Operator
各位好,欢迎参加网易2023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高级投资者关系总监石女士。请开始,女士。
Operator
Good day, and welcome to the NetEase 2023 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Margaret Shi, Senior 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、假设和其他因素的影响。其中一些风险超出公司的控制范围,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联合交易所网站上的公告和文件。除非法律要求,公司不承担更新其前瞻性信息的义务。在今天的电话会议中,管理层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2023年第二季度财报新闻稿。请注意,我们将在本次电话会议上讨论的关于云音乐的某些财务信息是根据国际财务报告准则编制的。更多信息,请参阅云音乐2023年上半年的中期报告。提醒一下,本次会议正在录音中。此外,本次电话会议的投资演示文稿和网络直播回放将在网易公司网站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。现在,我们将电话转交给杨昭烜,他将代表丁磊宣读准备好的讲话。
Margaret Shi
Thank you, operator. Please note the discussion today will contain forward-looking statements relating to the future performance of the company and are intended to qualify for the Safe Harbor from liability as established by the U.S. 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 the announcements and filings on the website of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company does not undertake any obligation to update its forward-looking information except as required by law. During today's call, management will 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 2023 second quarter earnings news release issued earlier today. Please note that certain financial information regarding Cloud Music we'll be discussing on this call have been prepared in accordance with IFRS. For additional information, please refer to Cloud Music's interim report for the first half of 2023. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. In addition, an investor presentation and a webcast replay of this conference call will be available on NetEase's 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. We will now turn the call over to Charles, who will read the prepared remark on behalf of William.
Charles Yang
翻译中...
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. Our total net revenues came in at RMB24 billion, an increase of nearly 4% year-over-year, and our net income attributable to shareholders increased by 56% year-over-year to RMB8.2 billion. Our long-standing franchises are still resonating well with our users. In the second quarter, revenues from our Fantasy Westward Journey Saga continues to grow year-over-year, further impressing the industry with this IP's longevity and sustainable popularity. Westward Journey franchise recently celebrated its 21st anniversary since its commercial launch. Games from our flagship series, crafted on solid foundations and continual iterations every few months maintain their top-tier positions and a luring charm in today's market, even after nearly two decades of operation. In addition to these legacy titles, we are proactively cultivating an expanding array of long-lasting franchises. We believe our recent portfolio additions, such as Eggy Party and Naraka: Bladepoint are showing similar popularity with potential longevity. Continuing its successful streak after more than a year of operation, Eggy Party achieved another record-high for active users this summer, surpassing the peak it reached during the Chinese New Year period this year. In the second quarter, it was the most downloaded game in China, which speaks to the game's strong reputation and user engagement. Additionally, we have our sights set on long-term success and we are deeply committed to fostering a thriving UGC ecosystem. In June, we successfully hosted our very first creative conference and introduced a series of new incentives, providing even better support and rewards for creators. Furthermore, we've diligently upgraded our game editor by introducing a series of advanced components and interactive functions such as NPC and blog editor. These additions not only offer increased flexibility but also push the boundaries of creative possibilities. To build on the domestic popularity of Eggy Party, our plan to launch it in the global market is well underway. We went through our first round of testing outside of China in April, which has given us valuable insights. Our development team is working hard to optimize the game experience based on this feedback. We plan to test Eggy Party in a few more regions including the Europe, North America, and Japan markets before we officially introduce Eggy Party to worldwide audiences. For Naraka: Bladepoint, we proudly announced that we added another 10 million new users in the past year, reaching a new milestone of 20 million users in total after two years of operation. To celebrate the game's two-year anniversary, we increased an array of captivating new content, featuring fresh weapons, heroes, and engaging game-play features. Most notably, during its two-year celebration, Naraka: Bladepoint made some exciting moves, transitioning into a free-to-play model and debuting on the PlayStation 5 to expand its accessibility to a wider audience, resulting in a remarkable surge in active users and being voted as PlayStation's best new game in July. Furthermore, the development of Naraka: Bladepoint's mobile version is making steady progress. We have a firm focus on preserving the game's hardcore essence on mobile devices to further its reach to a broader audience in China and potentially, globally. The huge success we have seen with our June new releases, Justice Mobile game and Racing Master has been very exciting for us and demonstrate our ability to once again set the bar for the MMO industry and expand genres to brand new categories through