in recent years. At the same time, the company's flagship titles continue to provide solid support for the company's online games business with persistent longevity and user loyalty. In addition, while solidifying the company's leadership position in the Chinese domestic market, the company has also expanded globally with launches in Japan, Southeast Asia, the United States and other international markets.
Game Library
Mobile games
The company is one of the largest mobile game providers globally in terms of game revenue, offering over 100 mobile games of various genres as of December 31, 2024, including in-house developed and licensed MMORPGs, casual games, shooting games, racing simulations, CCGs, battle arena games and SLGs, as well as other types of games.
To date, the majority of the company's most popular mobile games are in-house developed games. The company has launched the mobile versions of its in-house developed flagship titles, including the Fantasy Westward Journey and Westward Journey Online mobile games. The company distributes its mobile games through partnerships with major Android- and iOS-based application stores in China, as well as its proprietary platforms. The company offers a variety of in-game virtual items that players can purchase, including avatars, skills, privileges, and other in-game consumables, features, and functionalities.
PC games
The company launched its first PC based MMORPG, Westward Journey Online, in December 2001. Subsequently, the company launched Westward Journey Online II in August 2002 and the company's second original PC based MMORPG, Fantasy Westward Journey, in January 2004. Westward Journey Online II and Fantasy Westward Journey were upgraded to New Westward Journey Online II and Fantasy Westward Journey Online in 2013. Both game series remain popular with gamers today as a result of continued content updating and innovation in play modes over the past two decades. On Steam’s Best of 2024 games list, Naraka: Bladepoint and Once Human were named as Top Seller and Most Played games.
PC game players can purchase prepaid points to pay for game playing time, virtual items and other fee-based services that enhance their playing experience such as special powers, costumes, weapons and other accessories. The company regularly introduces new virtual items and other fee-based services, as well as change the features of virtual items based on player feedback, market trends and other factors.
Licensed Games
In addition to the company’s in-house developed mobile and PC games, it also offers games licensed from other international game developers, including Blizzard and Microsoft.
Global Presence
The company continues to advance its games and make inroads that expand its reach in overseas markets. The company has launched numerous mobile games in global markets since 2015. Its mobile game, Knives Out, has remained popular in Japan since its launch in 2017, ranking No. 1 and No. 2 in Japan’s iOS grossing chart in 2023 and 2024, respectively. The company also launched Identity V and Racing Master in Japan in 2018 and 2024, respectively, further evidencing its potential to operate a diverse range of games in overseas markets over the long term. In addition to its success in Japan, the company has expanded its footprint across more regions. It launched Naraka: Bladepoint and Marvel Rivals globally in 2022 and 2024, respectively.
The company has also strengthened its global R&D capabilities by launching or acquiring overseas game studios in North America, Japan and Europe and working with top international game developers.
International Partnerships
Building on its strong in-house content development capabilities, the company has formed strategic partnerships and collaborations with world-famous game studios and content owners. As a leader in online games in China, the company has successfully partnered with leading international game studios and content owners, leveraging its development and operational capabilities, such as Blizzard, Marvel, and Microsoft, to co-develop and/or operate games in China and abroad. In addition, the company has established a series of IP collaborations with various third parties.
For example, the company entered into an exclusive license agreement with Blizzard in 2024 to operate a number of its titles, including World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and other titles in the Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, and StarCraft universes in mainland China. The company had previously partnered with Blizzard for the operation of many of these games pursuant to a prior license arrangement from 2008 to 2023.
The company has also co-developed and successfully launched Diablo ImmortalTM, an MMO action-RPG, with Blizzard in 2022 and entered into a license agreement with Marvel in May 2019 to operate original entertainment content based on internationally beloved Marvel characters and stories. In 2019, the company launched in the PRC Sky which is an award-winning adventure mobile game featuring unique graphics and gameplay that it has licensed from thatgamecompany, Inc.
