Wang Yi of NetEase: The protection of minors has always been the core assessment indicator of NetEase Games

On December 15, the 2023 China Game Industry Annual Conference was held in Guangzhou. Wang Yi, Senior Vice President of NetEase, attended the conference and delivered a keynote speech titled "The Next Twenty Years: Three New Development Logics of China's Game Industry", sharing NetEase's exploration and achievements in developing the positive potential of games and undertaking social missions and responsibilities.

Standing on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the annual meeting, Wang Yi said that from the popularity of overseas games in China 20 years ago, to the current popularity of Chinese games, Chinese games have grown from a "world foundry" to a "Chinese dream factory" with innovation and ingenuity, and won the global market.

"Looking back on the industry for 20 years, it is like a successful business game, from 1.32 billion to more than 300 billion, which is the result of all the industry practitioners and all players here who have made every effort to love. He believes that in the next 20 years, Chinese games should continue to explore the positive potential of games, so that the game industry can go beyond entertainment attributes and assume more social responsibilities, so as to win more respect around the world.

In his speech, Wang Yi combined the achievements and experience of NetEase Games, compared the opportunities for the future development of China's games to the "three games", and elaborated on the key factors of playing these "three games" from the perspective of the application of new technologies, product innovation, and new social missions.

At present, the wave of technology led by AI has penetrated into the entire link of the game industry. Wang Yi believes that this is a new opportunity brought by AI to Chinese games, and for new technologies, Chinese games should dare to "show their swords" and be good at "using swords" to win the scientific and technological competition of the global game industry.

It is understood that NetEase invests tens of billions of dollars in R&D every year, and at present, NetEase's game industrialization process has been fully intelligentized, and breakthroughs have been made in key technologies such as self-developed large models. This year, NetEase also implemented AI gameplay on a large scale in the mobile game "Against the Cold" for the first time, and more than 30 AI technologies were all developed by NetEase.

He said that in the future, NetEase Games will also insist on taking scientific and technological innovation as the primary productive force of games, and constantly promote the transformation and implementation of new technologies in the industry, so that the "variable" of technological innovation can be transformed into an "increment" to promote the continuous progress of the industry.

In terms of game products, Wang Yi pointed out that for new products, it is necessary to take the lead in innovation, strive to be "first", stimulate collective wisdom, and win the marathon of sustainable development of the industry.

"Whether the product is innovative or not, whether it is unique, players will know as soon as they play. He said frankly that the development of China's game market from zero to 100 billion yuan and to a hundred flowers depends on generations of innovators to bring forth the new, and the future will inevitably rely on innovation to unlock new achievements.

For example, the game "Egg Boy Party" uses NetEase's self-developed engine to "set up the stage", and the new mode of AI and UGC integration "singing" allows players to live the addiction of game developers. Now, there are millions of titles uploaded by players every week, and the number of creators exceeds 10 million.

He stressed that China's game industry should complete self-innovation and explore sustainable development models, not only seize the day, but also take a long-term view, strive to be a pioneer and encourage originals, in order to run further in this marathon.

New technologies and new products have brought China's game industry into the fast lane, and now, games have long become a platform connecting hundreds of millions of players, and they should also convey care to a wider range of people, which is a new requirement for the game industry and a new opportunity for the game industry to promote social progress and play a greater value.

In this regard, Wang Yi said that for the new mission given by the society, it is necessary to keep the bottom line, meet the demand, and run a relay race to convey humanistic care.

He said that China's game industry is already an important part of the digital economy, and the huge consumption landscape and industrial potential energy are achievements and responsibilities. The boundary between virtual and reality can be broken by technology, but the game industry cannot exist apart from reality, and games need to take the public interest as the greatest common divisor to motivate the entire industry to release more social value.

Just last month, NetEase Games disclosed for the first time that it invests more than 100 million yuan in the protection of minors every year. "This is not only our determination, but also to reassure the whole society. He pointed out that the protection of minors has always been the core assessment index of NetEase Games, and the protection of minors is the bottom line that games must protect, and the continuous spillover of social value of games has raised the upper limit of games.

Finally, Wang Yi said that today, Chinese games have the potential energy and posture to gain a foothold in the world at the age of weak champions. In the face of the next 20 years, NetEase Games hopes to work with the industry to open up more imagination for industrial progress, inject more vitality into innovation, bring more warmth to the real world, and let games burst out with the energy to change the world and win more respect.

The following is the original text of the speech:

Distinguished leaders and guests: Hello everyone!

It is a great pleasure to meet you again in Guangzhou to discuss the development of China's game industry. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the China Game Industry Annual Conference. I still remember that 20 years ago, in the selection of "China's Top 10 Most Popular Online Games", only four domestic games were made, and many of our generation grew up playing foreign games; today, among the world's top 100 highest-grossing mobile games, Chinese games have accounted for nearly one-third, surpassing the United States and Japan, which are traditional game countries, and our games are conquering young people all over the world.

In the first 20 years, we have used innovation and ingenuity to make China's game industry grow from a "world foundry" to a "Chinese dream factory" and win the market. So in the next 20 years, how can we continue to explore and develop the positive potential of games, so that the game industry can go beyond the entertainment attributes, assume more social missions and responsibilities, and win more respect? As game practitioners, we believe that we should play three "games" well:

First, we must dare to "show our swords" for new technologies, be good at "using swords", and win the scientific and technological competition of the global game industry.

