Introduction: This article is one of the series of reports of the Game Daily 2022 "Golden Three Silver Four" recruitment season, which aims to provide reference for more practitioners and job seekers, and help you understand the internal organizational structure of major game manufacturers faster.
In 2001, NetEase officially launched the online game business segment, which has a history of 21 years. According to Game Daily, the overall management structure of NetEase's online game business sector has developed into a vertical management structure from a high to the bottom, such as "business group - business department - studio - project team". The entire game business segment is mainly composed of NetEase Interactive Entertainment Business Group and Thunderfire Business Group (the agent publishing Blizzard series products such as World of Warcraft and Overwatch is Shanghai NetEase Company, which is not within the scope of this article).
The four companies in the red box are the main components of NetEase's game business segment, which originated from the 2020 NetEase prospectus
According to Game Daily, at present, NetEase Interactive Entertainment Business Group is jointly managed by Ding Yingfeng (Ding Ding), the head of South China, and Hui Xiaojun (Tianyou), the head of East China. The Thunder Business Group is independent of the Interactive Entertainment Business Group and is managed by Hu Zhipeng, founder of Thunder Fire Studio.
1. Thunder fire business group
The Thunder Fire Business Group was formed after Pangu Studio was merged into the Thunder Fire Business Department in 2018, and it has a number of game research and operation studios including 24 studios (guan Lei is responsible) that developed "Forever Doom", Zhu Rong, the R&D studio "Zhu Rong" of the Reverse Water Cold series, and "No Ming" R&D studio of "War Will". In addition, the Thunder Fire Business Group also has two departments: fuxi game AI laboratory and planet project department.
Thunder Fire Business Group Organizational Chart, Thunder Fire Division's studios are not fully statistical Sources NetEase Recruitment, Huachuang Securities, Game Daily collation
It should be noted that in addition to the 6 major studios on the architecture diagram, the Thunder Fire Division also has a number of studios such as Thunder, Lei Yan, and Gluttony. In addition, at present, in addition to the products that have been released in the "Eternal Destruction", "Heavenly Oracle" series and "Against the Cold Water" series, the products under research also include "Hidden World" and FPS games with IP.
2. Interactive entertainment business group
According to public information, NetEase Interactive Entertainment Business Group, formerly known as NetEase Online Game Division, was officially listed as an independent company in 2002. According to the statistics of the Game Daily Survey, at present, there are 14 game research and operation divisions and 11 channels and functional middle offices under the NetEase Interactive Entertainment Business Group. The specific situation of the 14 game research and operation divisions is shown in the following figure:
Sources NetEase Recruitment, Huachuang Securities, You Shark Game Circle, Game Daily collation
A person familiar with the matter told Game Daily that at present, NetEase Online Game Division has not set up a clear person in charge, and there is also a situation of concurrent appointments between major business departments, 14 game research and transportation divisions belong to the NetEase Game Interactive Entertainment Business Group, but the ranks of the heads of each business department are not exactly the same, such as Lin Yunfeng (Xiao Bai), the head of the Dream Business Department, who is higher than the head of the general business department.
At the same time, although the various business units are independent of each other, there are still some historical origins. For example, Chen Junxiong, the current head of the Poseidon Business Department, was previously a member of the Dream Business Department and established the Poseidon Business Department after the launch of the "Fantasy Westward Journey Mobile Game". Subsequently, the G10 Studio under the Poseidon Division also became the tenth division independently after the launch of "The Coast of the Land", and producer Li Kaiming served as the president of the division. In addition, ZEN Studio, a subsidiary of poseidon business unit, was also upgraded to ZEN division after the launch of Harry Potter: Magical Awakening last year, and producer Jin Tao was promoted to president of the business unit.
In addition, the Waterdrop Division and joker Division were also born from within the Miracle Division, and the Singularity Division was born from the Tianxia Division.
It should be noted that according to NetEase's open recruitment information, although a new business unit will be established after the studio upgrade, in fact, the research and operation of some products still stays in the previous business department, such as after ZEN Studio is independent of the ZEN division, some of the research and transportation of the "Yin and Yang Division" series of products is still responsible for the Poseidon Division. The main products of each business unit and the products under research are as follows:
The source of information is NetEase News Recruitment, Huachuang Securities, and Game Daily
In response to online rumors that the threshold for NetEase's internal studio to promote the business department is 1 billion yuan per month, the game daily has made a multi-party verification of this, and a number of insiders revealed that the monthly flow of 1 billion is only one of the standards, but it is not absolute, and whether the studio is promoted to the business department needs to be judged by comprehensive consideration.
Third, the channel and function of the middle office
Finally, it is the channel and function center of NetEase Interactive Entertainment Business Group, and the overall channel and function center include CC Live Broadcast Division, Dashen Division, Technology Center, Art Design Center, User Experience Center, Market and Channel Center, Game Application and Platform Development Division, Strategic Research Center, Quality and Assurance Center, Project Management Center, and NetEase Game Academy through public information statistics, a total of 11.
Source NetEase Recruitment, Game Daily Collation
Among them, CC Live BroadcastIng Division and Dashen Division, the main products are CC Live Broadcasting and NetEase Dashen, and the two divisions are located in Guangzhou. The role of the functional middle office is to assist each project team to solve related problems (the project team members are not necessarily the same business department), because there is a certain overlap in the work of the middle office of different functions, so there will also be an "internal competition".
For example, the art design center is mainly responsible for the game art class, the user experience center is responsible for the interaction design class, but both sides will design the UI aspect of the work, if there is a project team at this time has a demand for this aspect, then the art design center and the user experience need to win the project through the "internal competition", of course, the general work is not in conflict, there will be no "competition".
4. Overseas investment sector
In addition to the interactive entertainment business group and the thunder business group, NetEase Games has also invested, acquired and established a number of studios overseas in recent years to carry out the global layout of the game industry. For example, in January this year, the Nagoshi Studio, which was wholly owned by NetEase and joined by many former producers of "Like a Dragon" and "Eye of Judgment", such as Minoru Nagoe, Daisuke Sato, Kazuto Hosokawa, and Masao Shirozaki, is one of them.
Sources of information public information, Huachuang Securities, Game Daily collation
The above is the NetEase game article of the Game Daily 2022 "Golden Three Silver Four" recruitment season series report, and we will continue to sort out the internal management structure of some game companies through public information, hoping to provide a certain reference for the majority of job seekers and practitioners, and welcome to provide more relevant information.