One of China’s biggest publishers is coming West, and it’s opening up its wallet to work with developers.
NetEase announced that it’s opening up an initiative that it calls the NetEase Success Fund. It’s positioning this as an alternative to the publishing model for mobile developers who need for marketing and player acquisition, specifically. Each studio accepted into the program could get up to $500,000 each, and accepting the funding does not put developers into a situation where it owes tons of money to NetEase in perpetuity or has to hand over its intellectual property. This is part of the Chinese publisher’s efforts to grow its presence in North America and beyond as it looks to capture an even bigger piece of the $30 billion mobile-gaming business than it already does.
In a statement, NetEase North America business director Ryan DeSanto said that his team’s goal is to provide small indie studios with a way of acquiring players without having to spend a ton of cash on traditional marketing. He also says he wants to work with studios in a side-by-side manner, which means NetEase isn’t asking for developers to give up any of their control.
But not only will NetEase let developers keep their properties and equity, it will also only split revenue until it gets back its initial investment. If the publisher partners with a studio and gives it $500,000 for marketing, NetEase will only split the revenue until it gets back its half a million dollars.
“Not only are we committed to bringing NetEase’s games to a Western audience, but also to becoming an active member of the global game developer community,” NetEase North America general manager David Ting said. “The NetEase Success Fund gives us the opportunity to expand our reach in the mobile space and help more developers bring fun experiences to gamers.”