first-class content innovation. Justice Mobile game is arguably the first game in the world to bring fresh real-game experiences to users by leveraging machine-learning technologies. The game has dominated both the iOS download and grossing charts upon its release in China. Within a month, Justice Mobile game attracted over 40 million players, which is unheard of for any MMO game. Notably, it has joined in massive groups of Generation Z players who were previously unfamiliar with the MMO genre, revitalizing the spotlight MMOs within the Chinese game industry. As a forerunner in the MMO world, we continuously explore new horizons of innovation that brings all new creative gameplay into the genre. Justice mobile game offers a more balanced game experience which resonates well with younger generation, prompting players to willingly spend on cosmetic items they love within the game. Also, by leveraging our advantage in machine-learning technologies, Justice Mobile game's development team will be significantly more efficient in producing new and frequent expansion packs that keep our game players super engaged. Turning on to Racing Master. Since the game's June debuted in China, it has swiftly risen to the top position on the iOS download chart and claimed the number three spot on the top-grossing chart. This milestone launch marks the addition of our second racing car game to our portfolio, expanding our presence in this very popular genre. With Racing Master, we pioneered China's first proprietary AAA standard racing simulator mobile game, introducing an authentic racing experience into the mainstream of China gaming sphere. Developing a simulation racing game is no small feat, it requires a deep pool of technical expertise such as understanding dynamic crash physics, aerodynamics, and real-world tracks. These take years to build from the ground up. This kind of undertaking requires a lot of dedication and passion for games, as well as a strong commitment to bring this to life. We have ambitious plans for Racing Master in the global market. We are about to commence overseas testing with an aim to bring Racing Master's authentic racing simulation experience to global mobile players around the world. Badlanders, our next-generation looter shooting mobile game has received positive reviews from players and achieved the number two position on the iOS download chart following its launch on June 8th. We are dedicated to refining the game to fully unleash its long-term potential. At the end of June, we also rolled out Harry Potter: Magic Awakened to the global market, including Japan, North America, and Europe. Well, it topped the download chart in more than 50 regions. The game was well received by Harry Potter fans across the world and has been acclaimed for its world-class design and authentic representation of the original IP. Our most recent addition is Dunk City Dynasty, which we launched just yesterday. The game topped the iOS downloads chart. Authorized by the NBA Players Association, Dunk City Dynasty marks our debut into the self-developed basketball game domain. Dunk City Dynasty lets basketball fans build their dream team with All-Star NBA legend and dominate the court with real-time command using strategic progress and leadership skills. Transitioning to our pipeline, alongside the exciting titles mentioned earlier such as Naraka: Bladepoint mobile game, Eggy Party and Racing Master for the international markets, Where Winds Meet, our open-world adventure RPG is counting down to its eagerly awaited 2024 launch. At Gamescom 2023 held this week, Where Winds Meet unveiled a wealth of thrilling revelations which is now capturing significant attention from players worldwide, set at the onset of the Song Dynasty, a time of warfare and turmoil, Where Winds Meet allows players to embark on a journey as a mysterious swordman and immerse themselves in the heart-pounding allure of our interactive open-world. Our dedication towards R&D underpins our ability to continue to scale through consistent proprietary game launches. Nevertheless, we remain committed to bringing top-quality worldwide games to Chinese market. Since we introduced Minecraft to China in 2017, we have seen an incredible surge in its popularity within the Chinese gamers' community, where fans have embraced the opportunity to craft and explore their unique world as well as those of others, limited only by imagination. Recently, we are very pleased to have renewed the term of Minecraft license and are dedicated to continuously serving Chinese players in the long term. In the second quarter, we are pleased to announce the establishment of a new game studio named PinCool in Tokyo which is being led by Ryutaro Ichimura, a 20-year game industry veteran and long-time producer of the Dragon Quest franchise. PinCool plans to leverage its diverse knowledge as an entertainment production company to deliver top-notch entertainment experiences to users worldwide. While it will mainly focus on developing titles for game consoles, PinCool will also venture into various forms of entertainment. Equally exciting, we've welcomed T-Minus Zero Entertainment to the NetEase family. The studio is located in Austin, Texas, headed by Rich Vogel, an experienced game developer who has led development on groundbreaking multiplayer and service-based games such as Meridian 59, Ultima Online, Star Wars: Galaxy's, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. T-Minus Zero Entertainment is developing an online multiplayer-focused third-person