NetEase Inc

NASDAQ:NTES

Earnings Call Analysis

Revenue Dip Offset by Marketing and R&D Stability

For a global gaming company (let's refer to it as 'The Company'), the recent earnings call revealed a revenue dip primarily due to less contribution from smart devices. This was slightly offset by an increased revenue stream from online marketing services. Notably, Cloud Music's gross profit soared to 30.3% from 17.8% due to membership subscriptions and better cost management. The 'Innovative Business and Others' segment also saw an improved gross margin of 34.4%. Total operating expenses were 37% of net revenue despite a marketing expense rise driven by gaming promotions. 'The Company' maintains a strong cash position, ending the year with RMB 110.9 billion, and declared a dividend of 0.215 per share or USD 1.075 per ADS. Looking forward, the focus remains on delivering high-quality gaming content, leveraging two decades of deep experience in game development, which 2024 is expected to harvest. 'The Company' ensures marketing expenses remain managed despite the quality of games becoming a more critical competitive factor globally.

Innovation Leads to Recognition and Growth in Gaming

The company demonstrated its innovation drive by working on an ambitious new AAA game and integrating server functions to safeguard minors across its China-based game lineup. This commitment to innovation and social responsibility was further underlined by becoming the sole Chinese Internet company to receive the ATD Excellence in Practice award in the first quarter of 2024, hinting at a strong foothold in global talent development.

Technological Progress Powers Youdao's Development

Technological innovation at Youdao, particularly in educational services, is propelling profits and cash flow. An example is the upgraded AI-powered digital human language coach, which contributed to 100% year-on-year growth in translation subscription fees for three quarters straight.

Steady Uptick in Music Subscriptions Strengthens Cloud Music

The company's Cloud Music platform experienced robust monetization and profitability improvements, with a growth in subscription-based revenue buoyed by an uptick in subscribers and average revenue per user (ARPU).

NetEase Music Achieves Profitability Milestone

For the first time, the company accomplished a full year positive adjusted net profit under IFRS, aided by strong partnerships and content expansion initiatives in the music sector.

Yanxuan Gains Market Share and Brand Recognition

Experiencing steady growth in 2023, Yanxuan has solidified its brand across multiple product categories, leading to double-digit sales increases in specific e-commerce channels. Efficiency gains have been pursued by integrating automated systems in the supply chain.

Financial Performance Indicator Highlights

The company reported a notable 7% year-over-year growth for total net revenue in 2023, reaching RMB 103.5 billion (USD 14.6 billion). The fourth quarter was particularly strong, with a 7% increase from the previous year. Revenues from games and related services rose by 9%, powered by new launches like 'Justice Mobile' and enduring titles like 'Egg Party'. Youdao and innovative business segments also performed well with 2% and 9% respective increases in net revenue. Gross profit margins improved, especially in the Cloud Music and innovative business sectors.

Operational Cost Management and Financial Stability

In the fourth quarter, operating expenses were kept at 37% of total net revenue. Despite increased marketing expenditure, primarily for gaming promotions, overall selling and marketing expenses were maintained at stable levels year-over-year. R&D expenses also remained steady, signifying ongoing investment in content creation and product development. A temporary decrease in other income was noted, attributed to fluctuating exchange rates and the performance of the company's investment portfolio. Finally, the company maintains a robust cash position and has continued share repurchases under its current program.

Dividends and Shareholder Returns

Reflecting confidence in the company's financial health, the Board approved a dividend of USD 1.075 per ADS. Shareholders also benefited from an increase in non-GAAP net income, which soared by 53% from the previous year, and a strong end-of-year net cash position illustrating significant growth from 2022.

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q4

[Operator]

Good day, and welcome to the NetEase 2023 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Brandi Piacente, President of Piacente Financial Communications. Please go ahead. _

[Brandi Piacente]

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 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 announcements and filings on the website of the 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 2023 fourth quarter and full year earnings news release issued earlier today. Please note that certain financial information regarding Cloud Music we will be discussing on this call has been prepared in accordance with IFRS. For additional information, including a definition of non-IFRS measures and a reconciliation of IFRS to non-IFRS financial results, please refer to Cloud Music's annual results announcement for 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 the NetEase corporate website at ir.netease.com. Joining us today on the call from NetEase senior management are Mr. William Ding, Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Bill Pang, Vice President of Corporate Development. I will now turn the call over to Bill, who will read the prepared remarks on William's behalf.

