Good afternoon. I have to admit, I'm looking at the picture of the three of us. We look kind of, all wearing the same jacket. Looks kind of boring. Maybe we should be wearing T-shirts the next time. But, anyway, great to be here, to share with you, on what happened in the first six months of the year and kind of talk a little bit about the future of the next six months. Today, I'm gonna take you through very quickly on the highlights, and Ben's gonna take you through the financials because I think we should kind of dig into the numbers a little bit. And as usual, Lin Chen will be talking about gaming.
Because Ben is actually busy today, so I'm gonna take over and talk about education, especially our impending spin-off of the company. Then, of course, we'll touch on the outlook, and then we turn into Q&A. So let's start. Next page, please. The first six months is kind of like Charles Dickens's story, like that Tale of Two Cities. So let's go for the more exciting one. For gaming, we're back on growth, which is actually something very exciting. After COVID, in China, people are spending, which is good, so we grew 8% year-over-year, and 16% half-over-half, which is actually very exciting.
With all the investment we have made in the last years, we will start to see some of the new games coming out. So I'm not gonna steal the thunder from Lin Chen. He's gonna take you through the details, so which is good. So, for education, it's really a challenging first six months. It's really nothing wrong with the mechanics or the operation or the structure of the company. It's really about the market. So I think two factors. One is, after COVID, is actually our largest market, U.S., is actually taking a pause to digest all the equipment that they have acquired. So actually we're seeing a slow first six months of the year. And the good news is actually the money is still there. I think they're taking a pause.
The other one, of course, is Europe. Europe has been slow for us for economic reasons. The option on this one is actually a couple things. We still maintain the number one, number one market share outside China. That means we didn't lose market share, which is good. And we are also actually, we have launched a new product that allow us to extend our addressable market, which is a big part of the, I would call it, the value part of the market, which is the mid- to- low end. We launched the product and we start to ship in June, so we should be seeing some momentum in the next few months and the years after.
Last but not least, actually, we are moving towards making the merger agreement happen. I'll talk a little bit about it later on. So, with that, I hope I paint you an overall picture of what we were dealing with in the last 6 months. A lot of encouraging signs, but there's some issue we still need to work on. So with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Ben to take you through the numbers.
Hey, thank you, Simon. Okay, first, I'm gonna go through our P&L on a high level, and then I'll dive into the segmental financials. So here, you can see that our overall revenue had a - 13% growth in the first half as a result of a decline in our education revenue, which was really in line with the overall market. We believe that this is a temporary decline because of the ultra-high growth that we had in the past couple of years because of COVID. This is something that Simon will go into when he talks about our education business.
And then, our gaming revenue, on the other hand, was up 8.1% year-over-year, and we are really happy with this performance as we see our gaming business clearly back in a growth trajectory. And I'll let Lin Chen go into a lot more details in the next section. On the expense side, we continue to implement discipline control on our spending and to make sure that we spend in the areas with the proper return. Our admin expense was actually 22.8% higher year-over-year, and that's actually because of our expenses, largely because of expenses related to the spin-off listing transaction for our overseas education business.
If you take out this one-time effect, our admin expense increased by about 10%, and that would be due to salary increment as well as more traveling this year compared to last year because of the open- up of China from COVID. In terms of the bottom line, our EBITDA went up by 4.3%, and our operating profits and net profits went down by 6.1% and 11.5%, respectively. However, if you add back the one-time nature of the spin-off listing- related expenses, these two line items should be largely flat or have a slight increase on an adjusted basis.
All right, and the final point that I want to highlight on this slide is that we continue to maintain a strong cash position with a cash and bank balance of $ 4.2 billion, as well as a net cash balance of approximately $ 3.2 billion. And with our strong cash position, we're also happy that we've announced that we've declared a special dividend of $1 per share on top of our regular interim dividend of $0.40 per share. Next slide, please. Okay, on to the segmental financials. So I talked about the revenue in the slide, s o here I'm gonna talk about our other metrics. First, on the education business, a couple of things to highlight.
Gross margin was 24.4% in first half, and which was slightly down by 1 percentage point year-over-year. But on a sequential basis, our gross margin actually went up by 3.7%, and have gone up for two quarters in a row. And because we are benefiting from a higher ASP from our ActivPanel line that was launched in the middle of last year. And then our cost of sales of education was higher in first half at $ 249 million, and that was due to lower revenue, and also the fact that our business overhead was largely flat on a year-over-year basis. And then on the gaming, in terms of our gaming business, it's also notable that our gross margin increased by 1% to 96.8%, due to more optimized use of our servers, and that was a result of our cost management measures carried out last year.