In addition, in May 2016, the company entered into an exclusive agreement with Microsoft, pursuant to which Microsoft agreed to license both the mobile and PC versions of Minecraft to the company for operation in China until 2022. The term of such license was extended in 2019 and further renewed in 2023.
The company continues to establish and deepen collaboration with other leading international game studios, including entering into a joint development agreement with Codemasters, a leading United Kingdom game studio focusing on racing games. In conjunction with Codemasters, the company launched Racing Master, a real-time simulation racing game that has gained widespread acclaim in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, mainland China, and Japan.
Game Design and Development
Building upon the success of the company's classic titles, the company has accumulated a better and deeper understanding of the company's users in terms of their interests and preferences in style, aesthetics and gameplay. The company has integrated its experience and know-how into the design of the company's new games, enhancing the company's ability to deliver popular titles to users. The company has established multiple studios of game developers to research and develop new games and expansion packs.
Franchises
The company continues to build upon existing successful games to offer multi-dimensional content by leveraging the company's in-house developed franchises and intellectual property. The company's Fantasy Westward Journey and Westward Journey Online franchises remain popular and have been instilled in the collective memory of a generation of Chinese players. The company further expanded the reach of these franchises through the introduction of Fantasy Westward Journey 3D and Fantasy Westward Journey H5 in 2019 and 2020, respectively, captivating both returning fans and new players. The company subsequently successfully launched Westward Journey Return in early 2023.
In addition to growing and strengthening the company's existing franchises, the company has continually incubated new ideas and delivered new and long-lasting game titles to the company's users. The company is continually enriching this IP through a variety of initiatives, including e-sports, game collaborations and off-line activities. The company has hosted a number of high-profile events featuring Identity V, including both international and regional series tournaments.
Content Quality and User Experience
The company focuses on providing an innovative and superior user experience in game design and development and strive to make games of the highest quality. From the initial proposal to final launch, the company's games will typically go through a number of carefully designed steps including market research, proposal, demo, repeated prototype review and beta testing to ensure that the best quality and user experience can be delivered to the company's players. In addition to creating a highly realistic and immersive gaming experience through the use of advanced technologies, the company also employes innovative gamification thinking that takes into consideration both the in-game and out-of-game user experience.
Game R&D and Technologies
The company’s consistent and significant investment in innovative game R&D is a key contributor to the success of its online game business and has been widely recognized in the games industry.
Proprietary Game R&D Capabilities
Proprietary R&D is the key focus of the company's game business. The company continually strengthens and upgrades its game R&D infrastructure through recruiting and cultivating top talent, optimizing the company's game production pipeline and fostering a culture of creativity and innovation. The company has founded a number of in-house research institutions to explore the application of various technologies in games.
The company strives to recruit and grow the best talent in the industry. It was awarded the 2023-2024 ATD Excellence in Practice Award by the Association for Talent Development, one of the most authoritative international awards in the global talent development industry. In addition, the company established its in-house game advanced technology research institutions to focus on researching, among other things, reinforcement learning, computer vision and graphics, natural language processing, speech synthesis, and music generation. Having built a virtuous cycle among its talent, established development pipeline, and dynamic culture of innovation and craftsmanship, the company's strong R&D capabilities continue to enable high-quality production and expansion of successful games.
Key Game Technologies
The company’s game R&D is centered around using technologies to deliver a superior and differentiated user experience. The key areas of its proprietary game technologies include:
Proprietary game engines: In addition to game development, the company has continually invested in proprietary game engine R&D. Since the initial launch of the company's first game engine, NeoX, in 2005, the company has continually expanded and optimized the company's proprietary engines to systematically support enhanced game features and aesthetics. As part of the company's early strategy to focus on mobile games, the company successfully adapted NeoX to iOS and Android systems as well as developed Messiah, a 3D game engine specifically designed for mobile platforms. NeoX and Messiah enable the company to systematically develop mobile games with the highest quality in lighting, audio, special effects, physics and animation, and other key game features, while the company's drive for better games in turn motivates development of more powerful engines.