[Bill Pang, executive]

Thank you, Brandi, and thank you, everyone, for participating in today's call. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that all percentages we're talking about here today are in RMB. 2023 marked another year of innovation for NetEase. We drove momentum across our businesses, expanding our top and bottom line year-over-year for both 2023 and the fourth quarter. Continuous cross-category innovation at NetEase games is actively expanding and diversifying our ever-growing game portfolio. On top of our enhanced strength in MMO and Chinese culture-derived titles, in 2023, we have landmark success and breakthroughs in diversified donors. This powerful combination is driving our game business with healthy fourth quarter performance from both our new and time owner titles. Looking first at some of our MMO performance for the period. We remain highly committed to supporting and growing the robust appeal of our esteemed legacy franchises, such as Fantasy Westward Journey and Westward Journey Online with fresh content and exciting in-game events like our annual celebration for Fantasy Westward Journey. In the fourth quarter, we had a series of Carnival SIM events that we invigorated players, reaffirming the importance of Fantasy Westward Journey IP and is stature as one of the most intentional MMORPGs in China. The longevity of these factory titles also underscore our commitment and ability to elevate traditional game standard through ongoing in-game innovation. Adding to our commercial MMO titles, our new MMOs are pushing the boundary of what MMOs can be. The revolutionary advancement we have introduced with games like Justice are evolving the genre as a whole and continue to gain player momentum. In the fourth quarter, the Justice franchise reached a new milestone of 100 million active users, encompassing a broad and diverse user base. In our experience, these are telltale signs of games potential for robust operating longevity. The innovative renovation seasonal mechanism, which both introduced new pursuits and reduce entry barriers continues to captivate and inspire count users and new users alike. These are bolstered by reach challenges and achievements where everyone can develop individual interest and be rewarded equally, whether playing in PVP instances, combine focused PVP sessions, or casual game play modes. The steps we're taking to strengthen our brand and engage players are also bearing fruit. By integrating players, other interest with our games and giving them more in-game autonomy and choices, we create deeper connections between our games and player communities. For example, in the fourth quarter, clear cut weigh in on the selection of collaboration planners for Justice franchise. In response to players' popular choices, we established a collaboration with the Chinese ban transition, finished, providing players voice in shaping their gaming experience has proved highly investment with our community. The event was a huge success led by players water marketing with brand recommendations driving the bulk of new commerce to the game. In addition to our MMOs, we made headway across the diverse size of genres in 2023, broadening our reach across more casual game players and entering new genres such as sports and simulation games. These are not only expand and enrich our broader NetEase community, but also highlights our ability to bring highly successful games to players in more diverse game categories. Touching on a few of successes in genres that are new to us, Dunk City Dynasty, has emerged as a ground-creating bus program. Here, we have successfully attracted a large user base to a genre that was previously considered relatively small in China. To build on the game's initial success, we are providing more for our players, adding further diversified gameplay and exciting player to the team roasters. We have been expanding the player lineup since the fourth quarter, introducing MVP stars like James Harden, Russell Westwood, Jack Emmert, Jamal Murray and Erin Gordon, as well as CBA Legends, including EGM and Hailer. Beyond the game itself, we are committed to spread bustle game culture. To foster broader bustle game community growth, we are launching a foundation value at more than RMB 10 million this year to support the sports development, including sponsored university basketball games and facilitating events promotions. We expect these initiatives to extend the reach of our game and sport itself across the broader audience. Racing Master, Hua Qiu Shi, is another new team to us, offering hot tier content for all the recent fans. During the fourth quarter, we enriched the player experience with an expanded selection of international professional risk tracks and aspirational supercars, catering to our robust demand from our player community. Following its official launch in China in June, Racing Master is now available in Hong Kong, Macau and most recently, Taiwan. We're a top local IRS download and grossing charge in the first week of its launch. As we expand our reach across a growing range of genres, we are also capturing the attention of more female players with innovative games like Youdao. With this ACG style Roman's game, we have once again defined conventions, introducing an infinite school backdrop and bring players more storytelling and gameplay innovation. We released Youdao in January this year and the players continue to embrace