Operator
各位好,欢迎参加网易2022年第二季度财报电话会议。今天的会议正在录音中。现在,我将会议转交给网易投资者关系总监石女士。请开始,女士。
Operator
Good day, and welcome to the NetEase 2022 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Margaret Shi, IR Director of NetEase. Please go ahead, ma'am.
Margaret Shi
谢谢主持人。请注意,今天的讨论将包含与公司未来业绩相关的前瞻性陈述,这些陈述旨在符合美国《私人证券诉讼改革法案》确立的安全港条款。此类陈述并非对未来业绩的保证,并受到某些风险、不确定性、假设及其他因素的影响。其中一些风险超出公司控制范围,可能导致实际结果与今天新闻稿和本次讨论中提及的内容存在重大差异。有关可能影响网易业务和财务业绩的风险因素的一般性讨论,包含在公司向美国证券交易委员会提交的某些文件中,包括其20-F表格年度报告,以及在香港交易所网站上的公告和文件中。除非法律要求,公司不承担更新此前瞻性信息的义务。在今天的电话会议中,管理层还将讨论某些非公认会计准则财务指标,仅用于比较目的。有关非公认会计准则财务指标的定义以及公认会计准则与非公认会计准则财务结果的调节表,请参阅今天早些时候发布的2022年第二季度财报新闻稿。提醒一下,本次会议正在录音中。此外,投资者演示文稿和本次电话会议的网播重播将在网易公司网站ir.netease.com上提供。今天参加电话会议的网易高级管理层包括首席执行官丁磊先生和首席财务官杨昭烜先生。我现在将电话转交给杨先生,他将代表丁先生宣读准备好的讲话。
Margaret Shi
Thank you, operator. Please note the discussion today will contain forward-looking statements relating to future performance of the company and are intended to qualify for Safe Harbor from liability as established by the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors. Some of these risks are beyond the company’s control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those mentioned in today’s press release and in this discussion. A general discussion of the risk factors that could affect NetEase’s business and financial results is included in certain filings of the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 20-F, and in announcement and filings on the website of Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company does not undertake any obligation to update this forward-looking information, except as required by law. During today’s call, management will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures for comparison purposes only. For a definition of non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial results, please see the 2022 second quarter earnings news release issued earlier today. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. In addition, the investor presentation and a webcast replay of this conference call will be available on NetEase corporate website at ir.netease.com. Joining us today on the call from NetEase senior management is Mr. William Ding, Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Charles Yang, Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call over to Charles, who will read the prepared remarks on behalf of William.
Charles Yang
感谢Margaret,也感谢各位参加今天的电话会议。在开始之前,我想提醒大家,所有百分比均以人民币为基准。我们很高兴报告又一个稳健的季度,净收入增长至人民币232亿元,较去年同期增长13%。我们的在线游戏继续成为主要增长动力,第二季度游戏及相关增值服务净收入达到人民币181亿元,同比增长15%。请注意,本季度我们调整了业务分部分类。扩展后的游戏及相关增值服务分部现在包括游戏相关增值服务,如CC直播、游戏相关配件和商品等。我们认为这一修订后的分部分类能更好地反映我们在广义游戏生态系统和价值链方面的综合能力表现。玩家继续青睐我们的长青系列游戏。第二季度,《梦幻西游》系列游戏的收入持续增长,其强劲表现和持久生命力进一步给行业留下深刻印象。通过扎实的基础、我们每几个月发布的填充内容和持续迭代,这一旗舰系列仍然是当今市场上制作最精良的游戏之一,在运营近二十年后仍对用户保持高度吸引力。多年来,我们在游戏中构建了复杂而精密的生态系统,构成了平衡良好、全面的经济体系和亲密的用户网络。我们将这些游戏视为艺术与科学的结合体,并随着我们动态调整最细微的细节而不断演进。在新发布游戏方面,我们非常兴奋地看到《暗黑破坏神:不朽》吸引了数千万玩家,在多个地区的iOS下载榜上占据主导地位。《暗黑破坏神:不朽》不仅拥有出色的游戏玩法,重现了原汁原味的暗黑体验,还融入了MMORPG社交体验,玩家可以在探索过程中与他人共享广阔的世界。我们正在努力保持游戏的新鲜感,并计划以快节奏持续为《暗黑破坏神:不朽》引入令人兴奋的新内容,以保持玩家的参与度。《暗黑破坏神:不朽》的发布也是我们展示世界级开发能力的绝佳机会,我们利用了自研的强大游戏引擎Messiah。这款游戏彰显了我们在移动设备上制作顶级品质游戏的熟练程度。多年来,我们的团队努力在移动端重现暗黑体验,在游戏的每个细节上都投入了大量精力,并克服了无数障碍。第二季度,《永劫无间》通过一系列内容更新保持了强劲的用户参与度。截至5月底,该游戏自发布约一年来已在全球售出1000万份,成为全球最畅销的PC游戏之一。随着其一周年纪念,我们最近宣布了《永劫无间》的一系列激动人心的更新,包括一个名为
Charles Yang
Thank you, Margaret, and thank you, everyone, for participating in today's call. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that all percentages are based on RMB. We are very pleased to report another solid quarter with net revenues growing to RMB23.2 billion, up 13% versus the same period last year. Our online games continues to be our primary growth driver with net revenues from our games and related value-added services coming in at RMB18.1 billion for the second quarter, up 15% year-over-year. Please note, we changed our segment categorization this quarter. The expanded games and related VAS segment now includes game-related value-added services such as CC Live streaming, game-related accessories and merchandises, et cetera. We believe this revised segment categorization better reflects the performance of our well-rounded capabilities around the broadly defined game ecosystem and value chain. Players continue to gravitate to our long-lasting franchises. In the second quarter, revenue from our Fantasy Westward Journey Saga kept on growing, further impressing the industry with their strength and longevity. Through the solid foundation, we filled and continuous iterations we release every few months, this flagship saga are still among the most well-crafted games in today's market, remaining highly attractive to users even after nearly two decades of operation. Over the years, we have built complex and intricate ecosystems within the games, constituting well-balanced, comprehensive economic systems and intimate user networks. We see these games as a work of art and science and this ever evolving as we dynamically adjust the finest details. In terms of newly launched titles, we were extremely excited to see Diablo Immortal in [indiscernible] tens of millions of players dominating the iOS top download chart in multiple regions. Diablo Immortal both fantastic gameplay that relishes the authentic Diablo experience, which also featuring an MMORPG social experience, where players can share a massive world with others as they explore. We are working hard to keep it fresh and plan to continuously introduce exciting new content for Diablo Immortal in a fast-paced manner to keep players engaged. Diablo Immortal debut was also a huge opportunity for us to showcase our world-class development capabilities, leverage a Messiah, our robust self-developed game engine. Diablo Immortal underscores our proficiency in producing top-quality games on mobile devices. Over the years, our team has worked hard to recreate the Diablo sensation on mobile putting great effort into every detail of the game and overcoming countless barriers along the way. In the second quarter, Naraka: Bladepoint maintained strong