action game that takes place within a Sci-Fi universe. Now let's move on to Youdao. The company's net revenues resumed its robust growth trajectory following the pandemic's impact earlier this year, registering a 26% year-over-year increase to reach RMB1.2 billion led by strong performance in our learning services and online marketing services. Our differentiated STEAM courses continues to drive year over year increase in our learning services revenue. For our go and coding courses, their renewal rates have reached close to 70%, demonstrating our user satisfaction with our course content. Online marketing services for Youdao achieved record revenues in the second quarter, nearly doubling comparing to the same period of last year. This achievement can be attributed to the utilization of our proprietary algorithm which has substantially elevated advertising precision and efficiency. Notably, it operates at a nearly 90% accuracy rate in intelligently targeting tagging KOLs and reduce the time required to produce advertising materials by 80% all while enhancing user satisfaction. For smart learning devices, we continue to invest in innovative technology and rolled out new products. We were excited to launch Youdao Dictionary Pen X6 Pro model in August, our first Dictionary Pen powered by our proprietary Ziyue large language model, which is the first large language model defined specifically for the education sector in China. X6 Pro offers highly personalized tutoring functions for students of varying ages and levels of learning progress For instance, the platform introduces a digital human language coach named Echo. Echo engages users with interactive English RO practice which teaches students how to initiate a conversation, express themselves naturally in a native manner, and provide grammar analysis based on student's submitted texts through scanning. Looking ahead, our focus on technological innovation remains our driving force while we compile long-term success across our business lines. Turning to NetEase Cloud Music. In the second quarter, Cloud Music continues to enrich its music-centric ecosystem and optimized the user experience resulting in a thriving music community. Total online music MAU steadily climbed to 207 million for the first half of 2023, marking a 14% year-over-year increase. Despite the industry-wide slowdown, total revenues were RMB1.9 billion, remaining stable compared to last quarter. This can be attributed to a combination of strong growth in online music services driven by revenues from subscription-based memberships and declining social entertainment services as we shift towards more sustainable development. Regarding margins, we are making remarkable progress. Our gross margin continues to improve in the second quarter reaching 27% versus 13% for the same period of last year. Cloud Music also achieved positive operating profit for the first time under IFRS in the first half of 2023. We continuously enrich our music library to offer a comprehensive music selection for our diverse audience space. In addition to the partnerships we established earlier this year with [Being Music] and CoMix Wave Films. We were happy to announce our collaboration with the country's top pop singer Chris Lee, leading brand [Givenchy] and renowned managing label RYCE Entertainment, which represents a number of highly acclaimed international pop star, including Jackson Wang. Furthermore, we have also extended our collaboration with popular Korean labels, including DREAMUS, SLL, and JTBC. Our collaboration efforts with copyright holders have also proven to be successful in terms of digital album sales. Notably, the digital album, I Feel by the leading Korean girl group (G)I-DLE achieved over RMB10 million in gross sales and 430,000 copies sold after its release in May. We continue to empower and support independent artists. By the end of June, we were serving a growing community of more than 640,000 registered independent artists. In addition to our support programs for nurturing music talent, we actively harness cutting-edge technology to provide tools that aid in music creation. During the second quarter, we introduced Cloud Music X Studio, a voice synthesis software developed in collaboration with Xiaoice, a technology innovator in life-like interactions. This innovative tool offers 12 natural singing invoices covering a variety of singing styles and provides musicians with resources in music creation. Moving forward, we will continue to foster our music-centric ecosystem, further grow our community, and drive healthy long-term monetization and margin expansion for NetEase Cloud Music. Now moving on to Yanxuan. In the second quarter, our private-label brand continues to strive by strengthening its portfolio with a focus on premium quality. This coincided with a steady increase in Yanxuan's revenues and significantly enhanced its profitability. In particular, the June 18 promotion yielded exceptional results. Our products achieved strong ranking on best-selling charts in diverse categories, including pet food, household cleaning products, and office furniture across leading e-commerce platforms. In Q2, we also introduced a campaign that highlights the production Journey of some of our popular products. Using short films, we showcase how much detailed attention goes into the making of some of these products which was heavily validated by our user community. Looking ahead, we will persist in our dedication to explore and introduce to consumer great well-crafted products