NetEase, a Chinese tech group, surprised everyone when their mobile game, Eggy Party, became a hit despite having a smaller budget compared to other major titles. The game gained 30 million daily active users and became China’s most downloaded games app this year. This success has put NetEase in direct competition with Tencent, China’s largest gaming company. Eggy Party’s unexpected popularity highlights the unpredictable tastes of China’s 660 million gamers, who spent $45.5 billion on gaming last year. The rivalry between the two companies has also intensified due to a legal dispute between Tencent’s investee company Epic Games and Apple.
According to gaming analyst Chenyu Cui, NetEase’s success with Eggy Party was unexpected as the company did not put much effort into marketing the game. NetEase has traditionally excelled in “hardcore games” for experienced gamers, while Tencent has dominated the casual games market with titles like Fight for the Golden Spatula and Triple Match 3D.
Eggy Party has attracted a different audience, including 19-year-old university student Lola Kang, who appreciates the game for breaking the mold of typical battle royale games, which often feature sexualized female characters designed to appeal to male gamers. Kang also enjoys the user-generated content that allows players to create their own gaming worlds.
NetEase’s founder and CEO, William Ding, has been personally involved in the development of Eggy Party. He sees the game, popular among young women, as a testing ground for generative artificial intelligence tools for creating obstacle courses. Ding is confident that Eggy Party will have a long shelf life and has become a source of concern for Tencent, which has spent billions of dollars acquiring studios in search of its next hit title.
NetEase’s stock has risen significantly this year, while Tencent has struggled due to an economic downturn. Gaming analyst Robin Zhu believes Eggy Party’s success highlights the unpredictable nature of the gaming industry. NetEase’s freewheeling and artistic culture, which encourages teams to pitch new game ideas and provides financing for testing, has been conducive to producing successful titles.
Tencent, on the other hand, has been criticized for being less creative and relying too heavily on monetizing popular but aging titles like PUBG and Honor of Kings. The perception that Eggy Party is a copycat of Fall Guys, a multiplayer obstacle course game developed by Mediatonic, has further frustrated Tencent. In response, Tencent is developing a similar game called Playground to attract Eggy Party’s player base. However, industry insiders believe that NetEase has a stronger position in the genre and is currently the winner.
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