engagement levels as we introduced a series of content update. By the end of May, the game has sold 10 million copies worldwide since its release about a year ago, turning it into one of the best-selling PC games in the world. Along with its one-year anniversary, we recently announced an array of exciting updates for Naraka: Bladepoint, including a brand new map for the game for the game called Holoroth. Holoroth brings fresh combat experiences to players and a wealth of new features such as weather systems, interactive objects and new areas to explore, winning wide praise from players. On June 23, we debuted Naraka: Bladepoint on Xbox Series Xs and joined Xbox Game Pass. In its first two weeks on the market, an impressive one million new players jumped into the game, enjoying the exciting game play, which had been optimized for the console. The game will next be available on Xbox One. Simultaneously, we are working to bring Naraka: Bladepoint authentic melee combat to mobile platforms. Development is progressing smoothly and pre-registration has been very encouraging with more than three million users already registered without much marketing. Another exciting title that tops the chart in the second quarter was Infinite Lagrange. With new creative social media marketing initiatives, we greatly expanded the games user base, which triggered wide player interest in our Sci-Fi SLG title. We are also seeing strong retention of new players, further boosting our confidence in this promising category. We continue to introduce new game play and all rounded graphics -- graphic updates on ships, stars and space stations to further strengthen our leadership in the SLG category. Moving on to our pipeline, in addition to the aforementioned Naraka: Bladepoint mobile version, our strong pipeline is bursting with other exciting titles in the making. Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, is under preparation for global launch following its debut in China last September. With our latest round of beta testing in July, we received very positive feedback from the player community. Together with Warner Bros. Games, we look forward to co-publishing this amazing title for global audience soon. Domestically, our development of Justice mobile game is well on track, building on the success that our PC phenomenal Justice created back in 2018, Justice mobile game will recreate a vivid world of the Song Dynasty on mobile devices with our cutting-edge game technologies, such as motion capture and global illumination. As a leader in the MMO category, we will keep pushing boundaries and continue to raise the bar for the industry. Justice mobile game will no doubt introduce a brand new game experience to the MMO universe and offer players a world of greater freedom and more imagination. We are determined to become a well-respected premium global game content provider on the international stage. Our globalization strategy will be an essential part of the next chapter of our growth story. Our world-class R&D infrastructure, coupled with our top talents from all over the world, will serve as a strong foundation to build the next sensation of blockbusters for players worldwide. We always follow an innovative-first approach and look for creative mind with the same passion for games. Through strategic investment and partnership, as well as setting up first-party overseas studios, we've successfully built a strong connection with top talent across the global stage. In the second quarter, we made further progress in our globalization efforts, successfully bringing internationally renowned game veterans to NetEase. During the quarter, we are pleased to have announced that renowned industry veteran, Jerry Hook, a founding member of Xbox Live and one of the key masterminds behind the Halo and Destiny franchises. Jerry will be heading our newest first-party studio Jar of Sparks based in Seattle. We also announced the onboarding of Emile Liang, who had previously spent over 23 years with Ubisoft and was a producer of the Far Cry and Assassins Creed franchises. We are excited for him to join as a Lead Producer in our Montréal Studio, bringing us more expertise in AAA game production. In Japan, we are also excited to welcome another master producer, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, who was a 27-year Capcom veteran and the producer of Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Sengoku Basara and many other well-known game series. Same as our previously announced overseas studios, our new studios and producers have great autonomy over the games they want to build allowing these top-notch talent to rise organically and maximize the creative genius in each of them. Now turning to our education business. Total net revenues for Youdao were RMB 956 million in the second quarter and we achieved positive operating cash flow of RMB 104 million in this quarter, despite the challenges faced during the COVID resurgence and business transition. For the second quarter, net revenues from smart learning devices were RMB 240 million, up 16% year-over-year, demonstrating our resilience despite the pandemic impact on the supply chain and logistics. Our flagship products maintained their remarkable popularity where we released a variety of diversified new products to cover a broader range of learning scenarios, Youdao dictionary plan series and Youdao listening part, both led their respective categories during JD.com's June 18 Shopping Festival. In July, we introduced a new product called Youdao Smart Learning pad, our very first learning pad equipped with AI diagnosis and adaptive learning functions. The product satisfies users' needs for reading, listening, writing and practicing are on one consolidated device. We continue to diversify our product offering in the STEM Education sector in which we achieved sustainable growth with gross billings expanding by more than 9 fold in the second quarter year-over-year and over 180% quarter-over-quarter. For example, in the second quarter, gross billings