NetEase Veteran Raises $100 Million, Backs Gaming Royalty for ‘Star-Wars’-Led Comeback

It took almost a minute for the 5,000 video-game fans crammed into the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles in December to realize what they were watching. Above their heads, a jumbo screen was showing off the first trailer for a new game. With each additional shot — a metallic space ship landing on a barren world, a caped figure stepping outside — the excitement ratcheted higher. Then came the unmistakable whooshing sound of a lightsaber, along with the words: Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic. Attendees at the Game Awards jumped out of their seats, cheering.

Several rows in, an unasuming, 40-year-old gaming executive was reveling in the moment too. Teary-eyed and emotional, Simon Zhu was watching intensely alongside his wife and daughter. Several months earlier, Zhu had quit his job as president of global investments and partnerships at NetEase Inc. after the Chinese tech giant decided to slash its investments in new games amid a broader pullback in the industry. Though hardly anybody knew it yet, the new Star Wars title was a key piece in Zhu’s comeback strategy. For now, if anybody asked him why he was in attendance, he’d tell them he was there on vacation with his family.