User profile analytics: The company performs an in-depth analysis of its users profile by analyzing activities and performances in games, in-game purchasing preferences and other data and information. The company leverages its user data on an aggregate basis to guide game development and upgrades, marketing and other activities.
Intelligent non-player characters (NPCs): Enabled by deep learning technology, the company has created intelligent NPCs that can join players' in-game activities, simulate real-life interactions, facial expressions and body language and enable a more engaging gaming experience. The company also deploys multiple reinforcement learning technologies to produce NPCs with diverse styles and difficulty levels, catering to a wide range of player preferences.
Natural language processing (NLP): The company applies NLP technology in its games to enable players to develop their own storyline by carrying out conversations with NPCs and explore hidden elements in the game, creating an immersive gaming experience for players.
Advanced game graphics: The company's advanced game graphics enable game players to create unique characters with customized facial features. The company also offers automatic character customization based on real-life photographs uploaded by players. In addition, the company deploys high-quality 3D game graphics and automatic scene generation in the company's games.
Related Value-added Services
The related value-added services include a live streaming service and other related or ancillary value-added services related to games, such as the sales of game-themed merchandise.
Intelligent Learning and Advertising Solutions Provider – Youdao
Youdao’s Products and Services
Youdao is strategically positioned as an AI-powered solutions provider specializing in artificial intelligence applications for the learning and advertising verticals, which operates in China and a number of overseas markets. the company founded Youdao in 2006 and launched the flagship Youdao Dictionary in 2007, which remains the top language app in China in terms of MAUs. Youdao has experienced rapid growth since its founding and completed its public listing on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2019.
Building on the early success of Youdao Dictionary, the company has attracted a massive user base, built a strong brand, and expanded into a broad range of products and services addressing people’s lifelong learning needs, including learning services, AI-driven subscription services, and smart devices. Youdao historically offered a major portion of its learning services through its Academic AST Business, but it disposed of such business in 2021 in order to comply with applicable PRC regulatory requirements adopted by the PRC government. Leveraging its strong course and content development capabilities, Youdao continues to develop online learning services, which mainly include digital content services, STEAM courses, and adult courses, such as China University MOOC. Youdao’s smart devices seamlessly integrate advanced AI algorithms and data analytics, which supplement its online learning services and further enhance the user experience and efficiency.
Youdao's revenues consist of three parts: learning services, smart devices and online marketing services. The company generates the majority of the revenues of Youdao's learning services from its tutoring services, which mainly include its online courses and digital content services. In addition, the company generates revenues from sales of smart devices and from Youdao's online marketing services through the provision of different formats of advertisements.
Online Learning: The company has developed a comprehensive offering of learning services catering to the diverse learning needs of different age groups. Its learning service offerings primarily consist of digital content services, STEAM courses, and adult courses, such as China University MOOC.
Digital Content Services. In 2022, the company launched digital content services with interactive learning features, primarily including Youdao Lingshi and Youdao Literature. For example, within Youdao Lingshi, the company customizes learning tracks for students based on their diverse and ever-evolving learning needs, providing them with learning performance assessments, personalized exercise banks and quizzes, customized learning planning, and live streaming counseling services to enhance their learning performance. Youdao Lingshi also adopted a small-size class format to improve students’ learning experience and efficiency. In 2024, the company upgraded Youdao Lingshi with a tiered teaching approach tailored to individual learning needs and capabilities. In addition, its video tutorials break down complex topics into manageable segments to help students achieve better learning results.
STEAM Courses: The company’s current STEAM courses primarily include computer coding courses and other STEAM courses. The company has transitioned from a large-class format to smaller, more focused sessions, ensuring a more personalized and engaging learning experience for students.