from Youdao international chess increased by over 60% quarter-over-quarter. With an aim to create a comprehensive and user-friendly online learning community, we also launched the Youdao Broad Game Academy application at the end of last year to better serve our students of Go, Chess and Chinese chess courses. As a result, the monthly average DAUs on this platform has increased over 7x compared with that of the first quarter. Looking ahead, Youdao will continue to upgrade its diversified product and services to empower more efficient learning experiences for Chinese students. Driven by our proprietary technologies, we remain confident in Youdao's development trajectory in the second half of this year. On cloud music, again, a more challenging industry environment and macro headwinds, we maintained strong growth in the second quarter and total revenues improved by 29% year-over-year to RMB 2.2 billion. Our membership paying ratio also reached 21%, demonstrating the resilience of our business and high demand for the cloud music immersive music experience, along with users increasing willingness to pay for premium content. Our online music services MAU stood at RMB 182 million with our DAU over MAU ratio staying well above 30% during the period. Gross margins have continued to improve and reached 13% in the second quarter compared with just 4% in the same period last year. By enhancing our product and community features and through technological innovation, we are bringing music lovers and artists alike the premium experience they crave. During the period, we launched our new high-resolution audio feature offering users higher audio quality for an immersive audio experience, coupled with our seamless listening function. We are committed to bringing users superior sound quality through the latest technology. Using interaction is also a key component to the music experience we aim to provide with our new music-inspired social networking app MUS, we are utilizing music content to connect users. Within this app, users can connect with users who share similar music taste, based on their listen preferences and personality insights. On the content side, to satisfy the music needs of our younger users, we continue to build our content and give users increasing choices to express themselves. As of June 30, 2022, Cloud Music was also home to over 500,000 registered independent artists with 2.3 million music tracks created by this group of talented musicians. In addition, we are also working in collaboration with top labels to secure more top talent content and simultaneously achieving better commercial terms. As for our recently licensed content, we've added multiple licensing agreements with major overseas and domestic music labels such as SM Entertainment, PF Entertainment, YG Entertainment, all of which provide our users with access to more hit at an improved ROI. This will continue to be our goal as we negotiate with multiple copyright holders to bring in music content that resonates with our community and complement our offering. Looking ahead, we plan to keep growing in the scope, content coverage and community size. Moving on to Yanxuan. Our private label brand continues to launch popular products that consumers love across diversified channels in the second quarter with the goal of bringing consumers products that facilitate a more leisurely and modern lifestyle, Yanxuan focuses on its development of high-quality original product design. During the second quarter, we launched a number of popular products such as hand made vinegar, ergonomic chair, skin-friendly built and Chinese-style fragrances, covering food, home furnishing, bedding as well as personal hygiene and maternity products. Lastly, in June, we published our ESG report for 2021, highlighting that we have officially established a dedicated sustainable development department and formed an ESG Committee at our Board level consisting of three independent directors. In addition, we remain committed to continuing developing our carbon strategy and enhancing more transparent disclosure. In 2021, as part of our environmental and social endeavors, we successfully reduced over 3,800 metric tons of carbon emissions in warehouses, logistics and packaging sites, and donated over RMB80 million for flood relief and efforts towards pandemic control. In addition to our ongoing work to help students in remote mountainous areas, we also provided a great number of smart hardware, high-quality courses and online learning platforms to rural schools. We were pleased to learn that with our help, many students achieved positive results in this year's college entrance exam and were successfully admitted to top universities, including Peking University. Across our business, we strive to serve the greater good of society as a whole and use our technology and other resources to support a better future. So far, we are making steady progress in growing our core game businesses and international presence. With the global launch of drilling new games across different platforms and establishment of our overseas studios, which affords us access to the best creative minds anywhere in the world, we are getting ready for the next phase of our global ambition. This concludes William's comments. I will now provide a brief review of our 2022 second quarter financial results. Given the limited time on today's call, I will be presenting some abbreviated financial highlights. We encourage you to read through our press release issued earlier today for further details. Total net revenues for the second quarter were RMB23.2 billion or US$3.5 billion, representing a 13% increase year-over-year. As we disclosed in our earnings release issued earlier today, beginning in this quarter, we've consolidated revenues from certain value-added game services with our online games operations and rename the category games and related value-added services. We think this is a better depiction of our game businesses ecosystem. In addition to online games, we provide a range of