The gaming company behind the first Chinese Marvel superheroes is betting big on online comics
Beijing-based NetEase plans to further expand the content offered by its online comics business, which recently introduced the first Chinese superheroes to join the widely popular Marvel franchise
Chinese video games and e-commerce company NetEase is betting on the country’s large online comics market to help drive future growth, as competition among major internet companies continues to heat up in the digital entertainment sector.
“Working with Chinese comic studios and licensing the rights for popular series helps us to lay out a plan for the future,” Dara Luo, marketing director at NetEase Comics, said in an interview. “We can generate revenue from any games, or animation, that NetEase may eventually produce based on the original comics.”
Luo said NetEase was looking to expand the content of its online comics business, which is currently not focused on generating revenue for the Beijing-based company.
NetEase Comics, which was spun off from the parent firm’s online reading platform in 2015, currently publishes various series from more than 100 comics studios in China. It also licenses content from comics publishers in countries such as Japan and South Korea.
Nasdaq-traded NetEase signed a deal last year with Marvel Entertainment, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, to create Chinese superheroes who will join Marvel’s popular franchise, which include US comic book legends-turned-global box-office stars Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America and the X-Men.