Chinese internet company NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) recently launched its first gaming studio in the United States under its online games division NetEase Games. This new gaming studio, known as Jackalope Games, will be located in Austin, Texas, and will carry the responsibility of making up new PC and console games for NetEase.
The game designer, Jack Emmert, and has worked on games such as "City of Heroes," "Neverwinter," "Star Trek Online," and "DC Universe Online."
NetEase Games "is the best possible place for me and my team to thrive," Emmert said in a statement. "We share the same passion-- to create engaging online universes for gamers worldwide. NetEase Games is providing the support and resources needed to build a great studio and great games."
This particular new addition to NetEase emphasizes the move on the part of the Chinese when it comes to taking advantage of overseas markets for earnings growth. Founder and chief executive of NetEase, William Ding, remarked in an earnings call in February that NetEase is "calling on global gaming talent and will accelerate overseas expansion."
And, now that NetEase's key competitor, Tencent (OTC: TCEHY), has been growing exponentially on an international level, NetEase hopes to create even further competition. Vice President of NetEase, Hu Zhipeng, told CNBC in the last year that he intends for half of NetEase's accumulated income to come from overseas in the coming years.
This time of growth from NetEase, however, has come at a time during which the United States is giving much closer scrutiny to foreign companies. NetEase has already been successful with the creation of two gaming studios in Japan, which have focused on the establishment of "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" games.
Although NetEase has traditionally been geared toward PC and mobile games, the company has been more focused on making titles for gaming consoles, like Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox or Sony's (NYSE: SONY) PlayStation, lately. And, with its most recent development in the United States, this could help the company with becoming even more established.