Adult Courses: The company’s adult courses primarily include China University MOOC. MOOC stands for massive open online course, which is a course designed to offer free or low-cost access to learning resources to a wide audience. In collaboration with the Higher Education Press, a publishing house under the supervision of the MOE, it operates China University MOOC, a platform offering online courses primarily targeting college students and adults in China.
AI-driven Subscription
Youdao Dictionary. Launched in 2007, Youdao Dictionary is Youdao’s first major product and flagship online language tool. Today, it is China’s most popular and trusted online dictionary and translation tool with 44.5 million MAUs in 2024. As of December 31, 2024, Youdao Dictionary offered over 560 million entries across 109 languages.
AI-based Learning Tools: The company launched Confucius, its own large language model (LLM), in 2023, which is China’s first LLM specifically designed for the education sector. Powered by Confucius, the company also launched Hi Echo, an AI-driven virtual English-speaking tutor, and Mr. P AI Tutor, a conversation-based tool designed with real-time and multi-modality learning features across major subjects for students. To enhance Mr. P AI Tutor’s in-depth analytical reasoning capabilities, the company recently integrated it with DeepSeek-R1 and Confucius models to deliver more intuitive, responsive and cost-efficient services to users.
Other AI-driven Subscription: Other AI-driven subscription primarily include Youdao Desktop Translation, a leading desktop dictionary tool primarily for Chinese users; U-Dictionary, an online dictionary and translation app offered in overseas market; iRecord, an audio transcription tool based on LLM capabilities; LectMate, a simultaneous interpretation software for study-abroad lecture scenarios; iArch, an AI home design software; Baby Genius, an AI baby generator; and One Translate Translator, a translation tool for travelers.
Online Marketing Services: The company offers online marketing services through different formats of advertisement, including banners, text links, videos, logos, buttons and rich media. The company’s online marketing services primarily consist of performance-based advertising services and global marketing and promotion services.
Performance-based Advertising Services: The company’s domestic online marketing services focus on performance-based advertising. The company’s performance-based advertising services provide comprehensive advertising services which feature AI-based data mining and application. In 2024, leveraging its advanced AI technology and enhanced data infrastructure, the company upgraded its Real-Time API (RTA) technology capabilities, which broadened its client base and expanded the range of applications.
In addition, leveraging the company’s advancements in AI, it has developed an advanced advertising large language model (LLM) designed for versatile applications across various marketing scenarios. Furthermore, the company’s AI-driven model improves conversion efficiency by continuously refining advertisement strategies through data-driven insights and performance analytics. The company further strengthen the role of AI in advertising efficiency through deepening the integration of advanced data analysis and algorithm optimization.
Global Marketing and Promotion Services: The company also offers Youdao Ads, a global leading digital marketing solution for brand expansion in global markets, which provides four main types of services, including integrated marketing, influencer campaigns, paid social advertising and e-commerce live.
Smart Devices: The company develops and offer smart devices, including Youdao Dictionary Pen, Youdao Listening Pod and Youdao Smart Learning Pad, to make learning more productive and efficient for its users. The company’s smart devices are developed and designed by the company or in collaboration with third parties, while the manufacturing of such devices is outsourced to third-party manufacturers under original equipment manufacturer agreements.
Youdao Dictionary Pen: In July 2018, the company launched Youdao Dictionary Pen, a sleek, modern electronic translation pen with powerful Chinese/English translation capabilities. With its NMT and OCR technologies, users can simply scan the words, and the screen will instantly display the translations and definitions of the words without connecting to the internet. The company launched Youdao Dictionary Pen X6 Pro and Youdao Dictionary Pen S6 in August 2023. Youdao Dictionary Pen X6 Pro, Youdao’s flagship product, is equipped with an AI grammar instruction application and digital human language coach, Hi Echo, powered by its Confucius LLM. The company launched Youdao Dictionary Pen X7 in July 2024, featuring its proprietary AI-powered applications, Hi Echo and Mr. P AI Tutor. In addition, the company launched Youdao Dictionary Pen A7 Pro in January 2025, which enables instant scanning and translation, and Youdao SpaceOne, a brand-new dictionary pen equipped with the DeepSeek reasoning model, delivering in-depth analytical reasoning capabilities and providing clear guidance for complex problem-solving scenarios.