And in terms of our overhead expenses for gaming, our R&D expenses increased by 16%, due to more headcounts that were recruited last year. And as we've mentioned in the past, these headcounts will benefit us, as we get to a better position to produce, you know, more quality games in a faster pace. And for the selling and marketing and the GNA costs, we continue to be very disciplined in our spending as these two overhead items were largely stable year-over-year. All right, that's all I want to highlight in the financial session, and I'll pass the stage to Lin Chen, who's going to walk us through the performance of the gaming business.
谢谢 Ben。大家好，我是凌晨，那很高兴为大家介绍网龙游戏 2023 年上半年的业绩。首先前面讲到，我们的游戏业务在今年上半年恢复了一个增长，那整体的收入是增长了 8.1%。同时呢，我们在国内跟国外都获得了增长。那在国内的部分的话呢，在之前其实我有提到过，那，去年受到一些疫情的影响，我们在中大的消费上是，略有回落。那今年我们随着经济的一个恢复，我们很高兴地看到，大家的这个中大的消费的信心，获得了很好的一个增长，那也带动了整体的游戏在国内的，收入增长了 8.9%。啊，那在海外的部分呢，当然受到，汇率的一些影响，我们增长了会，略低一些，那也达到了 4% 的一个增长。啊，那在这个增长的同时，我们很高兴我们整个的收入结构，呃，跟内容是相对比较健康的。那在，用户生态跟这个玩家社群的方面，那我们持续去优化外挂跟，工作室的一些的，账号，那虽然 DAU 略有下降，但是整体的用户生态跟体验跟消费的信心是增长的，那这也带动了我们这个 ARPPU 的一个上涨，那也上涨，也对我们中大的，对我们游戏中的一个持续消费建立很好的一个信心。下一页。那大家可以从数据上可以看到，在，网络游戏过去四个季度，呃，都保持了一个连续的增长，那目前这个增长其实我们会看到，是一个非常稳健的一个，发展态势。那在今年的，呃，无论 是今年的 Q2 还是今年的上半年，我们的游戏收入都是历史的新高，呃，那尤其是在我们的魔域 IP 线，也是，历史的新高，那这也代表着我们的未来...
在过去的一些在IP上的投入，过去的游戏的战略获得了一个很大的成功跟回报。下一页。那在这除了国内跟国外都是增长了之外，那其实我们在，PC端跟手机端也都是获得了很好的增长。那在手机，在PC端的分部，我们的收入增长了8.3%，那这可以看到是说，除了PC的部分，我们还有互通的版本。那除了，PC的这个触达，那我们可以通过一个互通版的触达，去更好地去，吸引我们的用户，包括用户的回流，包括，我们现有PC用户的一个粘着度，那这也很好带动了我们在，国内的，包括国外的PC端的用户的一个增长，跟收入的增长。那在手机的部分呢，虽然业界，在今年，在买量上遇到了很大的挑战，但随着我们在，整个用户社群，包括说买量策略上的一个优化，那我们在新增用户上跟买量成本的降低也取得了比较好的成绩，那这也带动了我们在，我们的主力旗舰产品，比如像我们的口袋版上的，DAU的增长，包括驱动了我们的收入的增长。下一页。那接下来呢，从几个IP线上为大家介绍一下我们主体的一个业务情况。那首先是魔域IP，那魔域IP我们持续坚持整个，IP的战略，那我们在IP的内容上是持续投入的，那在我们的产品线上也是不断拓宽的。那随着这些策略的一个有效的落地，那，保持了我们整体的IP的收入再创了新高。那这几个新高呢，来自于几个方面。那首先看到在PC端的就是我们的整体魔域的部分，那获得了一个，10%的，年同比增长，跟22%的这个环比增长，那是一个非常强劲的一个，增长的部分。那这里的带动的 一个驱动因子，刚才是我也提到了，那首先是这里一个跨平台的互通版，嗯，它对我们的回流用户的一个触达，包括从，回流用户通过，我们的互通版去，去，去进行的触达，然后转换到我们的PC，包括说它整体的活跃跟APA的一个增长，都为整个，整个整体的用户生态带来了一个很好的一个，健康的的发展。那手机端呢，随着我们的一些的，买量策略的优化，那这里也可以看到，也做到了9.5%的 一个同比增长。
