NetEase is Reportedly Scaling Back its Non-Chinese Investments in the Gaming Market
NetEase might be planning on pulling out of the global gaming market on a large scale. According to a report by VentureBeat, the company’s CEO, William Ding, has seemingly lost confidence in having overseas teams. While NetEase itself hasn’t made any such announcements recently, its recent closure of an R&D-centric studio that had helped with the development of Marvel Rivals might indicate one of the steps in this major move.
The move was seemingly foreshadowed by the founder of VC firm F4 Fund David Kaye, who spoke about geopolitical tensions, along with “the whims of certain CEOs” leading to Chinese companies pulling out of their international investments.
“China is in retreat: geopolitical tensions, some big bets not paying off, and the whims of certain CEOs mean that a massive pullback has begun,” said Kaye. “One MAJOR strategic that has made dozens of investments in the past several years is reportedly pulling the plug and divesting ALL investments outside China. Some will likely find buyers. Others will not be so lucky.”
According to VentureBeat, the company Kaye was referring to in this statement is NetEase, which has previously made large investments in various international gaming companies. This includes buying a stake in Bungie that was subsequently sold to Sony, as well as funding smaller companies like Devolver Digital and buying development studios like Quantic Dreams and Grasshopper Manufacture.
As such, the long-term effects of NetEase pulling out of its international investments will be far-reaching, affecting more than just titles like Marvel Rivals. For its part, NetEase itself has said that it is not pulling out of all of its international investments.
“As far as overseas business efforts are concerned, NetEase has not wavered in its global expansion plans,” said NetEase in a statement. “Our ‘two-pronged’ approach, proposed in 2022 (combining self-research and investments to explore overseas markets), is still actively progressing and yielding
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