tools and services to our users to enhance their overall gaming experience when they play our games, such as the CC live streaming service, a platform offering various live streaming content with a primary focus on game broadcasting and certain game-related merchandise sales. These revenues were previously included under our innovative businesses and others line item, and historical periods have also been adjusted accordingly. Online game operations are still the primary component of this segment, accounting for nearly 93% of our total games and related value-added services revenue. The ratio is steady with the prior period and same period a year ago. Total net revenues from our games and related VAS were RMB18.1 billion, up 15% year-over-year. The growth was primarily due to increased revenue contribution from the launch of new games, such as NARAKA: Bladepoint and Harry Potter: Magic Awakened and other exciting games such as Fantasy Westward Journey Online. Net revenues from our mobile games accounted for approximately 66% of net revenue from the operation of online games. Youdao’s net revenues were RMB956 million, compared with RMB1.3 billion in the same quarter last year. The decline was mainly due to the conclusion of Youdao's after-school tutoring services for academic subjects on the China's compulsory K9 education system, which were previously included in its learning services back in 2021. Net revenues from Cloud Music were RMB2.2 billion, up nearly 30% year-over-year. The increase was mainly due to the increased revenues from membership subscription, as well as social entertainment services. Net revenues for innovative businesses and others were nearly RMB2 billion, up 14% quarter-over-quarter, mainly due to increased contribution from Yanxuan in the second quarter. Our total gross profit margin rose to 55.9% in the second quarter, up slightly compared with 54.5% in the second quarter of last year. GP margin for the games and related value-added services was 64.9%. The majority of our gross profit in this segment is contributed by online games revenue. The contribution from related VAS is relatively much smaller, which carries a lower margin than online games. Therefore, even with adjustments to our line items, our games and related VAS margin is generally stable with some narrow fluctuations based on the revenue mix of mobile and PC titles, self-developed, co-developed, as well as licensed games. GP margin for Youdao was 42.8%, compared with 52.3% in the same period of last year. The decline was mainly due to the lower revenue proportion from Youdao's learning services, resulting from the conclusion of the after-school tutoring businesses for K9 academic subjects. Gross profit margin for Cloud Music continues to improve in the second quarter, climbing to 13% versus 4.1% a year ago. The significant margin improvement primarily resulted from strong top line growth, as well as the improved efficiency of our content investment. GP margin for innovative businesses and others was 25.8% compared with 27.3% last year. The decline was mainly due to the result of decreased revenue from higher-margin advertising services. Total operating expense for the second quarter were RMB8 billion, or 35% of our total net revenues. If we look at our cost composition in more details, our selling and marketing expenses, as a percentage of net revenue were 14%, compared with 15% for the same period last year. The change was mainly due to less marketing spend related to Youdao. If we exclude Youdao, our selling and marketing expenses as a percentage of net revenue were 12%, compared with 11% in the same period last year, mainly due to increased spending on certain games promotion during the second quarter. Our R&D expense were RMB3.6 billion or 15% as a percentage of total net revenue, compared with 17% for the same period last year. We remain committed to investing in content creation and product development. We are also seeing leverage in our R&D investment. Our other income was RMB785 million for the second quarter compared with RMB28 million last quarter. The quarter-over-quarter increase was mainly due to the exchange rate of the US dollar against RMB fluctuating over the last couple of periods. Our effective tax rate for this quarter was 22%. As a general reminder, the effective tax rate is presented on an accrual basis and the tax credit deferred from each of our legal entities at different time periods depending on applicable policies and our operations. Our non-GAAP net income from continuing operations attributable to shareholders for the second quarter totaled RMB5.4 billion or US$808 million. Non-GAAP basic earnings per ADS from continuing operations for the quarter was US$1.23 or US$0.25 per share. This quarter, we also had RMB625 million of net income from discontinued operations, which was related to the disposal of the Kaola business. Additionally, our cash position remains strong. As of the quarter end, our net cash position was about RMB88 billion, compared with RMB86 billion as of the year-end last year. In accordance with our dividend policy, we are pleased to report that our Board of Directors has approved a dividend of US$0.072 per share or US$0.36 per ADS. Lastly, we continued to buy back shares during the period. Under our share repurchase program for up to US$3 billion, approximately 24 million ADS has been repurchased as of June 30 year for a total cost of approximately US$3 billion. Meanwhile, under NetEase Youdao purchase program for up to US$50 million, approximately 1.7 million ADS has been purchased for a total cost of about 18 million as of June 30. In addition, NetEase purchased about 0.8 million ordinary shares of Cloud Music for a total cost of US$8 million during the second quarter. Thank you for your attention. We would like now to open the call to your questions. Operator, let's go to Q&A.
Operator
谢谢。[操作员说明] 我们将接听来自中金公司杨白的第一条提问。
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] We will take our first question from the line of Yang Bai from CICC.