那与此同时呢，我们整个IP产品线也持续地去更新我们的高质量的资料片。那同时呢，我们在上半年魔域手2也，成功上线。那这些从这个用户运营，包括收入跟，几个，用户增长的维度，都很好地带动了我们的整个魔域IP的整体的健康发展。下一页。好，那接下来的话呢，其实是我们，在我们的产品跟长线精细化运营的策略方面，那我们还是始终保持了，高质量的内容产出，包括我们的用户的回流跟玩家的一个维持。啊，那在IP的方面的话呢，在今年我们其实在，IP跟内容上也有所进化。呃，在去年更多的我们是更多的是一些IP联动去推出更好的内容，呃，但是在今年我们加强了在内容上的一个投入，呃，我们会自创很多的IP内容，那也会从中发现用户，呃，对我们的IP的一个忠诚度，也随着我们自创IP的内容的，呃，有效推出，达到了一个比较好的一个留存，跟对整个IP起到了一个很好的良好的效果。那在这个维度也是我们未来，呃，会着重发展的一个很重要的一个方向。呃，那有了优质的内容，那通过，呃，无论抖音、直播、赛事等更加新型的一个传播手段，那也可以更好地触达跟引入跟保有用户。那在我们整体的多维度上的持续的一个升级，才能让我们的这个IP能够持续健康地发展。下一页。呃，那这里可以从前面的数据可以看到，我们其实我们的付费，呃，的部分做的今年上半年是做得比较好的，那，那这也代表了我们在产品策略上是，呃，重点是把握住我们现有的跟，呃，新用户的，呃，用户的习惯跟他们的体验，那在我们已有的成功的商业模式上是不断地深挖的。那对于一个MMO游戏来讲，我们在，呃，我们的养成部分是游戏的一个很重要的部分，而我们的这个整个的幻兽模块也是我们持续去打磨的一个精品的模块。啊，除了这个，呃，过往的一些游戏的数值，那从美术，从，呃，体验玩法，从它的人设故事性，啊，那我们其实多方位对我们的这个核心消费系统，呃，做了，呃，持续的增强跟打磨。那这个模块呢，其实已经占到了整体我们养成的收入的50%以上，也很好驱动了我们收入的一个增长，也是一个相对一个健康的方式。那用户，呃，不单对我们的内容是认可的，那他更愿意在我们的这些系统上去建立信心，更好地去付费。下一页。那从整个，呃，游戏市场的这个趋势来看，呃，玩家对内容向的一个消费的一个趋势，那可能这个不光是二次元游戏，呃，会带来的，那对我们的游戏上来讲，我们也很明显的，呃，看到了这个趋势。那所以说在这个方面的话呢，我们会不断增强我们在内容上的深度跟，呃，游戏体验。呃，那像我们的兔年兽，呃，每年的年兽是我们很重要的一个收入的内容的一个组成部分。呃，那过往除了，呃，我们在，呃，做一些这个包装之外，在今年从我们的整个的故事性，从，呃，人设跟我们IP的结合度上，我们花了更多的时时间去打磨了，呃，更好高质量的内容。呃，那同时呢，在消费上讲，我们会，呃，也有不同的消费策略，像我们在PC端，我们会更加加强中大R的一些，呃，付费的深度，那这也带来了同比的一个，呃，消费额的一个增长。而在手机端的话呢，我们会更加考虑，呃，中R小R跟中大R的一个分层消费的一个习惯，那这也带动，带动了我们的，呃，付费渗透率跟付费额的，呃，双向的一个增长，呃，也做到了一个，呃，是今年收入增长的一个很好的一个驱动力。下一页。呃，那接下来，呃，前面提到是说在，呃，在今年的市场上，霍克，呃，对所有的公司都是一个挑战，那有一些高质量的内容，那通过新型的一些，呃，营销的形式，那也很好地去，呃，降低了我们的，呃，买量成本，那也增加了我们的用户的一些回流的内容，那这方面的的一些的迭代的演进，呃，不断的升级，也是对我们游戏的一个很大的一个助力。下一页。好，那刚才前面说完了，呃，我们的魔域IP，那接下来我介绍一下这个英魂之刃这个IP。呃，那事实上在上半年，呃，我们也在一个成功商业模式上做了一个延续，就是，呃，联动了，呃，怕痛就诊，呃，防御力这个，呃，日漫的IP。呃，那这个其实呢，呃，在上半年驱动了我们双端的流水，呃，获得了18%的同比增长。呃，那这个在MOBA这个赛道，那竞争对手是非常有限的，那，呃，目前我们在持续打磨的我们的这个用户体验，呃，在成功的商业模式上进行深挖，那这也会很好地去维持整个IP的我们的用户的，呃，活跃群体跟收入的部分。呃，那当然是在面向未来的部分，那在MOBA这个赛道，我们会更重视，呃，未来的的一些机会，啊，无论，呃，MOBA的竞技性，它更多的赛程，呃，下沉，它更偏休闲一些，还是说在它的竞技性的主体上在不断地增强。所以说，呃，我们的英魂的Lite版本跟2.0版本，呃，也在持续的研发中，那未来在未来的的一两年也会上线，去把这个赛道去持续地深挖下去。下一页。呃，而在这个征服IP的部分的话呢，呃，上半年虽然收入，呃，下降了12.3%，呃，但这主要的原因还是因为这个RMB跟USD的汇率造成的，那其实这里跌了，呃，接近一半以上的一个汇率的部分，那影响了我们在，呃，美，以USD计的这个收入的这个销售额。...