under the Yanxuan. In summary, innovation through content production continues to be the cornerstone of NetEase and will be what propels our future growth. Superior content, products and services come from fresh ideas. This concept forms the heart of our company, where we will always strive for excellence, manifest through hard work and persistence to inspire the industries we serve from games to music to education to retail. We work to re-imagine what is possible, creating value for our global community, our employees, and our stakeholders. This concludes William's comments. I will now provide a brief review of our 2023 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 more details. Total net revenue for the second quarter were RMB24 billion or $3.3 billion, representing a nearly 4% increase year-over-year. Total net revenues from our games and related value-added services were RMB18.8 billion, up nearly 4% year-over-year. The growth was primarily driven by increased revenue contribution from mobile games, including our strong legacy titles such as Fantasy Westward Journey series and our newer games such as Eggy Party. Net revenues from our mobile games accounted for approximately 74% of our total net revenues from online games operation. Youdao's net revenue were RMB1.2 billion, a year-over-year increase of 26% primarily due to increased revenue contribution from learning services and online marketing services. Net revenues from Cloud Music were RMB1.9 billion, a 11% decline compared to the same period last year. As explained, last quarter, this result reflected declining revenue of social entertainment services as we adjusted our focus to improve profitability in a sustainable manner, we introduced multiple measures to enhance the listening experience of more dedicated music fans, lower the revenue-sharing ratio to broadcasters and agencies as well as reinforced risk controls and additional live-streaming function optimization. Net revenues for innovative businesses and others were RMB2.1 billion, up 10% year-over-year with a balanced approach to top-line growth and margin expansion. Our total gross profit margin continues to grow, reaching close to 60% in the second quarter compared with 56% in the second quarter of last year. Looking at our second-quarter margin in more detail. Gross profit margin was 67.4% for our games and related value-added services sector compared with 64.9% in the same period of last year. The growth was primarily driven by the termination of certain licensed games with comparatively lower gross margin. Our gross profit margin for Youdao was 47% compared with 42.8% in the same period of last year. The increase mainly resulted from increased revenue contribution from its learning services and online marketing services, which carry higher margins. GP margin for Cloud Music continues to improve in the second quarter, climbing to 27% versus 13% in the same period one year ago. The quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year increase in Cloud Music's gross profit, primarily resulted from the growth of membership services and continuous cost optimization initiatives. For our innovative businesses and others, gross profit margin was 29.5% compared with 25.8% in the second quarter of 2022. The increase was primarily the result of margin improvement in Yanxuan. Total operating expenses for the second quarter were RMB8.3 billion or 35% of our total net revenues. Taking a closer look at our expense component, our selling and marketing expenses as a percentage of total net revenues was 13.6% in the second quarter and remained relatively stable year-over-year. Our R&D expenses as a percentage of total net revenue also remained stable year-over-year at 16.3% in the second quarter. As an innovative content and technology-driven company, our commitment to investing in content creation and product development is ongoing. We are also seeing leverage in our R&D investments in the longer term. Our other income was RMB2.8 billion for the second quarter. The increase was mainly due to the mark-to-market value appreciation of certain publicly traded securities in our investment portfolio during the quarter, as well as higher unrealized net FX exchange gains. As per applicable accounting standards, we are required to reflect these fair-value changes. Effective tax rate was 8% for the second quarter of 2023. The lower effective tax rate for the second quarter was mainly due to tax benefits recognized in this quarter. As a reminder, the effective tax rate is presented on an accrual basis and the tax credit differ for each of our entities at different time periods depending on applicable policies and our operations. Our non-GAAP net income attributable to our shareholders for the second quarter totaled RMB9 billion or $1.2 billion. Non-GAAP basic earnings per ADS for the quarter was $1.93 or $0.39 for common share. Additionally, our cash position remains strong with net cash of approximately RMB99.6 billion as of June 30 compared with RMB95.6 billion as of the end of last year. In accordance with our dividend policy, we are pleased to report that our Board of Directors have approved a dividend of $0.105 per share or $0.525 per ADS. Lastly, on our current $5 billion share repurchase program starting in mid-January this year, approximately 6.1 million ADS has been repurchased as of June 30th for a total cost of approximately $536 million. Thank you for your attention. We would like now to open the call to your questions. Operator, let's move on to the Q&A.