it. Having top China's IOS on-load gaming charge during its first week on the market. For our broadbuster a party on by, we continue to cultivate our EGC ecosystem. Building on players enduring enthusiasm, in December, we introduced a new feature, AgCo, unleashing even more content creation potential by offering and engaging and easy coding to for our players. Coating lines can be now translated into user-friendly toy blocks to control events, actions and conditions more readily, allowing creators to further unleash their creativity. This new innovation pushes fire game coating limits, greatly increasing creation flexibility for the games more than 26 million creators. To further expand our reach catalog of diverse games, we have a number of new titles under development. Today, I'd like to mention a couple of our new common games that will be rolling out this year. First is [ SedonCondohero. ] Based on one of China's most popular Marshall arts normals, [ Sedon ] is an open world RPG that will be launching across PC, mobile and cloud gaming platforms. We have established a highly immersive marshal for the game, featuring open explorations and reach store talent. All players will embark on their journey within a single server that can accommodate over 10 million players simultaneous online interaction. Multiple rounds of tests has shown an excellent performance so far, and we are on course for sure soft launch on March 28 this year. Next, comes Wainman Susan, which is designed to bring players an open world gaming experience comparable to console banter. The game features releasing martial arts experience an inclusive or style with a unique historical backdrop. We successfully concluded testing on the PC side in December, and we are currently gearing up for the game's launch later this year. Additionally, we are thrilled to announce that we have received license approval for Naraka: Bladepoint in on mobile earlier this week. We are excited to extend the immersive compact experience enjoyed by players on PC and console platforms to mobile rail. On the global space, we continue to add studios around the world that segment our ability to draw on local talent and expand our international appeal. We are thrilled to announce the latest addition to our game studio portfolio, Golan to in Bangor, Canada and our newest U.S. addition, Foliar headquartered in Los Angeles. Both untold is led by industry veteran Mac Walters, who has over 2 decades of experience in game and right. Well known for his contribution in the clean Mass Effect series. We welcome Mac and his team, who will be dedicated in creating new IP with their diet product already underway. The remote first studio of BulletFarm, is led by David Vonderhaar and his team of industry veterans. David SN, award-winning and experienced game developer, best known for leadership of core beauty franchise. We are currently working on an ambitious new AAA game set in the original universe with an emphasize on collaborated games. We're looking forward to his contribution in creating more highly anticipated titles for our portfolio. As we have always said, people are most valuable, and talent development is one of our top priorities. The tailored course we offer our employees across various clear development stage and professions ensure that NetEase's culture fosters sustainable talent incubation. I'm pleased to announce that in the first quarter of 2024, we were the sole Chinese Internet company to be awarded the ATD Excellence in Practice award. This prestigious award and acknowledgment from the global talent development industry is an honor that further strengthens our commitment to cultivating the new wave of Internet talent. Alongside with our business momentum, we have assumed increasing social responsibility. This comes with the result to protect minors in our Internet endeavors. In addition to our existing anti-addiction system, we have started integrating server functions, including a minor mode across our China-based game lineup to protect minors, and we'll continue to steer the gaming ecosystem towards a healthier trajectory with our innovative products and technology.Now let's move to Youdao. In the fourth quarter, Youdao continue to propel technological innovation and product development, further improving profitability and cash flow. In our learning services, we have consistently raised the quality of our unique horses. Digital content services kept its healthy growth momentum in the fourth quarter. In addition, the retention rates were approximately 70% in the fourth quarter for both advanced level programming courses and gold courses. In 2023, 340 students from our programming courses received awards in the CSP programming competition held in China. Notably, 106 students won first prize, comprising over 20% of all the award residents. We believe that our student success highlights the high standard and effectiveness of courses. Additionally, the utilization of our cutting-edge AI technology and the enhancement of our data infrastructure drove Youdao 's online marketing services revenue to reach a record breaking RMB 74.1 million in the fourth quarter. This AI-driven advancements have empowered us to enhance our real-time API technology capabilities, diversifying our time base, and broaden the scope of our applications. Our smart devices saw an expected year-on-year decline in the net revenue in the fourth quarter. This was due