Youdao Listening Pod. Building on the company’s AI-adaptive learning technology, in September 2021 it launched Youdao Listening Pod, a portable learning device that is designed to deliver an immersive English learning experience to users, and offer them with differentiated, interactive listening and speaking practices. With Youdao Listening Pod, users can study natural pronunciation by listening and reading over 30,000 recording clips of training content, interact and communicate live with AI-powered chat bots and practice on mock questions to score their English listening and speaking capabilities. In August 2023, the company launched Youdao Listening Pod Pro, which features improved hardware functionality, such as an enhanced CPU and microphones. The company’s Youdao Listing Pod Pro customizes English listening content to cater to learners’ specific needs at various stages, leveraging its AI dialogue functions powered by Confucius LLM. In 2024, it launched Youdao Listening E6 Pro, which incorporates Hi Echo to optimize the user experience.
Technology-driven Learning Experience
The company integrates technologies into every major aspect of the learning and teaching process to ensure a superb learning experience across Youdao’s products and services. Over the years, the company has built proprietary OCR, NMT, language data mining, voice recognition technologies, data analytics, and LLM that serve as the foundation for its products and services. Such technologies are iteratively refined based on the vast data generated by its users.
For example, the company offers a set of advanced AI-based technologies to make learning more personalized and efficient while maintaining a high level of human touch. The company has also built massive 'knowledge graphs' depicting different knowledge points, concepts and learning objectives, supported by a large quiz bank curated by the company's course development professionals to help students understand the subject matter. In addition, the company has adopted an adaptive learning approach which tracks each student's learning progress and dynamically adapts teaching to the student's unique learning needs. The company collects student learning and behavior data throughout their learning cycles to help the company understand their learning progress and predict through the company's adaptive learning model how they will perform to achieve future learning objectives.
Online Music Platform – NetEase Cloud Music
NetEase Cloud Music’s Products and Services
The company founded Cloud Music in 2013 and launched the iconic cornerstone product, NetEase Cloud Music, in the same year. Cloud Music experienced rapid growth since its founding and completed its public listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in December 2021.
Over the years, NetEase Cloud Music has built a large-scale, robust and rapidly growing business to provide community-centric online music services and social entertainment services to users. Leveraging NetEase Cloud Music, and ancillary, social entertainment products, it empowers music enthusiasts with a wide variety of technology-driven tools to discover, enjoy, share and create diverse music and music-inspired content and to interact with each other.
NetEase Cloud Music generates the majority of the revenue from its music platform through the sales of membership subscriptions for its online music services and sales of virtual items for its social entertainment services. To diversify its revenue streams, NetEase Cloud Music has also been actively developing other monetization channels, such as the provision of advertising services, sales of digital albums and songs, copyright sublicensing and music-inspired services.
Online Music Services
NetEase Cloud Music provides a number of membership subscription packages for users to enjoy high-quality streaming access to the company’s catalogue of music tracks (including both licensed music and in-house original music) and long-form audio content such as podcasts, audio books and radio dramas, and provide users with services that allow them to purchase access to certain new digital music albums and singles. In addition, NetEase Cloud Music offers advertising services for both brand advertisers and performance-based advertisers and sublicense certain of its licensed music content to other parties, including other online music platforms. NetEase Cloud Music has put ongoing efforts into elevating users’ experience in terms of personalized content recommendations and creating a music centric community to encourage user interactions.
Social Entertainment Services and Others
As the size and engagement level of its online music services’ user base continues to grow, NetEase Cloud Music also provides music-inspired social entertainment services, which include its live streaming services and social networking platforms. NetEase Cloud Music generates revenue from sales of virtual items. Users can purchase virtual items to gift to live streaming performers as a way to show support and appreciation for their performance or send the virtual items to other users on the social networking platforms for better interaction and social networking experience. NetEase Cloud Music also generates revenue from providing membership and value-added services on its social networking platforms. Other revenue sources primarily include movie soundtrack production and ticketing services for offline music events.