但是实际上如果只单看埃及单体的市场的话，那去年，我们的收入其实增长了45%，其实是一个非常大的增长。那这里的话呢，其实从增幅来讲，我们其实发现了两个，很重要的机会。那第一个呢，就是驱动收入增长的是在，埃及，包括中东，阿拉伯的付费习惯的一些深挖，那我们会看到，随着我们的一些玩法的一些打磨，那，阿拉伯的消费其实有一个明显的增长。那同时呢，MMO是一个很大的品类，我们也看到这个很多的玩家在MMO里面也会开始玩一些休闲，包括一些，休闲卡牌的一些玩法。那这些的话呢，也帮助我们挖掘到了埃及本地化的一些的，特色的玩法，对玩家的吸引力。那在这一部分的话呢，我们会单独，拉出一个新项目，就我们这边的代号Alpha的项目，待会儿也会在明年的上线。我们也在这里去挖掘到了一个新赛道的一个市场机会。那随着埃及的这个的市场IP影响力的增大，我们认为这个未来也会很好地驱动我们海外跟整个增长产品线的收入增长。下一页。那接下来的话呢，就是，很大一个投入模块，就是我们在，AIGC的部分。那AIGC首先在，美术的部分，其实是已经被，市场跟各家公司验证的，可以有效去产出内容的一种方式。那它无论在这个原画、UI或者场景这些环节，那它已经可以实际为我们的，生产效率得到了一个显著的增长。比如说在我们的，2D原画环节，它至少帮助我们提升了30%的，效率，那这也会对未来我们在内容上的，品质跟效率有一个很大的助力。OK，那接下来的来讲的话呢，在整个游戏性方面呢，我们是非常看好在AI对，智能NPC上的一个应用。因为我们的主力品类是MMO这个品类，那MMO品类最重要的就是，人与人之间的互动，整个，社群跟生态的一个构建。那我们看到随着一些ChatGPT，一些AI的应用，它可以很好地去帮助我们去构建，更加智能的，更加具有交互性的一些NPC，包括一些群体的演化和这个互动模型跟社交模型的一些迭代，去创造，全新的用户体验。所以说呢，在，这部分也是我们重点去投入发力，包括说未来我们会在这个游戏系统，包括在新游戏上上线这些，内容。下一页。好，那接下来呢，是在这个AI辅助，用户跟伴侣的部分，那其实我们已经，也有一些成绩，部分的功能也已经上线了。那主要是说呢，在像MOBA，包括MMO的团战一些对操作性比较强的，内容上，那AI可以很好地帮助，一些轻度的用户去降低他的用户的上手门槛，跟一些上手的难度，去让更好的轻度型的用户去融入我们的操作型跟竞技型的一些体验中去。那同时呢，针对，对操作体验竞技性比较需求比较强的用户，而AI的一些陪玩，AI的一些，训练，这种模式能够更好地去，创造，一些更好的去提升他们的水平跟对局体验。那，那这两点的话呢，也是我们会持续去深耕，去创造更好的用户体验，去带动我们游戏的，收入的一些，增长。那，这个AI的部分是，整体上集团，合力，同步去发力的一个很大的一个重要部分。下一页。那接下来呢，还有一个，最重要的，就是我们整体的游戏的产品线。那大家会看到，我们的IP战略是非常坚定，而且是非常有效的。那在，魔域IP上，我们的新端游，新的手游，在今年跟明年都会有陆续的新产品的上线。那从商业模式来讲的话呢，我们有相对比较，经典的一些模式，也就是被市场被验证的重置的这些逻辑，它是商业化成功率比较高的一个方向，也有我们的品质迭代版本去获取更大的用户，进行更好的用户破圈，那就保证了我们整个魔域产品线在未来的收入的稳定性跟增长。那同步来讲，在MOBA赛道，刚刚前面也有提到，我们在Light方向跟更加竞技的三个项都有我们的产品去布局，希望在这个赛道上能够挖掘出更大的一个机会。而增长赛道上讲，我们会觉得说在，偏休闲，一些的方向，是一个非常大含义上的一个收入机会，那它在明年的，收入的，上限，包括跟MMO加的部分的融合跟相互导量，也会驱动在海外收入上的一个很好的一个增长。那在新IP的部分的话呢，我们的终焉誓约，那跟合作伙伴的，的，的密切合作下，明年也会上线。包括我们的新的，我们的放置卡牌的赛道的产品的上线，也会驱动我们新IP，新产品的收入的增长。那从整体上来看呢，网龙我们在，上半年已经有一个非常好的一个增长的态势，在下半年我们会保持，同样的一个，稳定的发展，而在明年后年的，我们在研发上的投入也会，获得回报，那驱动未来我们在，未来游戏收入更好地发展。那以上就是这些，谢谢大家！下面交给Simon，谢谢。
Lin Chen, [Foreign language] . Before I go into education and pretend I'm Vin Riera, so I'll make a couple of comments. One is actually content, which is actually very exciting for gaming. Equally exciting is the area of AI, because you will see the same theme in education. From a geographical standpoint, both education and for gaming, we find the Middle East/Africa market very exciting going forward. That's gonna be a growth engine. So okay, so let me be Vin Riera for the next few minutes, even though I know that I probably am not as good looking. So okay, next page.
This is just to give you an idea of how the market has been in the last few years, and then, the forecast for this year. As you can see, the overall market, because a big part is that the U.S. needs to digest what they have purchased and the economy in Europe. So we're seeing a negative growth in terms of the total unit. If you look at our peers at [audio distortion] , they're seeing exactly the same challenge. I'm not saying that's right, but it is a market situation that we have to tackle. But we do have the answer to how to grow in a down market. Okay, next, next page.
