Ding Yingfeng, Executive Vice President of NetEase Group, announced his retirement and will serve as a company advisor subsequently.

Text | Guofu

Editor | Liu Shiwu

Early on December 27th, Beijing time (during the U.S. stock trading session), NetEase Group issued an announcement stating that Ding Yingfeng (Ding Ding), Executive Vice President of NetEase Group and Head of the Interactive Entertainment Division, will officially retire on December 31st, 2025. He will continue to serve as a company advisor thereafter.

In the announcement, NetEase CEO Ding Lei said, "We sincerely thank Mr. Ding Yingfeng for his dedication and contributions. He has made outstanding contributions to the success of the company's flagship games and played a key role in the construction of the company's R & D and operational capabilities."

NetEase Group's Announcement

Ding Yingfeng entered the gaming industry in 1998 and served as the lead designer of "Legend of the Gallant Knights of Gu Long". He joined NetEase in 2002 and participated in the design and development of many of the group's iconic products. The "Fantasy Westward Journey Online" he was involved in is also NetEase's first self - developed large - scale online game.

Among many well - known game IPs, "Fantasy Westward Journey", which Ding Yingfeng participated in launching during his tenure, was officially launched in 2003. As of the end of 2025, this game and its derivative mobile game product series have been in operation for more than 22 years. It is one of the products with the longest operation time and the highest cumulative revenue in the history of NetEase's online game business.

Introduction to Ding Yingfeng's Resume

During his tenure as the head of the Interactive Entertainment Business Group, Ding Yingfeng's management scope covered many products under NetEase, including "Fantasy Westward Journey" and "Fantasy Westward Journey II", as well as game products from different categories such as "Yan Yun 16 Swords", "Identity V", and "After Tomorrow". This business group is also the largest game R & D and operation entity within NetEase in terms of personnel scale and product quantity.

According to NetEase's annual financial reports, the revenue from online game services with MMO as the main gameplay has long accounted for more than 70% of the total game business revenue, and the Interactive Entertainment Business Group is the core unit contributing to this revenue.

Another important game R & D institution parallel to the Interactive Entertainment Business Group within NetEase Group is the Leihuo Business Group. The Leihuo Business Group is well - known for developing products such as "The Detective Chinatown Online" and "NARAKA: BLADEPOINT". Its style focuses on high - specification graphic technology, open - world, and action gameplay. There are certain business differences between the two major business groups, Interactive Entertainment and Leihuo, in core tracks such as MMO. This structure is regarded as one of the mechanisms to maintain the internal product innovation drive.

On the eve of Ding Yingfeng's retirement, NetEase Group released its financial report for the third quarter of 2025. The report shows that NetEase's net revenue in this quarter was RMB 28.4 billion, and the net revenue from games and related value - added services was RMB 23.3 billion, a year - on - year increase of 11.8% compared to 2024, accounting for 82% of the company's total revenue. The growth is mainly due to the contribution of new games such as "Yan Yun 16 Swords" and "Broken Lands" and the stable revenue of existing products such as the "Fantasy Westward Journey" series and "Egg Party".

Ding Yingfeng

The business situation reflected in this financial report is the last periodic report card that Ding Yingfeng participated in before his retirement.

After Ding Yingfeng's retirement, NetEase has not yet disclosed information about his successor or more details about this personnel change.

As the NetEase Interactive Entertainment Division bids farewell to the Ding Yingfeng era, the specific changes in its management and the impact on NetEase's mid - to - long - term game business strategy and product line planning will gradually emerge in 2026 and beyond.