NetEase Games

NetEase is, in the corpus, framed above all as a game company — in a ZhenFund-published conversation, Benchmark's Mitch Lasky and Blake Robbins describe it as a "purer game publisher" that grew up in its home market, closer to Activision's model than Tencent's diversified one, anchored early by Fantasy Westward Journey (one of China's first true MMOs) and transformed in 2008 when it became Blizzard's exclusive China operator, a partnership that propped up its domestic business for 15 years until the license was lost . Its recent hits are self-developed: Eggy Party, launched in 2021, drew praise from Fung Capital's Li Feng for gameplay innovation and strong financials , while Where Winds Meet has been experimenting with AI NPCs and AI-generated 3D props via a partnership with VAST's Tripo . On AI, NetEase's in-house Fuxi Lab built what 十字路口Crossing calls China's first intelligent NPC system for games, deployed as the AI-driven character "Shen Qiusuo" in Justice Mobile . The ZhenFund conversation also notes a taste-driven overseas investment arm — over $1 billion into studios including Second Dinner (Marvel Snap) from day zero and thatgamecompany's Series B — though it observes NetEase has recently been pulling back internationally .