This is just to give you an idea of how we have been growing compared to the industry. We have been outgrowing the industry for the last couple of years by quite a wide margin. That's why it will exaggerate the decline of our first half a little bit. So let me kind of take you through some of the... Next page. The good news for us is actually is, if you look at all the operating metrics, actually we are very sound. You know, we maintain the number one market share. We have higher ASP for our new product called AP9. Our gross margin improved half-over-half. The revenue decline is actually not 29%.
That's partly because of the market decline, but equally kind of important. W e dramatized the decline because our first six months of last year, we grew 71%. So if you just take a look at the combination, so it's actually just exaggerate the decline. Not any excuse, but just want you to understand the numbers. Okay, next. I did talk about how do we grow in a declining market. This is how we do it, because for the longest time, we decided to focus on the high-end product because we want to maintain our profitability, our margin and everything. Because where the market is going, we decided last year, actually, not this year, last year, to enter this, this market, which opened up a big market that we never been able to address before with the AP9.
So, this is very exciting. Because the value product is actually we can use it to attract and move to the lower end segment of the market. We worked on it last year. We introduced the product early this year, and we started to ship in June. So the effect, we have not seen it yet. So you will see it in the coming months and years to come. Next. And just looking at some of the numbers. So we have a big opportunity with the new product. And, you know, it's like a huge base of old technology that we can go and replace. We have a very big install base of our product at 1.7 million.
So essentially, we can open up our market without kind of the actual market growth. So we are looking at a big market that, a bigger market that we can address after we start shipping the LX product. Next. This is some of the other things that we're doing for the next few months. It's actually, besides launching the product, getting it out and go after the market, we're also moving towards getting more SaaS revenue coming in. So we target to roll out our first software subscription by the end of the year. It's actually, if you remember, we acquired a company called Explain Everything. So we're gonna integrate that into our product.