Operator
谢谢。[操作员说明] 第一个问题来自摩根士丹利的Alex Poon。请提问。
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Alex Poon with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Alex Poon
[外语] 恭喜管理层和风险开发团队。我们今年接连推出了多款爆款游戏。管理层能否详细说明《Justice Mobile》如何利用AI提升收入和用户参与度?以及《Justice Mobile》如何成为中国首款采用AI的此类游戏?管理层能否也分享一下这款游戏未来面临的困难和预期?非常感谢。
Alex Poon
[Foreign Language] Congratulations management and risk development team. We have got blockbuster title one after another launching this year. Can management elaborate how the Justice Mobile leverage AI to boost revenue and user engagement? And how did Justice Mobile became the first one of this kind in China to adopt AI? And can management also share some of the difficulties and expectations of this game into the future? Thank you very much.
William Ding
[外语] 谢谢。我来快速翻译一下。这是——AI——我们应用——AI在两个方面对我们产生影响。首先是——它极大地提升了我们的研发效率,其次是它增强了用户体验。从研发效率的角度来看,我们在编程、图形设计等方面采用了AI技术,最重要的是,我们改变了设计游戏的思维方式,从
William Ding
[Foreign Language] Thank you. I will do a quick translation. This is -- the AI -- we applied -- AI has an effect on us in two ways. Firstly is on the -- it has greatly enhanced our R&D efficiency and secondly, it enhanced our user experience. From the R&D efficiency perspective, we've adopted AI technology in programming, in graphic designing, and most importantly, we changed the way we think about designing games from just game plus AI to AI plus games, which means that when we -- at the very beginning of designing the game, we start thinking AI, we build the whole -- the world view based on AI world, which gives our users very immersive strong open-world experience. So for what we'll be seeing, our users have been highly attracted to this game. And then -- we feel very strong stickiness and engagement of users of the game and it has -- I think the enjoyment that users are getting from the game has caused voluntary stress or promotion of our game within the gamer community and will be able to attract many gamers who were traditionally non-MMO game players. And obviously how we want to add on here is that, apply AI technology into our game development is not something that can be achieved overnight. We started thinking about AI as far as back in 2016, 2017 when we saw AlphaGo and that's when we realized AI will have a profound impact on gaming. So that's one. So I think what the result seen today is the accumulation of all the investments and dedication we have put into AI research and AI development in games. Thank you.
Margaret Shi
我们的下一个问题,请。
Margaret Shi
Our next question, please.
Operator
下一个问题来自中金公司的Yang Bai。请提问。
Operator
Your next question comes from Yang Bai with CICC. Please go ahead.
Yang Bai
[外语] 好的。我自己来翻译。在《Eggy Party》、《Racing Master》、《Justice Mobile》取得成功后,我们注意到公司最近推出了《Dunk City Dynasty》,该游戏上线后很快在中国iOS畅销榜上排名第八。管理层能否分享更多关于这款游戏的运营策略信息?我们应该如何看待电竞游戏的机会?此外,我们也看到公司发布了都市开放世界游戏《Project Mugen》的PV,这似乎是另一款大作。管理层能否告诉我们更多关于这款游戏的信息?谢谢。
Yang Bai
[Foreign Language] Okay. I will translate that myself. After the success of Eggy Party, Racing Master, Justice Mobile, we noticed that the company has recently launched Dunk City Dynasty which ranks number eight on China's iOS top-grossing chart soon after its launch. Could the management share more color on the operation strategy of this game and how should we think of the opportunity of esports games? Besides, we can also see that the company released the PV of urban open-world game of Project Mugen which seems to be another big title. Could management tell us more about this game? Thank you.
William Ding
[外语] 是的,回答关于《Dunk City Dynasty》的第一个问题。这款游戏实际上是我们首次尝试体育游戏赛道,特别是篮球领域。在研究了这一市场后,我们认为在这个特定类型中有创新的潜力。因此,当我们开始组建开发团队和设计师团队时,我们要求所有团队成员——我们选择的都是个人热爱篮球的硬核篮球玩家。所以他们都对篮球充满热情,希望打造市场上最好的篮球游戏。是的,实际上经过几年的开发和专注优化,我们希望——我们觉得只有在掌握了出色的画面、操控和游戏风格后才会推出这款游戏。展望未来,我们希望继续扩大这款游戏的用户基础,并有望成为这一类别的主导者。谢谢。那么第二个问题是关于《Internet》。这实际上是我们对动漫风格游戏类型(即ACG游戏)的创新尝试。这是我们尝试将开放世界体验和AI技术引入ACG类型的努力。因此,这是我们进一步巩固AI开发能力,同时为ACG游戏爱好者提供真正开放世界城市生活游戏体验的尝试。希望我们能在不久的将来将这款游戏介绍给我们的玩家。谢谢。
William Ding
[Foreign Language] Yes, to answer the first question on Dunk City Dynasty. So this game is actually our first attempt in sports game runway, specifically in basketball. After researching this market, we think there's potential innovation we can do in this particular genre. So we actually, when we started to put together the team of developers and then designers, we asked all the team members -- we chose all the team members who are hardcore basketball players, personally. So all of them have a passion about basketball and they want to play the best basketball game ever in the market. So yes, actually taking another few years of development and dedication optimization, we want to -- we feel like we only launched the game when we feel like we've mastered great graphics, and a maneuver and style in that game. So going forward, we hope to continue to expand the user base for this game and hopefully become the dominant player in this category. Thank you. And -- so the second question is on Internet. So this is actually our attempt on innovation in the anime-style game genre. So ACG game. This is our attempt to bringing the open-world experience and AI technology into the ACG genre. And so, this is our attempt to further solidify our development capabilities in AI and also give our ACG game lovers a true experience of open-world city lifestyle game experience. And hopefully, we'll be able to do -- will be able to introduce the game to our gamers in a not too far future. Thank you.
