NetEase Games revenues rise to $1.4bn for Q2 2017
Accounts for almost 75% of company's overall revenues, primarily driven by mobile games
Chinese publisher NetEase has released its financial results for the second quarter, showing solid growth for its games business.
For the three months ended June 30th, revenues for NetEase games were reported as $1.4bn, up 46.5% when compared to the same period last year.
Overall, NetEase's revenues came in at $2bn, just under a 50% year-on-year increase, while net income rose by 9.2% year-on-year to $438.4m.
The main drivers of this growth were identified as mobile RPG Onmyoji and the new mobile version of New Ghost. Other titles also contributed thanks to new content or expansion packs, including Westward Journey Mobile, Tang Dynasty Warriors Mobile and Land of Glory.
Elsewhere in the company's portfolio, NetEase's flagship PC title Fantasy Westward Journey Online enjoyed record revenues during the quarter, as did mobile title Invincible.
In a conference call with investors, CFO Charles Yang noted that mobile games "remain our primary growth engine accounting for 72.4% of our online games services net revenue in the second quarter."
Notably, NetEase has also begun the process of bringing global phenomenon Minecraft to its home region of China, launching open beta testing for the PC version earlier this week. Testing for the mobile version is expected to follow soon, with plans to launch in Q3 2017. CFO Zhaoxuan Yang said the company has "high expectations of Minecraft in the future."
During an investor Q&A, one caller questioned the publisher's renewed commitment to investing in virtual and augmented reality projects, asking when NetEase expects these markets to take off.
CEO William Ding predicted that it would still be "another two years or so" before the Chinese VR market grows significantly, although stressed that NetEase is in a good position due to its early involvement with the tech.
For AR, he said: "We are yet to see a mature and successful AR game in the market to more of deploying AR as part of a game play. So we will be excited to see the development on the AR side."