So we're gonna launch it in the second half of the year. I think a lot of things that we're doing, we're really aiming to to save time and effort for the teachers, so which is great. By the way, AI is gonna do exactly the same. We're also working on the AI, just like Lin Chen talked about in the gaming. We're looking at AI in two different areas. One is actually, we see a lot of use cases that we use AI to help teachers cut down on the effort in the area of lesson preparation, homework, marking the homework, and also enable them to teach more effectively in the classroom. So we're gonna put AI into our classroom technology, including our panels.
But equally exciting, we're looking at it, on how to do it. We do believe that we need a education, a large language model. Not only that, so we need a probably education large language model for each country or locality because one of the things about education you worry about is governance, security, all the local laws and regulations and local culture, and all that. So and by the way, local curriculum. So it's not a one-size-fits-all environment. So that create a lot of good opportunity for us to work with a lot of our customers/ countries, like, because you all know we work with countries like Egypt and Ethiopia and all that.
So we believe that we can work with them and really put the AI technology and the large language model technology into countries or districts and all that. So this is actually very, very exciting. That also related to our SaaS subscription opportunities. You know, again, so we're very excited about AI and also from a geographical standpoint about the Middle East. Next. So this is actually something we've been working on very, very, very hard. Our team in the U.S. been working day and night to complete this. We are at a very final stage of the process, I would say. So it's gonna happen very, very soon.
So as a result of this, we're gonna spin off the company, or the education company overseas, and then we will list it on our New York Stock Exchange. As a result, we, NetDragon, will retain the ownership of 70% of the company. Now, by the way, we don't have to stay at 70%. I mean, we're happy to go down in the percentage as long as the valuation keep going up. So we're working out to get there, making sure the NetDragon shareholder is gonna share the growth of this particular company going forward. Page. Just very, very quickly, why we want to do that. These are the three main reasons to do it.
Number one is that we want to unlock shareholder value, because the sum of all parts probably work better in this particular case. Number two will be a separate platform that we can go and raise money, whether from the public or from our strategic investors. So it's like we're very specifically looking at the education business overseas. The third one is actually we want to and we look at all the geopolitical situation. Now, we're very open about China and U.S. relationship, so we believe having an education company with a large market in the U.S., being listed in the U.S., is actually strategically, it's actually much better for us. So because we have to deal with the government, a lot of these regulations much more effectively as a separate company.
So we decided to do it. So this is actually all good for our shareholders. Okay, next page. What I'm gonna do is actually close the session with the outlook. I think I talked quite a bit about it, and also Lin Chen talked about it also in his presentation, so I'm gonna be very brief on this one. So on gaming, we are on track. Actually, we're gonna be doing well. We'll continue to grow our flagship games, plus we're gonna work very hard to launch the new games, because actually that's how we maintain the growth of gaming. In education, very simple, number one priority is to complete the spin-off, so we can enjoy the valuation of that company. I talked about the LX product.
This is how we can grow in a down market because we expand our addressable market. We talk about moving to SaaS. And last but not least, with the spin-off, that give us a chance to really looking look at our cost base in education, with what's left in the company, and also looking at the China market and see how we react to this part of the business. So this is what we're going to do, you know, in the next three months. So with that, I'm gonna stop. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for listening. So operator, I think we're gonna be ready for Q&A.
Thank you, Dr. Leung and management. Now it is time for our Q&A session. [Foreign language] For investors on the phone call, if you wish to raise a question, please press star one, and operator will read your name before your question. For investors on webcast, if you wish to raise a question, please enter your questions in the text box and MC will read your questions later. [Foreign language] We are now coming to the Q&A session [Foreign language]. We welcome questions in English [Foreign language]. The first question is from Yi from BOCI regarding the gaming sector [Foreign language]
Okay [Foreign language]
Uh, okay.
