On March 8th, a widely circulated internal letter from Alibaba revealed that Alibaba Lingxi Interactive Entertainment will undergo a major personnel adjustment. Zhan Zhonghui, the head of Lingxi Interactive Entertainment, released an internal email stating that he and Chen Weian will step down at the end of the fiscal year (March 31), and their positions will be taken over by Zhou Bingshu, the producer of "Three Kingdoms: Strategic Edition". A person close to Lingxi Interactive Entertainment confirmed the content of the letter to Nandu reporters.
Zhan Zhonghui and Chen Weian are both founders of Guangzhou Jianyue. Before founding Guangzhou Jianyue, Zhan Zhonghui served as the COO of NetEase and the producer of games such as "Journey to the West 2" and "Fantasy Journey to the West". Chen Weian was also the founder of Guangzhou Jianyue and worked at NetEase before joining Alibaba, responsible for product operations such as "World of Warcraft" and "StarCraft 2". Zhou Bingshu, who is about to take over as the head of Lingxi Interactive Entertainment's business, is currently the game producer for Lingxi Interactive Entertainment's flagship game "Three Kingdoms: Strategic Edition".
The two founders of Guangzhou Jianyue will step down
In an internal letter, Zhan Zhonghui (Dingdang) stated, "With the gradual improvement of the talent pool, the young people of Lingxi have grown rapidly and are now able to take on the important task of leading Lingxi to continue its development. By the end of this fiscal year (March 31), Old Chen and Chunjiao will officially step down as the class committee members and hand them over to the new team led by Bingshu. We believe that the new team can better face the future, practice Lingxi's research and development philosophy more solidly, and take Lingxi to new heights."
According to public information, Zhan Zhonghui has served as the COO of NetEase and the producer of games such as "Journey to the West 2" and "Fantasy Journey to the West". He is one of the founders of Guangzhou Jianyue. Zhan Zhonghui mentioned in the letter that the "old Chen" who will step down together is Chen Weian, one of the founders of Jianyue Technology. Chen Weian is also the founder of Guangzhou Jianyue. Before joining Alibaba, he also worked at NetEase, responsible for product operations such as World of Warcraft and StarCraft 2.
In addition, the new team of Lingxi Interactive Entertainment will be led by Zhou Bingshu. According to public reports, Zhou Bingshu is the producer of "Three Kingdoms: Strategic Edition". Similar to Zhan Zhonghui and Chen Weian, Zhou Bingshu also joined NetEase Games. In 2017, he joined Lingxi Interactive Entertainment and officially launched the game "Three Kingdoms: Strategic Edition".
The Three Kingdoms game has become a popular self-developed product by Alibaba
For many years, Alibaba's gaming style has been quite low-key. Previously, Alibaba had invested efforts in channel distribution and IP ecosystem respectively. In terms of channel distribution, in 2014, Alibaba launched a mobile game platform in its digital entertainment business group and distributed games with developers, with the remaining 10% donated as public welfare funds. In the same year, Alibaba acquired UC Group for a wholly-owned valuation of $5 billion, and UC's game distribution business became the core of Alibaba's gaming business.
However, Alibaba's efforts in channel distribution have not been effective. In 2016, Alibaba integrated UC games and transformed them into "Alibaba Games". Later, UC Games President Lin Yongsong became Alibaba Games President.
In 2017, Alibaba entered the IP ecosystem of gaming. At that time, Alibaba Games held a press conference with "strategic upgrading" as the core. Shi Cangjian, former General Manager of Alibaba's Mobile Business Group and UC International Business, took over as the President of Games. He announced that Alibaba Games would fully enter the game distribution field and stated that he would use 1 billion yuan to assist in the development of the game IP ecosystem. In 2017, Alibaba acquired Guangzhou Jianyue Technology for 1 billion yuan.
The three founders of Guangzhou Jianyue include Zhan Zhonghui (Dingdang), Chen Wei'an (referred to as "Old Chen" by Zhan Zhonghui in his letter), and Wu Yunyang (Yunfeng), who will soon step down as the head of Lingxi Interactive Entertainment business. In 2011, the three of them resigned from NetEase and subsequently founded Guangzhou Jianyue.
After being acquired by Alibaba, in September 2019, Jian Yue Technology launched the "Three Kingdoms · Strategy Edition", which gave Alibaba a self-developed best-selling product and established a foothold in the industry. According to the global mobile game revenue list in 2023 released by mobile application market research institute Appmagic, the revenue of Three Kingdoms · Strategic Edition in 2023 was 379.6 million dollars, ranking 15th in the world. The domestic mobile games ahead of Three Kingdoms · Strategic Edition included Glory of the King (1.48 billion dollars), Genshin Impact (944 million dollars), and Collapse: Skyline Railway (660 million dollars).
Three Kingdoms: Strategic Edition Game
Will a promising young producer take over and prepare for the launch?
In January of this year, there were rumors that Lingxi Interactive Entertainment was seeking an independent listing. As a result, Southern Metropolis reporters sought confirmation from the relevant person in charge of Lingxi Interactive Entertainment, who stated that they would not respond at the moment.
Along with the rumors of listing, Fan Luyuan, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cultural Entertainment, announced that he would take charge of Lingxi Entertainment on behalf of Alibaba Group. In an internal letter at the time, he stated that the direction of Lingxi Interactive Entertainment in the future was to embrace AI, embrace globalization, embrace producer centeredness, and adhere to research and development leading business. Lingxi Interactive Entertainment will provide sufficient support, space, and motivation for young producers with potential.
Although Lingxi Interactive Entertainment has stated that it has not responded to the rumors of going public for the time being, Tianyancha shows that on November 7, 2023, the major shareholder of Guangzhou Lingxi Interactive Entertainment Information Technology Co., Ltd. was changed from Alibaba Culture and Entertainment Co., Ltd. to Hangzhou Baoxuan Investment Management Co., Ltd., with a controlling stake of 100%. It is worth mentioning that Alibaba Culture and Entertainment Co., Ltd. is also 100% controlled by Hangzhou Baoxuan Investment Management Co., Ltd. This means that according to Alibaba's company reform plan launched in March last year, Lingxi Interactive Entertainment has separated from Alibaba's large cultural and entertainment sector and become the N in the "1+6+N" system, with the possibility of independent financing and listing.
Now it seems that Lingxi Interactive Entertainment will be replaced by the new team led by Zhou Bingshu, fulfilling Fan Luyuan's promise of providing sufficient support, space, and motivation for young producers with potential. At the same time, this also means that Lingxi Interactive Entertainment is adjusting its state and entering the next stage.