Technological-driven Music Experience
NetEase Cloud Music needs to ensure that it can deliver a satisfying music experience consistently at scale by continuously innovating and improving its platform and investing in R&D. the company’s advanced data analytics and other capabilities lay the foundation for the platform’s personalized content recommendations, assisted content creation, interactive social functions and other powerful features that optimize the user experience and realize the unique value of its diverse content. For example, its NetEase Music Audio Lab developed an audio melody extraction solution that broke three world records at the Music Information Retrieval Evaluation eXchange, or MIREX, in 2020. In addition, with its strong music recognition ability, the lab’s robust fingerprinting algorithm achieved the second-best performance in the task of audio fingerprinting since MIREX launched this competition in 2014, representing a significant improvement in recognition rate.
Other Innovative Business and Services
The company derives its innovative businesses and others revenues primarily from Yanxuan, advertising services, premium e-mail and other value-added services.
Yanxuan
Yanxuan, the company’s private label consumer lifestyle brand, was established in 2016. Starting with the development of a well-designed towel, Yanxuan has always focused on optimizing the user experience of its products and improving the lives of consumers in China through simple, practical, comfortable and elegant designs. Over the past years, Yanxuan has gradually evolved into a lifestyle brand favored by younger generations from all walks of life.
Yanxuan offers products in a wide range of categories, including home life, clothing, shoes, bags, gourmet food, drinks, pet food and supplies, personal care and cleaning products, among other things. Yanxuan pursues the brand concept of thoughtfully curated products for mindful moments, which is an extension of NetEase’s overall user-first attitude towards its services and products. Yanxuan continuously evaluates the needs and wants of its users and searches around the world to identify and cooperate with the best suppliers available. By better understanding customers’ needs and participating in the production process, Yanxuan can provide customers with competitive prices, excellent quality and quality customer service.
Other Innovative Services
The company also offers a wide range of other innovative services, including its www.163.com portal and related mobile app, Wangyi Xinwen, which deliver quality information such as news, sports events, technology, fashion trends and online entertainment to its users and generate revenues mainly from online advertising services, NetEase Pay, an online payment platform, NetEase Mail, China’s leading email service provider since 1997, through which the company provides free and fee-based email services, and certain other services, such as customized B-to-B technology services and e-reading services.
Sales and Marketing
The company employs a variety of online and traditional sales and marketing programs and promotional activities to build the company's brand as part of the company's overall marketing strategy. The company focuses on building brand awareness through online marketing campaigns, proactive public relations and other offline advertising. The company invests in a series of marketing activities to further strengthen the company's brand image and continue to grow the company's user base, including collaborating with leading social networking, video and live streaming platforms, TV, movie and stage production companies as well as book and comic publishers to extend the company's brand to a broader potential user group.
Games and Related Value-added Services
The company's mobile games are available on the Apple app store for iOS and third-party Android app stores. In addition, to leverage the company's existing user bases, the company also publishes its mobile games through the company's own internet properties. The company conducts in-game marketing campaigns in connection with special holiday editions or launches of new games or expansion packs throughout the year. The company has also promoted its games and related value-added services in collaboration with online and offline third-party promoters.
Youdao
Youdao generates user traffic and leads primarily from online platforms. As a key sales and marketing strategy, Youdao cross-sells its comprehensive portfolio of products and services, which allows it to effectively scale its business with modest traffic acquisition and marketing spending. In addition, Youdao also employs mobile marketing, such as brand advertisements and marketing campaigns on app stores, leading mobile news apps and social networking platforms, as well as through optimization techniques designed to improve its ranking in popular search engines’ results. Youdao also engages in offline marketing and branding to supplement its overall sales and marketing strategies.