说，大模型跟小模型，我们是同时去布局跟应用的，那还是针对于如何创造更好的游戏体验这件事去，去内心的去做。
林总，我相信其实我们可以跟很多不同的模型合作，这不，我们不，不一定要就是选一个，对不对？是因为认为我们-
是的，那我们现在也是同时跟几个大模型在做合作。
对对对。我回到那个教育的事情，我们目前来讲，没有可能是详细来那个介绍我们国内的事情，因为我刚才也讲了，我们去会做一个review，但是我可以make一，一个几个comment嘛，因为其实在教育来讲呢，就是我们，我没有看清楚，因为我们不可在国内赛道太多，所以我们现在会专注，就看我们选一两个赛道来，来做。当然了，其实我们在国内的资源也不光是，是支持我们国内的业务，也支持我们国外的业务，所以我们也要看看，那个在国外，第一就是我们怎么去，因为有公司叫Mynd，就是Mynd.ai，就是那个，然后我们要有什么其他的事情会做。所以在比如说在AI方面啊，在，你刚才讲的高职方面，我们也在看，其实我们公司一直都在高职，有一些尝试，有一些成功的例子，所以我们现在在选，所以没有，抱歉，没有详细的介绍。
谢谢 Simon 和 林总。再提醒一次，在电话上的投资者，如果您希望提问，请在电话键盘按星一键，并耐心等候操作员宣布您的名字。下一题的问题，我们有来自广发证券的可欣，他想要了解一下教育业务上半年收入下滑较大，主要原因为什么呢？然后下半年的收入展望如何？谢谢。
Ben, why don't you take this one?
可以，没问题。我觉得刚才Simon在他的那部分其实也讲了一下，那我可以再重复一下，我再elaborate一下。我们在上半年的教育收入下滑的主要原因，就是我们是跟随整个大的那个market下滑。那如果你们去看这个，我们的一些同行吧，这个其实，你们应该会发现每一家都下滑，特别是因为，主要是那个overseas market。对，所以呢，这个下滑的主要的原因呢，就是，我们如果看过去两三年的这个，其实，因为疫情的缘故，所以呢，全球很多的不同国家，比如说美国，或者是一些欧洲的一些不同的国家，他们都有很多的一些，所谓的一些政府的funding，去刺激这个课堂一些硬件的一些spending，所以这个就导致这个过去这两年是一个非常，higher than normal，就是比正常的一个增长更高的一种增长。所以呢，今年来说的话，我们认为这个可能是一个消化的一年，就是我们要这个demand消化，这个不代表这个行业会下降，这个只代表说，过去两三年的这种，那个高度增长的这种，情况，这些量，我们要消化，然后呢，我们未来还是会那个，预期还是会继续的那个增长。对，那下半年来说的话，我们觉得，今年我们认为这个还是一个消化的一年，那，下半年我们认为应该还是会比上半年更好。啊，对，啊，这个，啊，但是我觉得可能还是要到明年，我觉得，啊，这个整个增长还是能够恢复，对。
不好意思，那个Ben，我因为我以为问题是为什么上半年的下跌的那个degree是比较大，就是所以我以为你会告诉那个number。但是我补充一下了啊，就是刚才Ben已经讲过，为什么这个整个市场的问题都是下滑嘛，所以我们的peers都都是这样子。另外一个看起来下滑的比较大的幅度，就是因为我们去年上半年，我们的增长是71%，所以那个是，就是这个math，令到我们的整个好像是下滑是很大，因为我们去年的增长是很 大。所以刚才为什么有一个，有一张那个PPT，就是特别讲这个去年上半年的我们的增长，都是这样的。那个market是有下跌，这个是真的，但是我们为什么看起来很多，就是那个是数字上的那个问题了，这个math的问题，对对对。
谢谢Simon还有Ben。下一条问题，平板公司在区块链领域的布局情况如何？第二是平板软件的核心价值点在于什么？然后从商业模式上，有望带来多少的价格的增量呢？
林总，你先回答那个我们在website的那个，因为我们做了一些工作，对。
Okay。那首先呢，先讲这个，区块链的部分，那我们其实是，目前是不参与区块链任何，任何就是业界可能常见的割韭菜这个行为。我们主要看重的是区块链它在数字资产部分的应用，包括是，虚拟资产跟的应用的部分，对游戏带来的助力，尤其是我们认为我们是做长线运营的产品，那对用户来讲，一款游戏的下滑或者一款游戏的停运，对用户的损伤是非常大的。
我们是非常重视区块链技术如何应用在游戏的资产，无论它的保值、增值、交易，这整个的部分的一个价值。所以说在前面产品线来讲，我们其实有一款英魂之刃科幻版，那它其实已经计划是要接入我们的一些区块链的技术，去让我们的游戏用户像CSGO的皮肤一样，去更好地去把它的皮肤的资产，数字资产去更好地去做确权也好，去做流通交易也好。那，在这个部分是我们 在区块链游戏的布局的部分，那这是我们在长线数字资产方面比较看好的一方向，跟已经开始在做一些应用。
我觉得这个我要提一下，我们的看法是在Web3来讲，有两个事情，一个是区块链，一个是加密币。你刚才听到那个林琛要讲这个加密币，我们是用那个区块链的技术来做那个事情。其实同样也是在那个教育，我们也要应用那个区块链的技术，所以我们公司有一个特性，很多的技术我们可以在游戏也用，在那个教育也可以用。你刚才讲的，问的问题是那个，你说我们那个屏，那个大屏的那个核心的那个问题，可能我们需要一个比较长的时间。就那个，因为我们...
