Marvel Entertainment has announced a partnership with Chinese gaming company NetEase, with the long-term goal of bringing together a slew of new entertainment offerings spanning several media types.
As NetEase is also China’s leading internet and online gaming service provider, we can expect their upcoming collaboration with Marvel to be a mutually beneficial one. The partnership was formally announced at the NetEase Games Annual Product Launch yesterday, before releasing a press statement from Marvel, the details of which can be found here.
The two companies are expected to collaborate on creating new and original entertainment based on the Marvel intellectual property, which is one of the most lucrative in the world thanks to the success of Avengers: Endgame and other major movies. The joint products will range from games, to television series, and even comic books, all featuring Marvel characters. These will be developed for both users in China, NetEase's home turf, as well as the whole world.
“Having admired the work Marvel has created over the years, we are excited to incorporate these beloved stories and characters into world-class entertainment content for global fans,” said William Ding, founder and CEO of NetEase, Inc, in the press release. “Adhering to NetEase’s brand statement of ‘Passion of Gamers’, we will work hard to deliver the type of high-quality content that game players and Marvel fans will be pleased to see.”
NetEase is known worldwide for developing mobile titles, as well as bringing IPs to China. NetEase is the publisher of Minecraft for mobile across the world, and is credited as such for the PC port in China. Just recently, Minecraft’s audience in China ballooned to about 200 million users, a feat which could have only come from one of the world’s most profitable franchises teaming up with NetEase.
“Marvel’s Super Heroes have inspired an entire universe of storytelling that resonates across today’s media – and games are one of the best ways to experience those stories,” Dan Buckley, President of Marvel Entertainment, said in the release. “As a global leader in online games, NetEase is the perfect fit to help bring the Marvel Universe to more fans around the world. We can’t wait to share more about the exciting new games and other content that will be developed with this partnership.”
In other news, NetEase has announced that it will bring the Pokémon franchise to China as well, starting with a mobile title.