Yang Bai
[外语] 好的。谢谢管理层。网易近年来持续在海外市场发力,并在海外建立了多家游戏开发商。我们如何看待未来海外投资的节奏?另外,能否分享一下正在开发中的产品情况?谢谢。
Yang Bai
[Foreign Language] Okay. Thank you, management. NetEase has continuously made efforts in the overseas market in recent years and has established several game developers overseas. What is our take on the pace of overseas investments in the future? Also, could you perhaps share some colors on the products in development? Thank you.
William Ding
海外市场对网易来说非常重要。众所周知,过去一年我们在中国没有获得任何[听不清]的版号批准。因此我们必须做出战略选择,将部分研发资源转向全球市场,包括欧洲市场和日本——或者说亚洲市场。大家都知道我们在游戏制作方面有着非常出色的记录。我们的研发效率非常高,目前正与许多海外开发商密切合作,寻找受全球游戏玩家欢迎的产品。实际上我们有很多产品正在开发中。希望很快就能看到其中一些产品推向市场。6月2日,大家都看到了暗黑破坏神的成功——我们和暴雪合作的,我认为这款游戏的发布非常积极——非常非常强劲。谢谢。
William Ding
Overseas market is upgrade important for NetEase. And as everybody knows that in the past year, we've not received any license approval of [indiscernible] in China. So we have to make the strategic choice to shift some of our R&D resources to the global market, the European markets to the Japanese -- or the Asian markets. So everybody knows that we have a very strong track record in game production. We have very high R&D efficiencies, and we are now working very closely with many overseas developers to find a product that will be welcomed by the global game players. We actually do have a lot of products under development. And hopefully, you will see some of them being introduced to the market very soon. On June 2, everybody saw the success of Diablo that we – Blizzard, and I think it's been a very positive -- very, very strong release of that game. Thank you.
Operator
下一条提问来自杰富瑞的Thomas Chong。
Operator
Our next questions from the line of Thomas Chong from Jefferies.
Thomas Chong
[外语] 谢谢管理层回答我的问题。我们看到互联网公司近期在全球宏观经济承压的背景下,都在强调成本效率,如员工成本和营销支出。管理层能否分享一下对销售与营销、研发以及一般行政费用等运营费用前景的看法?谢谢。
Thomas Chong
[Foreign Language] Thanks management for taking my questions. We have seen Internet companies highlighting about cost efficiencies, such as staff costs and marketing spending on the back of global macro heaviness these days. Can management share the thought about the outlook about the operating expenses in sales and marketing, R&D and G&A? Thanks.
William Ding
[外语]
William Ding
[Foreign Language]
Margaret Shi
这不是——问题不是关于削减成本。问题是关于成本优化。在我们业务开发和运营的整个过程中,有时我们确实会在某些领域削减成本,但也会在其他领域增加投资支出。网易将继续优化公司的成本结构支出方式。仅仅因为宏观经济疲软,并不意味着我们必须采取某些措施来应对。网易考虑得非常长远,我们关心公司的可持续长期增长。谢谢。
Margaret Shi
So it's not -- the question is about cutting costs. So the question is about optimization of cost. Sometimes it throughout of development operation of our business, sometimes we do have -- we do cut costs in certain areas, but we'll also increase our investment spend in other areas. So NetEase, we will continue to optimize the way we spend the cost structure of the company. Only just because there is weakness in the macro, it doesn't necessarily mean that we have to take certain actions to address that. NetEase, we think very long-term, and we care about the sustainable long-term growth of the company. Thank you.
Charles Yang
Thomas,我是Charles。再补充一点。正如你所看到的,过去几年我们一直非常重视研发投入,我们的员工总数也保持相对稳定,因为对我们来说,投资人才、投资技术是我们创造世界级内容的关键竞争力。
Charles Yang
And Thomas, it's Charles. Just to add a bit more. As you can see, we've always been very committed in R&D spending over the past couple of years, our had strong headcount, total headcount also remained relatively stable because for us, we think investing into talent, investing into technology is the key competence in us creating the world-class content.
Margaret Shi
谢谢Thomas。请下一条提问。
Margaret Shi
Thank you, Thomas. Next question please.
Operator
好的。谢谢。我们将接听来自瑞信Kenneth Fong的下一条提问。
Operator
Okay. Thank you. We will take our next question from the line of Kenneth Fong from Credit Suisse.
Kenneth Fong
[外语] 感谢管理层回答我的问题。管理层如何看待国内监管环境以及对版号审批的预期?随着未来版号审批数量可能减少,这将如何改变我们的游戏策略,包括Jar应用、IP投资等方面?谢谢。
Kenneth Fong
[Foreign Language] Thank you management for taking my question. What's management view on the domestic regulatory landscape and expectation on the Banhao approval? With a likely lower number of Banhao approved in the future, how will this change our game strategy, including Jar app, IP investment, et cetera? Thank you.
