NTES News & Events

Circana's Mat Piscatella said that the U.S. video game industry enters 2026 with the potential to reach a new record high in consumer spending, following a year of slight growth driven by new hardware, rising subscription engagement, and robust player demand across platforms. According to Circana's latest Games Market Dynamics report, total U.S. consumer spending on video game hardware, content, and accessories reached $60.7B in 2025, marking a +1.4% increase over 2024. Circana projects U.S. video game industry spending to rise +3% to $62.8B in 2026, surpassing the current all-time high of $61.7B set in 2021. This growth is expected to be fueled by the second year of Nintendo Switch 2 (NTDOY), unprecedented anticipation for Take-Two's (TTWO) "Grand Theft Auto VI," and continued strength in subscription-based content. Key opportunities and challenges for the gaming industry in 2026, according to Circana, include: Switch 2 sales; "GTA VI" headlining a software surge; subscription spending remaining strong; hardware pressure from component costs; consumer behavior shifts, and emerging disruptors, including Valve's upcoming Steam Machines. Other publicly traded companies in the space include Electronic Arts (EA), GameStop (GME), NetEase (NTES), Tencent (TCEHY), Microsoft (MSFT), Sony (SONY), and Ubisoft (UBSFY).

Mattel (MAT) announced an agreement with its joint venture partner, NetEase (NTES) to acquire full ownership of the Mattel163 mobile games studio. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of Q1, subject to customary closing conditions. Since its inception in 2018, Mattel163 has released four games based on Mattel IP, Uno!, Uno Wonder, Phase 10, and Skip Bo, with approximately 20M monthly active users and over 550M downloads worldwide. The transaction values Mattel163 at $318M, with a purchase price of $159M for NetEase's 50% interest. More than half of the purchase cost is expected to be funded from Mattel's share