Big Changes Part 6

Yesterday I posted about leaving Ubisoft. Today I’d like to talk about where I’m going!

I have accepted a job as Creative Director at Netease North America. I can’t yet say anything about what I’ll be doing in this role, but it’s very exciting! 

I can, however, share what I know about Netease. I’ll get to my personal experiences with the studio in a moment, but first I should probably acknowledge that many of you reading this have never heard of them. 

They do not currently have a large presence in the west, yet they are ranked as the seventh largest game publisher in the world, right behind Google and right ahead of EA. (https://newzoo.com/insights/rankings/top-25-companies-game-revenues/)

Personally, I’ve had experiences with Netease for quite some time. When I worked to bring Diablo III and Reaper of Souls to China, and when I spoke at China GDC while at Blizzard, I interacted a bit with Netease personnel and quickly came to realize why they are Blizzard’s publisher in China. They remind me of Blizzard in many ways. An emphasis on quality, with a slightly quirky culture – not the industrial behemoth one might suspect. Over time I’ve come to know more about them, and have traveled to their campuses in Guangzhou and Hangzhou twice each to speak on story, character, and game narrative. 

I’ve found them to be a studio filled with eager creatives passionate to learn and improve. With managers who want to develop the skills and abilities of their teams. My talks were packed with designers, writers, and artists who asked many challenging questions afterward. I was impressed at how the studio had such a strong internal training program, and how passionate the developers were. 

There is another way that Netease reminded me of Blizzard and other impressive studios such as Ubisoft. It’s simply this: they live and die by their games. They have other businesses, but in the end, Netease’s future is tied to the success of their games. They are not trying to spew content to feed a platform, or fill up a marketplace. They have to make good games that will stand the test of time, because that’s how they stay in business. And it shows in their work. Indeed one developer at another prominent Chinese game developer once privately confessed to me “Netease makes better games than we do.” Some of Netease’s most successful titles have been live for many years.

So from here on out, I will stop saying “they”, and start saying “we”! I’m excited to join the studio and get to work, and can’t wait for you to see what we’re going to do.

-BK