William Ding
[外语]
William Ding
[Foreign Language]
Margaret Shi
正如我在之前的问题中提到的那样,我们必须关注海外市场并更积极地扩大海外用户基础的原因之一,是因为国内版号资源的缺乏。其次,这也告诉我们必须更加重视和珍惜国内市场,因为版号现在是宝贵的资源。因此,我们必须更加努力,确保我们开发并推向市场的每一款游戏都能受到中国游戏玩家的欢迎和喜爱。谢谢。
Margaret Shi
So, I kind, of mentioned that in the earlier question, one of the reasons we have to look abroad and be more active in expanding our -- against our user base overseas because of lack of know-how in China. And secondly, it kind of tells you -- tells us that we have to value or cherish the domestic market even more, because know-how the precious resources now. So everybody how we get, we have to work, we’re putting more effort to make sure every game we develop -- launch to the market will be popular, will be welcomed by the game players in China. Thank you.
Operator
好的,谢谢。接下来我们将接受来自高盛Lincoln Kong的提问。您的线路已接通,请开始提问。
Operator
Okay. Thank you. We will take our next question from the line of Lincoln Kong from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open now. Please go ahead.
Lincoln Kong
[外语] 我的问题是关于两款单款游戏。首先是《无尽的拉格朗日》。这款游戏最近几个月流行趋势背后的原因是什么?为什么我们看到如此强劲的MAU增长?第二个问题是关于《永劫无间》手游。从长期角度来看,我们如何看待手游版本的潜力?我们有什么差异化策略来渗透这个大型DAU基础的吃鸡游戏类型,特别是从竞争对手那里获取市场份额?
Lincoln Kong
[Foreign language] So my question is about two single game titles. First is on the Infinite Lagrange. So what's the reason behind this title is a popular trend in the recent months? And why we're seeing such a strong expanding MAU growth? And second is on the Naraka: Bladepoint mobile. So from a longer term perspective, how do we see the potential for the mobile game version? What's our differentiated strategy to penetrate those large DAU based for battle royale game type and especially acquiring the market share from those competitors?
William Ding
[外语]
William Ding
[Foreign language]
Margaret Shi
好的,谢谢。第一个问题是关于《无尽的拉格朗日》。我们的团队在投票游戏领域拥有长期的专业经验。《无尽的拉格朗日》实际上已经运营了相当长一段时间,今年我们推出了新版本,游戏玩家似乎很喜欢这个新版本,这意味着内容足够强大,能够吸引全新的游戏玩家群体,这让我们有信心能够继续扩大这一品类。谢谢。
Margaret Shi
Sure. Thanks. The first question is on Infinite Lagrange. So our team actually has strong expertise in voting game for a very long period of time. So Infinite Lagrange has actually in operation for quite a while, we introduced a new version this year and the game player seems to have loved this new version, which means that the content was strong enough to attract a whole new – whole brand-new set of game players and that gives us confidence that we will be able to continue to expand this category. Thank you.
William Ding
[外语]
William Ding
[Foreign Language]
Margaret Shi
市场上有多款大型DAU产品与《永劫无间》类似。我们认为《永劫无间》之所以如此成功,是因为它创造的用户体验非常独特,比如战斗体验、游戏中的自由移动等。过去我们的竞争对手或其他开发商未能创造出像《永劫无间》这样的游戏,是因为这款游戏需要非常硬核和尖端的技术来提供那种用户体验。因此,我们将继续探索各种方式,为我们的用户提供持续良好的用户体验。谢谢。
Margaret Shi
There are a number of large DAU product in the market are similar to NARAKA. The reason why we think NARAKA: BLADEPOINT has been so successful is because the user experience it creates is very unique experience such as combat experience, free movement in the game. And the reason why in the past that in our competitors or other developers have not been able to create a game like NARAKA is because this game requires very hardcore and cutting-edge technology to deliver that type of user experience. So again, we are – so – we will continue to explore various ways to give our users a continued good user experience. Thank you.
Operator
好的,谢谢。接下来我们将接受来自花旗集团Alicia Yap的提问。线路已接通,请开始提问。
Operator
Okay. Thank you. We will take our next question from the line of Alicia Yap from Citigroup. The line is open. Please go ahead.
Alicia Yap
好的。大家好。晚上好。[外语] 晚上好,管理层。感谢回答我的问题。我的问题与美国存托凭证(ADR)退市风险相关。管理层对于在香港进行主要上市的计划是否有任何评论?如果有的话,我们预计大致的时间框架是怎样的?另外,管理层能否分享中美讨论的最新进展,以及ADR是否真的会从美国交易所退市?谢谢。
Alicia Yap
Okay. Hi. Good evening. [Foreign Language] Good evening, management. Thanks for taking my questions. My question is related to the US ADR delisting risk. So, whether management has any comments on your plans for the primary Hong Kong leasing? And if so, what is the rough time frame that we should expect that to happen? And then if management have any latest update that you could share with us regarding discussion status between China and US and whether the ADR will indeed be delisted from the US exchange? Thank you.