to optimizational initiatives for our strategic channel structures, as mentioned last quarter. That we have taken are directed at reducing low ROI sales channels, which in turn, affected China inventory in the short-term. But are expected to serve our long-term ROI-driven objectives. In thirdly, we have observed signals indicating a recovery, including a return to healthy development in the fourth quarter compared to the previous quarter. The sales channels optimization have sale completed. Our commitment to technological innovation remains central to Youdao 's business. We have consistently advanced our patio LRM, and accelerated the development of large language model applications since the fourth quarter. Expanding our capabilities in virtual human tutoring, we upgraded the digital human language coach, High Echo in the fourth quarter, further enhancing its conversational capabilities. To augment students' learning experiences, we introduced the AI tutor into our recently launched Youdao Smart Learning at 20. The AI future adaptively responds to students increase on PAP, simulating the interaction of a human tutor. Furthermore, we are observing the tangible impact of AI technology in truly improving performance. Our existing LRM features, particularly AI box, continue to receive user clients, contributing to more than 100% year-on-year growth in the translation subscription fees for 3 consecutive quarters. Turning to NetEase Cloud Music. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Cloud Music continued to navigate quality development across our music-centric ecosystem while further extending robust monetization momentum in the core online music business, and improving overall profitability. The revenue from subscription-based membership in the fourth quarter continued a solid upward trend. This growth was primarily driven by an increase in the number of subscribers, along with a moderate improvement in ARPU, as a result of our diligence is strengthening our music-centric monetization capabilities. With the introduction of new premium offerings, including expensive content and innovative features, as well as the broadened membership privileges and doing programs with external partners, we notably grew our subscriber base in the fourth quarter. Moreover, we considerably improved our profitability for Cloud Music throughout 2023, achieving full year positive adjusted net profit under IFRS for the first time. We remain committed to hosting strong partnerships with music content -- music copyright holders, and are actively working towards deepening this collaboration to expand our cloud of music label content, promote advantageous music leaners and increase album sales in cooperation with the top artists. In particular, music genres such as Hip Hop and Chinese folk has been served in the popularity of our platform, and we continue to culture content in these advantageous genres. 2023 also marks our debut of physical album market with our first core public physical album, Hua's new album, Xiwang, Hope. Followed by the successful sales of girl band physical album, (G)I-DLE in the fourth quarter. We continue to enhance our support system for independent artists by actively investing to initiatives that bolster positions, improving music creation tools, and expand online and offline music exposure. We aim to help independent artists, increase their influence and commercial income, ultimately, strengthening the original music ecosystem on our platform. As of December 2023, our platform had over 684,000 registered independent artists who contributed around 3.1 million music tracks to our library. Joining on our expertise in music, a wide and very user base and in-depth user insights, -- our in-house studios continue to enrich our content matrix, offering high quality and unique music content. Our studios are gaining increasing ground in advantageous music genres. For instance, we produced a number of popular tracks in the fourth quarter, including Sunshine Boy and Sunshine Girls 2023, Yangon and Chongqing, further solidifying our competitiveness in the hip hop genres. Turning to our private label consumer brand. In 2023, Yanxuan continued to strengthen its brand presence with highly popular products in focused categories. With increasing consumer recognition of domestic-made products in China, Yanxuan has established a solid brand awareness across pet supplies and household claiming, as well as office supplies and food, among others. Sales growth remained steady in 2023, with double-digit increase in specific e-commerce channels year-over-year. Simultaneously, we are continuously optimizing Yanxuan 's supply chain to improve cost-efficiency by integrating automated system. In 2024, we will continue to provide Yanxuan customers with consistent, high-quality original products. Across our business lines, the cornerstone of our competitive edge is our innovation. With our robust R&D capability, we have consistently produced unique products that drive our company and industries as we sell forward. In 2024, we remain committed to these principles, and we will bring more high-quality products to the market. By cropping outstanding products, we can simultaneously create value for both our user community and our stakeholders. This concludes William's comments.I will now provide a brief review of our 2023 annual results with a focus on the fourth quarter. 