NetEase Cloud Music
NetEase Cloud Music primarily relies on word-of-mouth referrals and benefits from its high-quality music content, social networking functions and strong brands to attract users to its platforms. Besides word-of-mouth, NetEase Cloud Music engages in various marketing and promotional initiatives to promote its brand and increase its user base, including, for example, by partnering with key opinion leaders, holding various marketing campaigns and implementing new technologies and introduce new features to improve user experience.
Innovative Businesses and Others
For the company's businesses and other online services, content and services are generally provided through mobile applications or their respective websites. Users purchase the company's services either at a pre-determined package rate or on an item-based basis. The company attracts users through a variety of channels, such as the company's online and offline other advertising channels. The company also offer the company's customers special pricing discounts in connection with promotion activities and strive to expand the company's products selection to attract more visitors. Advertising services are conducted through the company's dedicated advertising services sales force, or through online advertising sales networks and advertising agencies.
Seasonality of Revenues
Historically, usage of the company's online games has generally increased around the Chinese holidays, particularly the winter and summer school holidays. Revenues from certain of the company's innovative businesses and others, including advertising services, have followed the same general seasonal trend throughout each year, with the first quarter of the year (year ended December 2024) being the weakest quarter due to the Chinese New Year holiday and the traditional close of customers' annual budgets, and the fourth quarter as the strongest. The company's Youdao platform tends to experience strong sales of its smart devices during the period leading up to commencement of school terms in September. The company's e-commerce business revenues are relatively lower during the Chinese New Year holiday season in the first quarter of each year, while sales in the fourth quarter are higher than each of the preceding three quarters due to a variety of promotional activities conducted by retail and e-commerce businesses in China.
Intellectual Property
The company has registered a number of domain names. The company has also successfully registered numerous trademarks with China’s Trademark Office, including marks incorporating the words NetEase and Yeah! in English and for marks for NetEase as written in Chinese in traditional and simplified Chinese characters. In addition, the company has registered trademarks involving Chinese characters and phrases that have meanings relating to the company's web pages, products and services, including the company's online games, intelligent learning services, online music services, chat services, e-commerce and certain other online services. In addition, the company has registered a number of trademarks involving the 'NetEase' name as well as the names and logos of the company's products and services in the U.S., the EU, the Republic of Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, Thailand and other jurisdictions.
In addition, the company has registered its various in-house developed games and other online products with the National Copyright Protection Center of China. Moreover, the company has filed certain patent applications with the National Intellectual Property Administration of China, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, European Patent Office and Japan Patent Office, and have obtained Certificates of Design Patent, Utility Model Patent and/or Invention Patent for technologies related to the company's games, live video, news, educational products, e-commerce and finance, music platform, hardware products, cloud technology, augmented reality technology, audio/video technology, computer technology and e-mail from the National Intellectual Property Administration of China, as well as Certificates of Utility Patent and Certificates of Design Patent in the United States, Europe and Japan.
Moreover, Youdao owns the intellectual property relating to in-house developed content used on its platform and the registrations of the core trademarks Youdao. NetEase Cloud Music owns the intellectual properties relating to NetEase Cloud Music and the registrations of the core trademarks NetEase Cloud Music. The company also own the intellectual property (other than the content) relating to the NetEase websites and other online and mobile platforms, and the technology that enables online community, personalization, online games, news sharing, instant messaging, video streaming, e-commerce and other services on those platforms. The company licenses content from various freelance providers and other content providers.
Competition
The company’s competition primarily comes from global online game developers and operators, such as Tencent, established online and offline education service and/or product providers in China, as well as leading digital content and entertainment providers.
Research and Development
The company's research and development expenses were RMB17.5 billion (US$2.4 billion) in 2024.
History
The company was founded in 1997. The company was incorporated in 1999. The company was formerly known as NetEase.com, Inc. and changed its name to NetEase, Inc. in 2012.
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