Charles Yang
谢谢,Alicia,我是Charles。让我直接用英语回答你的问题。首先,我们正在密切关注这一情况。众所周知,这是一个超出单个公司控制范围的话题或问题。这更多是一个地缘政治问题,但我们保持谨慎乐观,认为世界上最大的两个国家——美国和中国——以及高层领导会找到共同利益点。因此,我们认为中国公司完全硬着陆或脱钩的情况不太可能发生。目前有超过200家中国公司在美国市场上市,我们真的不认为硬着陆或脱钩会发生或加速。不过,我们可以控制的是,我们正在非常积极地做准备,以防万一或在假设情景下,如果那种极端情况发生,网易将准备好继续作为上市流动资产。正如许多人所知,事实上,我们是2020年第二家在香港双重上市的中国ADR,尽管我们目前在港交所是第二上市地位。从第二上市转换为主要上市更多是技术性文件工作,或者开玩笑地说,更多是律师的工作。这本身没有障碍或阻碍,而且准备工作中的一部分我们已经进行了一段时间。我们认为,如果情况需要,转换将是一个非常迅速和顺利的过程。
Charles Yang
Thank you, Alicia, it's Charles. Let me answer your question directly in English. So firstly, we are very closely monitoring the situation. As everyone knows, this is a topic or rather this is a question that's beyond the control of an individual company. It is more of a job political issue, but we remain cautiously optimistic that US and China, the two largest countries in the world and the senior leadership, will find the common ground of interest. So, we think a kind of a hard landing or decoupling between entirely the Chinese companies. There are over 200 Chinese companies listed in the US market. We really don't think a hard landing or decoupling would take place or rather be accelerated. What we could control though, is that we are making very proactive preparation in the event or in a hypothetical scenario, if that extreme situation happened then NetEase will be prepared to continue being a listed a liquid asset. As many of you know, we are in fact, the second Chinese ADR that is being dual listed in Hong Kong back in 2020, although we were -- we are currently a secondarily listed status on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The conversion between secondary listing to primary listing is more of a technical paperwork or in a joking way, it's more of a lawyer's work. There's no barrier or there's no roadblocks per se and the preparation work, some of them has been undergoing for a while by us. We think if the situation requires the conversion will be a very swift and smooth process.
Alicia Yap
谢谢,Charles。
Alicia Yap
Thank you, Charles.
Operator
好的,谢谢。我们将接听下一位来自海通国际Natalie Wu的提问。
Operator
Okay, thank you. We will take our next question from the line of Natalie Wu from Haitong International.
Natalie Wu
[外语] 让我提出第一个问题。感谢管理层回答我的问题,并对非常强劲的季度业绩表示祝贺。我的问题与最近的《魔兽世界》手游传闻有关。听说合作已经暂停。我只是想确认,这是一个独立事件,还是我们应该担心公司与暴雪未来的关系,特别是在明年微软交易之后?其次,快速跟进一下《无尽的拉格朗日》手游。我想知道,近期新增用户和预订量的大部分是否是通过[听不清]游戏发行商计划举措产生的?如果是的话,我们应该如何看待相关的利润率状况?谢谢。
Natalie Wu
[Foreign Language] Let me take in my first question. Thanks, management, for taking my question and congratulations for very strong quarter. My question is related with the recent World of Warcraft, mobile game rumor. Just heard that collaboration has been halted. So, I just wanted to make sure, if this is an independent effect, or should we be concerned regarding company's future relationship with Blizzard, especially after the Microsoft deal next year? And secondly, very quickly follow up with the Infinite Lagrange mobile game. I was just wondering, if the majority of the recent incremental user of booking is generated through the [indiscernible] game publisher plan initiatives? And if yes, how should we think of the related margin profile? Thank you.
William Ding
[外语]
William Ding
[Foreign Language]
Margaret Shi
首先回答第一个问题。正如您所说,《魔兽世界》的情况是独立的。我们与暴雪的关系一直非常好。正如您最近所见,我们在全球舞台上共同开发和发行了《暗黑破坏神》,并取得了非常积极的成果。谢谢。
Margaret Shi
Just translate the -- for the first question. So lastly -- like you said, the case on World of Warcraft is the independent one. So our relationship with Blizzard has been very good. And as you’ve seen recently, we codeveloped and copublished Diablo on well stage and achieved very positive results. Thank you.
Charles Yang
是的。Natalie,关于您第二个关于《无尽的拉格朗日》的问题,简短的回答是:我们持续监控和探索我们认为有效的用户获取和营销方式,其中抖音是某些类型游戏(可能不是所有游戏)的有效营销渠道。对于《无尽的拉格朗日》,它对某些类型的营销支出是有效的。但总体而言,当我们审视一款游戏的整体利润率时,显然我们会考虑很多因素,营销渠道和营销费用是其中之一。但《无尽的拉格朗日》的成功,或者说其日益增长的受欢迎程度和成功,我认为不仅仅依赖于单一的营销渠道。它起到了一定作用,但更重要的是,成功的基础在于持续的扩展包,特别是我们在第二季度发布的扩展包效果尤为显著。
Charles Yang
Yes. Natalie, for your second question on Infinite Lagrange, the answer is -- the short answer is that, we -- from time to time, we continuously monitor and explore what we think are effective ways of user acquisition and marketing doing amongst many others is a conducive marketing channel for certain type of games, maybe not all. For Infinite Lagrange, it works for certain types of marketing spending. But all in all, when we look at overall margin profile of a game, obviously, we factor in a lot of considerations, marketing channels, marketing expense being one. But the success or rather the increasing popularity and success of Infinite Lagrange, I don't think it's only dependent on one single source of marketing channel. It played a role, but I think more importantly, the success is underscored by the continuous expansion packs in particular, the expansion pack that we released in the second quarter was particularly effective.
