netease - story of a transformation

Game Platform TransformationDavid Ting9/27/2015

Who is NetEase

19972000

20012002

2003

Founded

PCU=1.26 M

User=310 MPCU=2.71 M

20112009

User=80 M

User=100 M

Online Game

NASDAQ： NTES

2014

All in MobileGoing Global

2008-now

Blizzard Partner

Company History

Service RankWebsites & Apps

No.1Email

No.1News

No.1Education

No.2Music

No.3IM

NetEase: Leading Services Provider

Overseas Publishing

Self-development Investment

Co-developmentLicensed Game Publishing

Provide the TOP quality Game Content to Our UsersTop Game Developer & Publisher

Game First, Game Everywhere

100+

Top 10 Game Company in the WorldThe Largest Game Developer in China: 5000+ engineers

Rich Pipeline

Developer Room

Apple Store Event

Featured Titles（ 15+）

Recognition from App Store

Best of 2014 in App Store

Best of 2014 in App Store Product Page of Fantasy Westward Journey

Top Products in 2014 and 2015

310 Million (Population of USA)Registered Users

2.71 Million (Population of Chicago)PCU

23 MillionRegistered Users

2.04 MillionPCU

$313 Million USDGross Revenue

First 60 days:

Transition a PC Success to Mobile

Game Grossing No. 4 in Global App Store, April 2015

Company Grossing No. 5in Global App Store, April 2015

Based on AppAnnie

Now a Top Grossing Publisher

Amazing Response in US

Fantasy Westward Journey has reached a high of 27 on the US

Games overall grossing chart without any

marketing and translation

Mobile

PC growth slows, and mobile growth

is explosive

Mobile is casual, fragmented game

play sessions, smaller emphasis on social elements

Platform DifferencesShift in Demand

Platform Transition

Achievement

Esteem

Love/belonging

Safety

Fulfillment

Development

Belonging

Subsistence

Top-level player

High-class player

Ordinary player

Fulfill Diversified Demands

Game Design Meet the Demand

PK CompetitionClan WarCross-server PKTop PK CompetitionAchievements

Home Marriage  Clan Friend Avatar

Daily PlayBenefitsMoney

Fully Interactive World

Jade Gold Silver

￥ 1 = 10 Jade

1 Jade = 100 Gold 100 Silver = 1 Gold

Stable Game Society Stable Economic System Stable Currency Value

Tradable Currency

RMB purchase Players produce

Control the amount of Gold to maintain a stable currency value

Economy Design

Each player can only purchase 200 gold chests per day, and only 10,000 chests are available each day per server

•Need house before marriage•House needs decoration•Friends invited to a party•Need money to raise family

Non-violent game play strongly appeals to both genders.

“The Sims” Based in Chinese Myth

Skill Requirement on Social Activity

•Rich Gameplay

Pets

FishingChess

SchoolProtection

GuildsClans

Banking

MarriageGive Birth

Buy House Construction

QuestsRaw Materials

FengShuei

Tailor

Farm

ForgeFurniture

Cook

Trade

Craft Gems

Duel

…

Medicine

Dye Hunt Ghosts

Trade

Treasure Hunt Casual Games

Raise kids

Crafting

Division of Labor

Produce and Consume

Sense of Accomplishment

Make Social Interation Core

Player Stickiness

Player Stickiness

Virtual Society

Mobile

Feature Changes：

-Simplify control: Path finding, auto-combat, chests open automatically, auto-provisioning

-Common UI components-Optimize the experience on smaller screen (ie: Trading)-Shorten combat duration-Added auto leveling

•Based on mobile design pattern

Designed for Mobile

Mobile

Differences：

-Many events require teams-Large number of clan activities-Improve the chat system. Added in voice chat, lowered

level requirement for chat and changed tradition mobiles simulated social interaction to real-time interaction

•Require real-time social and team interaction

Deviation from Mobile Cliché

Mobile

Art Changes：•Modernized the Art. Example, Goddess of Forgetfulness

Modernize

Mobile

Stickiness Stable Economy

Create durable and stable PC game on mobile

Encouraging results Rare pet listed for trade： $1,100 USD

Similar to PC, many items are above $1,000 USD

Built for Stability

Continue With an Eye to Innovation

Speedy Ninja Launch

Launched at PAX

Culturalization

The image on the left is too similar to the western Chewing Gum brand “5 Gum”. The new image shown right.

These weapons are both too close to the intellectual property of Apple, and Lucasarts. Our revised images are shown on the right.

Changes to adhere to IP and copyright law: Replacing single character words with symbols:

These images from the game can’t be represented by a single english word. We replaced them with symbols that are understandable and will not require further translation.

The first image is from a projectile in the game. This is too similar to the Nazi Swastika, and so we had to change it.

Correcting culturally offensive assets:

Due to app store policies, and the general perception of smoking in the west, we also removed the cigarette from Archimedes (who we call Clucky)

How Do We Select The Name

Ninja Must Die 2

Survey results:Respondents are not attracted to ‘Ninja Must Die 2’ as a mobile game name. Approximately 40% of respondents from all countries indicated they were ‘not at all’ attracted to this name. After seeing a description of the game respondents either did not change their original rating or lowered it. One-third of parents would not let their child play a game with this name.

Over 80% of respondents misunderstood the theme of the game based solely on seeing the name ‘Ninja Must Die 2’ ‘Killing Ninjas’ was the assumed theme of the game given by 47% of those extremely likely to play the game.

Sample Test Icons for Speedy Ninja

Control Icon (China)

App Store Icons - Art Reference

5 Star Weapons

1/200 Chance

$840 or 5208 RMB

x50

1/227 Chance (Each)

$4,828

x20

1/274 Chance (Each)

$2,336

x280 $4.20

Character Skin

x30 $0.43

Epic Chest Fish Lotto

$7,164 or 44,417 RMB

Overall, the price range for items inside the game are priced considerably higher than what western players are comfortable and experienced paying. In our analysis for the game economy, we found that getting high quality items can cost as much as $840, and unlocking the most rare Skins for a character can cost thousands of dollars.

One of our major goals in our launch is tuning and balancing the game economy, so that players feel that they get good value for their money.

Economy Balance

谢谢 !Thank you!

David TingNetEaseGeneral Manager, North Americadavid@corp.netease.com