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. Our total net revenue for 2023 for RMB 103.5 billion or USD 14.6 billion, representing a 7% increase year-over-year. For the fourth quarter, total revenue were RMB 27.1 billion or USD 3.8 billion, up 7% year-over-year. For 2023, our net revenue from games and related BS were RMB 81.6 billion, up 9% from 2022. Revenue accelerated even faster in Q4 to RMB 20.9 billion, up 10% year-over-year. The additional growth was primarily due to increased revenue contribution from launch of new games such as Justice Mobile, and sustainable developed titles like Egg Party. Revenues from mobile games continue to make up the lion's share of our game business, accounting to 77% of our total net revenue from online game operations in the fourth quarter, and 75% for the year. Youdao's net revenue for 2023 reached RMB 5.4 billion and were up 2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, reaching RMB 1.5 billion, primarily due to increased revenue contribution from Youdao's online marketing services. NetEase co music net revenue were RMB 7.9 billion for the full year and RMB 2 billion in the fourth quarter, a 13% and 16% decline, respectively, compared to the same period last year. As we have previously discussed, the decline reflects lower revenue from social entertainment services as we adjust our focus to improve profitability in a sustainable manner. Net revenue for innovative business and others were RMB 8.6 billion for the year, up 9% year-over-year. In Q4, total revenue were RMB 2.8 billion, up 12.9% year-over-year, mainly due to increased revenue contribution from Yanxuan and some of our innovative business. The total gross profit margin was 62% in the fourth quarter compared with 52.2% for the same period in 2022. Looking at our fourth quarter margin in more detail. Gross profit margin was 69.5% for games and related ES, compared with 59.1% in the same period last year. The increase was primarily attributed to a higher proportion of net revenues contributed by NetEase self-developed games. Our gross profit margin for Youdao was 49.9% compared with 53.3% in the same period of last year. The decrease was mainly due to reduced revenue contribution from smart devices, which was partially offset by increased revenue contribution from online marketing services, which carry relatively lower margins. Gross profit for Cloud Music improved in the fourth quarter, reaching 30.3% versus 17.8% in the same period a year ago. The margin improvement primarily resulted from increased revenue scale from membership subscriptions and continued improvement to our cost-management measures. For our innovative business and others, gross profit margin was 34.4% compared with 31.5% in the fourth quarter of 2022. The increase was primarily the result of margin improvement in Yanxuan and our advertising services. Total operating expenses for the fourth quarter was RMB 10 billion or 37% of total net revenue. Taking a closer look at our cost composition. Our selling and marketing expenses as a percentage of total revenue was 15.6% compared with 13.5% for the same period last year, mainly due to increased spending on gaming promotions this quarter. On a full year basis, selling and marketing expenses accounted for 13.5% of net revenue, which remained relatively stable compared with 2022 when it was 13.9%. Our R&D expenses as a percentage of total net revenue also remained stable year-over-year at 16.5% in the fourth quarter compared with 16.1% for the same period last year. On a full year basis, R&D expenses accounted for 15.9% of net revenue, which remained relatively stable compared to 2022 when it was 15.6%. We remain committed in investing to content creation and product development. We are also seeing leverage in our R&D investment longer-term. Our other income was RMB 876 million for the fourth quarter -- for the fourth quarter compared with RMB 1.5 billion last quarter. The decrease was mainly due to exchange rate of U.S. dollar against RMB fluctuating over the period, and mark-to-market value of certain publicly traded security in our investment portfolio witness deprecation during the fourth quarter. As per actable accounting standard, we are required to reflect the fair value changes. The effective tax rate was 13.8% for the full year and the fourth quarter. As a reminder, the effective tax rate is presented on an accrual basis depending on ARPU policies and our operations. Non-GAAP net income from continuing operations attributed to shareholders for the fourth quarter totaled RMB 7.4 billion or USD 1 billion, up 53% over year. Non-GAAP basic earnings per ADS from continuous operation for the quarter was $1.62 or USD 0.32 per share. Additionally, our cash position remains strong. As of year-end, our net cash position was about RMB 110.9 billion compared with RMB 95.6 billion at the end of 2022. In accordance with our dividend policy, we are pleased to report that our Board of Directors has approved the dividend of 0.215 per share or USD 1.075 per ADS. Lastly, under our current USD 5 billion share repurchase program starting in mid-January last year, we have repurchased approximately 7.2 million ADs as December 31, 2023, for a total cost of approximately USD 644 million. Thank you for your attention. We would now like to open the call to your questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. [Operator Instructions]. Your first question comes from Felix Liu with UBS. _