Natalie Wu
明白了,非常清楚。谢谢。
Natalie Wu
Got it, very clear. Thank you.
Operator
好的。谢谢。我们将接听来自汇丰银行Charlene Liu的下一个问题。
Operator
Okay. Thank you. We will take our next question from the line of Charlene Liu from HSBC.
Charlene Liu
谢谢。[外语] 谢谢管理层给我提问的机会。我们了解到这款应用开局非常出色,下载量和营收数据表现惊人。管理层如何评估该应用迄今为止的表现?您对这款游戏的生命周期有何预期?另外,您主要关注哪些关键绩效指标?非常感谢。
Charlene Liu
Thank you. [Foreign Language] Thank you, management for giving me the opportunity to ask the question. We understand that app is off to an excellent start, recording amazing download and growth billing figures. How would the management evaluate the app performance so far? And what are your expectations on the longevity of the game? Also what are the key KPIs would you be tracking mainly? Thank you very much.
William Ding
[外语]
William Ding
[Foreign Language]
Margaret Shi
《暗黑破坏神》在全球舞台上取得了非常突出的成绩。这是一款非常强大的MMO游戏,就像我们对待许多传统游戏一样。我们将继续推出强大的内容和优质的扩展包,为全球玩家服务。谢谢。谢谢,请下一个问题。
Margaret Shi
Diablo has achieved very prominent results on a worldwide stage. And it's a very strong MMO game, and like we've done with our -- many of our legacy games. We will continue to issue strong content, good expansion packs to serve our global game players as well. Thank you. Thank you, next question please.
Operator
我们将接听来自摩根士丹利Alex Poon的下一个问题。
Operator
We will take our next question from the line of Alex Poon from Morgan Stanley.
Alex Poon
[外语] 我的问题——我有两个问题。我的第一个问题涉及海外游戏和国内游戏之间的货币化设计。当《暗黑破坏神》最初发布时,我们看到一些美国玩家的评论说游戏设计有点过度货币化。那么未来,当我们设计手机游戏时,玩家会习惯这种货币化方式,还是我们需要调整我们的货币化系统使其稍微轻一些?我的第二个问题涉及《永劫无间》在6月发布后在Xbox上的表现,以及未来在PS5和其他平台上的时间表?谢谢。
Alex Poon
[Foreign Language] My question -- I have two questions. My first question is related to the monetization design between overseas titles and domestic titles. When Diablo was initially released, we saw some comments from US gamers saying the game design is a bit over monetization. So in future, when we design mobile games, are gamers going to get used to this kind of monetization, or we need to adjust our monetization system to be a little bit lighter? My second question is related to the performance of NARAKA: BLADEPOINT on Xbox after its release in June and the timeline for PS5 and other platforms in the future? Thank you.
William Ding
[外语]
William Ding
[Foreign Language]
Margaret Shi
因此,我们的产品旨在为所有玩家提供出色的用户体验。我们不仅针对那些在游戏中花费大量金钱的玩家。我们希望为所有不同水平的玩家提供同样优质的服务。我在全球有很多朋友都曾举办过游戏活动。他们在玩《暗黑破坏神》时度过了愉快的时光,而且不需要花费太多金钱。确实,全球不同地区存在许多文化差异和玩家差异,我们将努力为世界每个国家、每个地区的玩家提供卓越的体验。谢谢。
Margaret Shi
So our product is designed to provide strong user experience for all players. We are not targeting only those who pay a lot of money in the game. We want to serve all of our players of all levels, equally well. So there are many of my friends globally, who have hosted. They've had a great time, playing Diablo without having to spend much money. And it is true, there are many cultural differences, player differences in different regions around the globe, and we will endeavor to provide great experience to players in every country, every region of the world. Thank you.
William Ding
[外语]
William Ding
[Foreign Language]
Margaret Shi
谢谢。正如我们在准备好的发言中提到的,我们——Naraka: Bladepoint已在Xbox平台上线,并加入了Xbox Live,这为我们带来了大量增量用户,特别是主机游戏玩家。至于PlayStation 5,我们预计将在今年年底或明年初推出。谢谢。非常感谢。谢谢,我们的电话会议到此结束,接线员?
Margaret Shi
Thank you. Like we mentioned in the prepared remarks, we, -- Naraka: Bladepoint was launched Xbox and we joined Xbox Live, which brought us a lot of incremental users, particularly console game players. And in terms of PlayStation 5, we're looking at a launch around end of this year or early next year. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you that end our call, Operator?
Operator
谢谢。好的。由于时间限制,今天的问答环节到此结束。我将把会议交还给Margaret Shi,请她做任何补充或结束发言。
Operator
Thank you. Okay. Due to time constraint that concludes today's question-and-answer session. I will turn the conference back to Margaret Shi for any additional or closing remarks.
Margaret Shi
再次感谢大家今天参加我们的会议。如果您有任何进一步的问题,请随时直接联系我们或TPG投资者关系部。祝您有美好的一天。谢谢。
Margaret Shi
Thank you once again for joining us today. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us directly or TPG Investor Relations. Have a great day. Thank you.
Operator
今天的电话会议到此结束。感谢各位的参与。
Operator
That concludes today's conference. Thank you, everyone, for your participation.