Margaret Shi
谢谢。请继续下一个问题。
Margaret Shi
Thank you. Next, please.
Operator
您的下一个问题来自汇丰银行的Ritchie Sun。请提问。
Operator
Your next question comes from Ritchie Sun with HSBC. Please go ahead.
Ritchie Sun
[外语] 晚上好,管理层。感谢回答我的问题。《永劫无间》转为免费游戏的背后逻辑是什么?在游戏内物品销售和用户基础方面的反响如何?这将如何改变游戏未来的表现轨迹?谢谢。
Ritchie Sun
[Foreign Language] Good evening, management. Thank you for taking my question. What's the rationale behind the change of Naraka: Bladepoint to a free-to-play game? And how's the reception in terms of in-game item sales and user base? And how would this change the game performance trajectory going forward? Thank you.
William Ding
[外语] 好的。当我们把这款游戏转为免费时,我们能够吸引更多用户。在这次转变之后,我们实际上在活跃用户和收入方面都看到了显著改善。所以我们认为这是一个正确的决定。谢谢。
William Ding
[Foreign Language] Okay. So when office returned this game to a free -- to free, we were able to bring in more users. So after this transition, we actually saw a great improvement in terms of both our active users and also our revenues. So we think that was the right decision to make. Thank you.
Margaret Shi
谢谢。请继续下一个问题。
Margaret Shi
Thank you. Next question, please.
Operator
您的下一个问题来自瑞银的Felix Liu。请提问。
Operator
Your next question comes from Felix Liu with UBS. Please go ahead.
Felix Liu
[外语] 让我自己翻译。关于国内产品线,祝贺《Badlanders》在《Where Winds Meet》上取得成功。我们期待在Gamescom上看到更多关于这款游戏的信息。管理层能否分享更多关于该游戏研发状态的详细信息?我们预计的潜在发布时间是什么时候?考虑到两款游戏似乎都是开放世界武侠RPG游戏,与《Justice Mobile》相比,这款游戏的差异化市场定位是什么?谢谢。
Felix Liu
[Foreign Language] Let me translate myself. On the domestic pipeline, congratulations on the [Badlanders] win on Where Winds Meet. We look forward to more color on the game in Gamescom. Can management share more color on the status -- R&D status of the game? What are the potential launch time that we're looking at? And what is the game's differentiated marketing positioning comparable with Justice Mobile given both seems to be open-world and martial arts-based RPG game? Thank you.
William Ding
[外语] 所以《Where Winds Meet》对我们来说实际上是一款非常重要的游戏。它实际上与我们之前的《Justice》有着非常不同的世界观。因此,当我们开发——当我们开发《Where Winds Meet》时,我们实际上是在学习关于开放世界体验的不同内容,希望我们能在明年下半年推出这款游戏。
William Ding
[Foreign Language] So Where Winds Meet is actually a very important game for us. It actually has a very different worldview to our Justice. So when we develop -- when we were developing Where Winds Meet, we are actually learning about different things with open world experience and hopefully, we'll be able to launch it by the second half next year.
Charles Yang
第二季度。
Charles Yang
Second quarter.