[Felix Liu, analyst]

Thank you management for taking my question, and congratulations on the mobile version. My question is on the game. Can management share a bit more color on the R&D progress of the game? How would the mobile version differ from PC version? And what is your expected launch time for this game? Thank you very much._

[William Ding, executive]

[Foreign Language]_

[Felix Liu, analyst]

That's great. Thank you.

[Bill Pang, executive]

[Interpreted] [Let me do the translation] Yes, for the mobile version of America, we did a test -- everything is on track. We did a test in Chando back in December and the result was fairly good. And regarding your question on the experience between mobile and PC, what would say is that during the past 3.5 years operating on PC, we have accumulated a ton of experiences, and we're doing all the needed modifications everything observation for the mobile version. And regarding the going live date, everything is on track. And now our best estimate is somewhere.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Alex Poon with Morgan Stanley. _

[Chun Poon, analyst]

Congratulations management for very strong results and game pipeline. My question is -- first question is regarding the overseas expansion of Eggy Party. We have launched in many countries already. Last year was our latest thought for the game in 2024. My second question is related to the progress of Project Morgan? Thank you very much. _

[William Ding, executive]

[Foreign Language]

[Bill Pang, executive]

[Interpreted] First of all, as everybody knows, Eggy Party is a huge success in China, and we have accumulated tons of experience. And regarding overseas market, we are in the exploration period now. And we're doing that step by step, validating a lot of concept and thoughts to try different things out. We do want you to get that, please stay tuned, we're going to get there for the overseas market of Eggy Party. Regarding the data of product movement, it's under normal game development now. And of course, it's also in the process of applying for the profit numbers as well. The product has a very specific, very clear positioning and development targets. And we hope in the area of ACG open world games, we can make the game entity enough to have his own to own the market. [Thank you. Next question.]

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Lei Zhang with Bank of America Securities._

[Lei Zhang, analyst]

Thanks for taking my question, My question is regarding the overseas business. And can you give us some update on overseas game plan? And any -- do we have any plans to expand or acquire more overseas, if we do? Thanks._

[William Ding, executive]

[Foreign Language]

[Bill Pang, executive]

[Interpreted] Yes. So now we have studios in U.S., in United States, Japan, U.K. and other countries. This is quite normal when we are going global. We have set up our studios around the globe, that's quite normal. And we're going to -- it's going to be a new norm for us in the future. Thank you. Next question.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Yang Bai with CICC. _

[Yang Bai, analyst]

I will transfer it by myself. For Eggy Party and the party game, how do we think the future of UGC in game content creation? How is the user structure now compared to January 2023? And how to view the current computation in party game? And second line, as so many successful domestic products, can we buy some synergy between domestic and overseas business. Thank you._

[William Ding, executive]

[Foreign Language]

[Bill Pang, executive]

[Interpreted] Regarding our ending of the game -- UGC-type game. First, we would like to say to UGC game is not the easy job. Looking globally, not many companies successfully did that. And for NetEase, we have our strength, our experience, our unique experience and strength, but we are all what we're doing is keep exploring. What we can do is keep a humble and creative attitude, and keep exploring the new ways of be creative in the game design. And regarding the -- your next question on the synergy between domestic success and going overseas. Games -- the fun part of game play are the same. Regardless where the game sees, where the players see it. So what we can do is leverage what we learn on the front part, how to do a fun game, how to do gameplay design, and apply that through global products. Yes. [Thank you, and next question, please.]