Games are not only a content-based industry, but also a technology-based industry. From 3D technology, touch screens, mobile Internet to cloud computing, the emergence of every new technology means the emergence of new species in the game industry and a new round of ecological prosperity. Today, the wave of technology, led by AI, has penetrated into the entire game industry. This time, we are on the same starting line as global manufacturers, and we have the opportunity to change from followers to leaders, which is a new opportunity brought to us by AI.

In this regard, NetEase invests tens of billions of R&D expenses every year, and at present, NetEase's game industrialization process has been fully intelligentized, and breakthroughs have been made in key technologies such as self-developed large models. This year, for the first time, we also implemented AI gameplay on a large scale in the mobile game "Against the Cold", and more than 30 AI technologies were all developed by NetEase. In the past, it was a technical job for players to "pinch their faces" for characters, but now they only need to enter a few descriptive words, and the heroic image of "Yi Bo Yuntian" that we read in the book can leap into the virtual world. With the help of the "AI Lyricist", which has read 20,000 classic Song poems, ordinary players can also "export chapters", just like literati and ink writers who improvised and chanted through thousands of years.

Our series of practices have proved that the combination of AI and games has been able to penetrate deep into the front and back of the stage, not only to use AI to assist game production or shallow intelligent functions, but to change the way players interact with games and between players, and fundamentally revolutionize the game experience. Strengthening the attack on AI technology is to strengthen the global competitiveness of China's game industry and seize the future of the game industry.

In the future, NetEase Games will also insist on taking scientific and technological innovation as the primary productive force of games, continuously promote the transformation and implementation of new technologies in the industry, and transform the "variable" of technological innovation into an "increment" that promotes the continuous progress of the industry.

Second, for new products, we should take the lead in innovation, strive to be the "first", stimulate collective wisdom, and win the marathon of sustainable development of the industry.

Imitation can go fast, but innovation can go further, which is the eternal truth of the development of China's game industry for 20 years. China's game market has grown from zero to 100 billion yuan and has blossomed from generations of innovators, and it will inevitably rely on innovation to unlock new achievements in the future.

Whether the product is innovative or not, whether it is unique, players will know as soon as they play. For example, our game "Egg Boy Party" uses NetEase's self-developed engine to "set up the stage", and the new mode of AI and UGC integration "singing" allows players to live the addiction of game developers. Now, there are millions of titles uploaded by players every week, and the number of creators exceeds 10 million. Some players have reproduced the literary scene of "Yugong Moving Mountains" in the game, and the game process is "moving mountains", and some players have built a "Constellation Museum", and players clearing the customs are like taking an astronomy lesson. When the inheritance of culture and knowledge has shifted from one-way transmission to co-creation and co-innovation of the whole people, the cultural attributes of games have also been given new connotations.

For more than 20 years, open innovation has been the background color of NetEase Games. We firmly believe that the gaming market is constantly changing, and the only thing that remains constant is the desire of players for new modes and new ways to play. In order to complete self-innovation and explore sustainable development models, China's game industry must not only seize the day, but also take a long-term view, strive to be a pioneer and encourage originals, in order to run further in this marathon.

Third, for the new mission given by the society, we must keep the bottom line, meet the demand, and run a relay race to convey humanistic care.

Today, our game industry has become an important part of the digital economy, and the huge consumption landscape and industrial potential energy are not only achievements, but also responsibilities. The boundary between virtual and reality can be broken by technology, but the game industry cannot exist apart from reality, and games need to take the public interest as the greatest common divisor to motivate the entire industry to release more social value.

Last month, NetEase Games disclosed for the first time that it invests more than 100 million yuan in the protection of minors every year. This is not only our determination, but also to reassure the whole society. The protection of minors has always been the core assessment indicator of NetEase Games, and we must not only build the network, but also repair and supplement the network. This year, we have opened NetEase's self-developed AI recognition technology to channel partners, and in the past two months, we have intercepted more than 5 million high-risk behaviors of minors recharging, and on the NetEase parental care platform, we have launched parent-assisted management functions such as one-click play ban and one-click charge ban, and 8 million parents have joined our anti-addiction collaborative management.

The protection of minors is the bottom line that games must protect, and the social value of games is constantly overflowing, raising the upper limit of games. This year, our iSpeech AI creation tool has emerged from the game scene as the first AI tool to restore the original voice of the hearing impaired. At present, this technology has been freely opened to hearing-impaired people across the country to help them realize their life dream of "speaking in person".

All social progress is initially nothing more than a small idea of kindness, which is passed on again and again, so that they eventually become the goodwill of the whole society. Today, games have long become a platform that connects hundreds of millions of players, and we have every opportunity to convey care to a wider range of people, which is a new requirement for the game industry and a new opportunity for the game industry to promote social progress and play a greater value.

Ladies and gentlemen, looking back on the 20 years of the industry, it is like a successful business game, from 1.32 billion to more than 300 billion, which is the result of all the industry practitioners and all players here who have made every effort to love.

Today, Chinese games, at the age of weak crowns, already have the potential energy and posture to gain a foothold in the world. In the face of the next 20 years, NetEase Games also hopes to work with everyone to open up more imagination for industrial progress, inject more vitality into industry innovation, bring more warmth to the real world, and let games burst out with the energy to change the world and win more respect.

Thank you!