William Ding
明年第二季度。对于网易来说,我们相信我们在开放世界游戏方面拥有丰富的经验。所以——然后我们——我们推出的每一款游戏,都试图为用户带来不同的用户体验。谢谢。
William Ding
Second quarter next year. So for NetEase, we believe we have a lot of experience in open-world games. So -- and then we -- every game we launch, we try to bring our users to a different user experience. Thank you.
Operator
下一个问题来自高盛的林肯·孔。请提问。
Operator
The next question comes from Lincoln Kong with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Lincoln Kong
[外语] 感谢管理层回答我的问题。我的问题是关于网易的新游戏产品。在过去12个月里,我们看到了《蛋仔派对》、《Racing Master》以及最近的《灌篮高手》取得了非常成功的发布。这些是网易过去相对较少涉足的游戏类型。那么我们应该如何总结和理解从这些游戏中获得的成功经验?在所有这些不同类型游戏取得突破后,公司的研发或运营策略在未来是否有任何变化或优先事项,特别是对于那些休闲派对、赛车甚至射击类型的游戏。
Lincoln Kong
[Foreign Language] So thank you management for taking my question. My question is about the new game title offer a NetEase. So in the past 12 months, we have seen a very successful launch of Eggy Party, Racing Master, and also recently the Dunk City Dynasty. Those are relatively less exposed game from NetEase in the past. So how should we conclude and understand the success experience -- learning from these games? And after the breakthrough for all these different type, what company's R&D development or operational strategy have any change or priorities in the future, especially for those leisure party, car racing or even like a shooting type of games.
William Ding
[外语] 作为一家互联网公司,作为内容提供商,我们始终将创新放在核心位置,并持续大力投入研发。过去12个月中看到的成功是我们过去在研发和游戏开发方面努力的一些积极成果。虽然这些是成功的,但也有失败,但我们将继续努力,永不放弃,我们希望通过我们的创新和奉献精神,为游戏用户持续带来优质的游戏内容。谢谢。
William Ding
[Foreign Language] So as the -- as the Internet company, as a content provider, we keep our innovations really at heart and we continue to invest very heavily in R&D. So the success you've seen in the past 12 months are some positive results from the past effort with fully in R&D and in developing game. But these are successive, but there have been failures too, but we will continue to work hard, never give up, and we want to bring our game users continues great game content through our innovation and dedication analogy. Thank you.
Operator
下一个问题来自瑞士信贷的Kenneth Fong。请提问。
Operator
Your next question comes from Kenneth Fong with Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.
Kenneth Fong
[外语] 感谢回答我的问题,并对非常强劲的业绩表示祝贺。我有一个关于毛利率的问题。随着自研游戏的强劲表现和渠道持续优化,游戏业务和整体业务的毛利率在2024年下半年及全年的展望如何?谢谢。
Kenneth Fong
[Foreign Language] Thank you for taking my question and congrats for the very strong set of results. I have a question about the gross profit margin. What's the game business and overall business gross profit margin outlook for second half and 2024 as we see strong performance of self-developed titles and continuous channel optimization? Thank you.
Charles Yang
好的。谢谢,Kenneth。我是Charles。为了节省时间,让我直接用英语回答这个问题。正如您正确指出的那样,网易优先将我们的研发资源和注意力投入到自主研发的专有游戏上,这些游戏相对于授权游戏来说,利润率要高得多。今年上半年,我们继续提升游戏服务相关的毛利率,主要是因为某些授权游戏的终止,以及我们自主研发的经典游戏如《FWJ》、《WWJ》以及新游戏如《蛋仔派对》的强劲表现。下半年,正如您已经看到的,我们在6月份推出了多款令人兴奋、表现非常非常强劲的新游戏。因此,更多自主研发游戏贡献更高利润率的趋势在一定程度上是可持续的。
Charles Yang
Okay. Thank you, Kenneth. It's Charles. In the interest of time, let me answer this question directly in English. As you have rightfully put, NetEase prioritizes our R&D resources and attention to self-developed proprietary games, which would yield, relatively speaking, much higher margin vis-a-vis licensed games. In the first half of this year, we continue to enhance our game services-related GP margins largely because the termination of certain licensed games as well as very strong performance of our self-developed legacy games such as FWJ, WWJ, as well as new games such as Eggy Party. In the second half, as you can already tell, that we launched multiple new exciting very, very strong-performing games in June. So the trajectory of more self-developed games contributing to higher margins is somewhat sustainable.
Margaret Shi
谢谢,Kenneth。请提下一个问题。
Margaret Shi
Thank you, Kenneth. Next question, please.