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Jialong Shi with Nomura. _

[Jialong Shi, analyst]

Thanks management for taking my question. I have a question about Eggy Party. We noted that since the end of last year, many off-line promotional activities have been held for your game Eggy Party. Just wonder what is the trend for your margin expenses year, whether or not this promotional expense for Eggy Party was the driver for the acceleration in your marketing expense last Q4. Thank you._

[William Ding, executive]

[Foreign Language]

[Bill Pang, executive]

[Interpreted] Generally, you're right. In Q4, if you look at our marketing spending, of course, as you can imagine, there is some factor of competition that we have to do in the market. But in the meantime, you look at the recent performance -- outperformance during the Chinese year 2024. Eggy Party achieved 40 million DAU achievement, which shows that the marketing initiative we spent are quite effective. The result is quite good and quite effective. Looking forward, we don't see a big increase on the marketing spending, and we will keep exploring the most effective ROI on the marketing spending, as well as the more rigid where to spend. And the marketing spending increase shouldn't be a concern. And William, also talked about some greater macro backdrops that as you can see, as the quality of games in general, increase year-over-year, it's more and more challenging for other companies to compete in the market for NetEase, because we have long-term long-time accumulation in game development, everything. And we also invest bigly into our new project. So to some extent, year of 2024 is actually a year of harvest to us. We are going to unleash the accumulation we -- experience we accumulated over the past 20 years, and you will see more and more result of new games comes out. [Thank you, and next question.]

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Lincoln Kong with Goldman Sachs._

[Lincoln Kong, analyst]

So my first question is about where wins meet? So what's our target launch time line for this game, it will be a cross-platform global launch for this time. And it seems to the testing, it requires quite high equipment for the -- on the PC world. So would that to the mobile world in terms of the game play and other companies. How would that fit in both PC and mobile? And the second question is around the overall market. We do see some of the uncertainty or the macro economy and consumption going forward into 2024. So in those longer-term legacy games like Westward Journey and Fantasy Westward, do we see any of the change in terms of the user spending behavior or paying willingness on those games? What's our outlook for this year's gaming industry?_

[William Ding, executive]

[Foreign Language]

[Bill Pang, executive]

[Interpreted] First of all, regarding your question to where wins meet. Where wins meet as we explained, this is a game we spent 3 years developing. It's a very high-quality mutual-based open world game, RPG game. And regarding the graph -- the graph question, that's something you don't need to worry and players don't need to worry either. Our engine has the capability to adapt on different hardware platforms to push the limit of that specific hardware, but also make sure it's runnable on different platforms. So that's been taken care of by our in-house gaming engine, everything. And in the meantime, for the game itself, it's indeed a high-graphic game on advanced hardware platforms. And also, from our experience, we thought people like -- Yanxuan culture like to play the game, and we hope this game could be a vehicle that we could promote the Yanxuan cultures to the world as well. And to your second question regarding the macro economy uncertainties, how will that impact the game performance? From our observation, actually, gamers, they spend pretty prudently at how much they spend in different games to get the fund there pursuing. It's not very related to macroeconomic conditions. It's actually more related to the quality of the game itself. Now as we said, the gamers, not only in China, but globally become more and more picky regarding the quality, which puts all the developers are included to spend more and more effort to making high-quality content. Yes, that's kind of the game industry macro were in. [Thank you. And next question, please. I think we have time for one last question. Yes.]

[Operator]

Thank you. Your last question comes from Ritchie Sun with HSBC. _

[Ritchie Sun, analyst]

So I will translate this question myself. So sure there will be launch in March, and where we can be launched in the first half. So in terms of the user demographics, how big is the overlapping between these games and now existing games? And how would NetEase coordinate the promotion and launch schedule to maximize the hit rate? And when would -- wherein be launched? Thank you._

[William Ding, executive]

[Foreign Language]

[Bill Pang, executive]

[Interpreted] Yes. So this -- regarding your question on the two different both martial art base game. They are different -- these two games have totally different IP attributes. One is very beloved by genre funds. The other one is more like an Asian reality kind of setup. And both games are developed by different teams with different styles, different system set up. We don't see that the game is going to have a lot of collaboration with other games. And actually, our view is the market is actually looking for high-quality open world games. And by offering two high-quality Yanxuan games in the market with different positioning, we hope we can push the market further. And as on the go-live date, everything has been prepared. Everything is on track. And yes, everything is on care. [Thank you.]

[Operator]

And that concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Brandi Piacente for any additional or closing comments. _

[Brandi Piacente]

Thank you, once again, for joining us today. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us. And have a great day.

[Bill Pang, executive]

Thank you.

[Operator]

That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.