Kenneth Fong
谢谢。
Kenneth Fong
Thank you.
Operator
下一个问题来自海通国际的Natalie Wu。请提问。
Operator
Next question comes from Natalie Wu with Haitong International. Please go ahead.
Natalie Wu
[外语] 感谢回答我的问题。我的问题与游戏海外扩张计划有关。我想了解一下短期和长期的更新,哪些市场和地区将是你们游戏扩张的重点?想知道你们能否提供海外扩张计划和目标的更新,包括短期和长期。Charles,您在准备好的发言中提到了《永劫无间》的转型和其他方面。所以想知道网易是否从这些最近的举措中获得任何许可方面的经验或教训。最后,一个内务问题,上个季度游戏海外收入贡献是多少?谢谢。
Natalie Wu
[Foreign Language] Thanks for taking my question. My question is related with the games overseas expansion plan. Just want to get an update both in short term and the long term, which market and regions will be the focus for your game expansion? And wondering if you can give us an update of your overseas expansion plan and target, both in short term and long term. And Charles, you've mentioned that Naraka's transition and other party in your prepared remarks. So just wondering if your -- if NetEase get any expiration on license lessons or learns from these kind of recent initiatives. And lastly, just one housekeeping, what's the overseas wrapping contribution for game in last quarter? Thank You.
William Ding
[外语] 关于地理重点,北美和欧洲、日本和韩国都是重点。这些市场与中国市场有很大不同,在中国市场,手游是主流,主机游戏次之。而在海外市场,主机和PC游戏仍然是主流。第三,在游戏类型方面,很多在中国流行的游戏类型可能不适用于海外市场。所以哪些类型会吸引海外观众是我们正在研究的课题。我们花了大量时间评估,我相信很快我们就能向世界介绍正确的类型、正确的答案。谢谢。
William Ding
[Foreign Language] So in terms of geographical focus, both North America and Europe, Japan and Korea. So in terms of -- and the markets are very different in the sense that in the China market, mobile game is a mainstream and console game second place. Whereas in overseas market, console and PC games are still the mainstream. And thirdly, in terms of genres a lot of the games that's popular -- a lot of genres are popular in China probably do not apply for overseas market. So what are the genres that will attract overseas audiences is a topic that we are studying. I was -- we have spent a lot of time evaluating and I'm sure that very soon, we'll be able to introduce to the world the right genre, the right answer. Thank you.
Charles Yang
Natalie,关于你问题的第二部分。海外游戏收入方面,自去年第四季度《蛋仔派对》表现强劲以来,海外收入占比已从之前的10%左右略微下降至个位数。但再次强调,这一比例变化的主要原因是我们主要在境内市场推出的某些新游戏表现强劲。随着《正义手游》和《竞速大师》在6月的强势首发,我们预计下半年境内游戏——特别是境内手游——将继续以比海外游戏收入更快的速度增长。
Charles Yang
And, Natalie, for your second part of the question. Overseas games revenue, well, since the strong performance of Eggy Party from Q4, the year-end of last year, the overseas revenue percentage has slightly declined to a single-digit from previously around 10-ish. So -- but again the primary reason of that percentage mix to change is mainly due to the strong performance of certain of our new games launched mostly in domestic market. Now with Justice Mobile and Racing Master's strong debut launch in June, we would expect my domestic games -- particularly domestic mobile games in the second half to continue to grow -- outgrow fast -- at a faster rate than my overseas game revenue.
Margaret Shi
谢谢。
Margaret Shi
Thank you.
Natalie Wu
谢谢。
Natalie Wu
Thank you.
Operator
下一个问题来自——
Operator
Your next question comes from -
Margaret Shi
谢谢主持人。不,我想今天的时间就到这里了。我认为所有问题——今天所有的时间都用完了,所以问答环节到此结束。再次感谢大家今天的参与。如有进一步问题,请随时直接联系我们或Piacente Financial Communications。谢谢。祝大家有美好的一天。
Margaret Shi
Thank you, operator. No, I think this -- that's what the time we got for today. I think that's all the questions -- all the time we've got for today, so maybe this concludes the question-and-answer session. So thank you once again for joining us today. If any further questions, please feel free to contact us directly or Piacente Financial Communications. Thank you. Have a good day.
Operator
谢谢。电话会议已结束。您现在可以挂断电话。谢谢。
Operator
Thank you. The conference has ended. You may now disconnect your line. Thank you.