或者我简单讲一下，我们一定有竞争力，因为我们是世界上，就是不包括中国，我们是第一的。基本上是我们 在教室里面都可以用我们的教室那个系统来支持，学生去学习，还有老师去教学。所以我们一直都会有，在那个，在过去几年都是在海外可以在第一的那个，地位。
谢谢Simon，好，林总。然后下一题我们收到来自电话线上的投资者的提问。
Next question comes from Deutsche, Herman Luk, please go ahead, thank you. 下一个问题是来自Herman，请开始您的问题，谢谢。
我听不...
Deutsche Bank, 德意志银行，不好意思，我用广东话问啊这个问题。
没问题。
我就想，是的，我就想问一问，管理层呢，就是，generative AI你的发展呢，就是将会是怎样，同你们的教育sector啦，同埋在gaming的sector呢，那里配合去做一些，就是新的idea或者product出来，拜托。
I just spoke earlier, then wait, Lin Chen can speak. Repeat again, our approach in AI. Actually, I just talked about it. In AI, we have two views, two big opportunities. One is to put AI in our those big screens, that is our panels, and our entire classroom technology. The main role is to help teachers cut down their workload, and also help teachers in teaching aspects, in the classroom, so students can do more interactions, then after class, also help teachers to assign homework, grade homework, those things. That's not to say teachers don't do anything, just help them do these things, so they can spend more time on the students. So this is a big opportunity for us, from two places. One is we put AI in our panels, we become very special, a big differentiation. Maybe just now a friend asked where the core value is. So build on our core value, plus the AI things on top, become our pro-product, very special. Then we have a theory, called winner take most. So if we have a very different product, we can continue to expand our market share, even in a down market. So this is very exciting. Another one I think is equally exciting, if not more exciting, is what I just said, those verticalized large language models. We don't go do the same thing, go compete with Google, with OpenAI, with Baidu or Ali, because we don't do that kind of thing. We will build some specialized models, this case for education. Then sit on any model we all can, so become very flexible. Actually just now Lin Sen also said similar things, in games. So why do we think this is an opportunity? Actually very easy, just because AI, if very general AI for students, especially our K-12, will be very dangerous, don't know what content will go in, some local rules and regulations may violate, many different things. So we think a verticalized large language model, then we have guardrails to deal with those security, governance, local content, then become that need will be very big, then become us in a very unique situation. Because one of our best experiences is with some big districts, big states, or entire country, do education things, like Egypt those. So become we are also a very unique situation. Or finally add one sentence, actually if use AI, can change the entire education. Then our, because we have a belief, called learn on pace, then customize curriculum, then AI can enable this to happen. Hey, Mr. Lin, I don't know if you understand Cantonese. When the time comes to ask, that is our in games use AI aspects what development, you just talked about, but also repeat again.
好，我再总结一下。其实AI有几个方面，第一个呢，就是说，降本增效。当然说游戏的利润率是比较高的，那降本增效是有帮助的，但它可能是，不完全那么关键。那关键点可能是两个，一个是现有游戏体验的增强，比如说我们现在的MMO的体验，MOBA的体验，那通过AI技术可以把现有的体验做得更好。那这是，一个在现有收入上的一个放大器的作用。我们比较看重的也就是一个，我觉得机会点最大的就是通过AI创造全新的体验，全新的游戏模式。那我觉得这个可能是一个未来很重要的，我认为是一个蓝海的机会。那我前面提到的智能NPC，它就有可能通过AI技术去创造，也许从来没有的一些体验，那这个对，用户吸引力我认为 是最大的。那也是说呢，在MMO领域，它已经是 从需求角度已经被验证的，那我们如何从技术角度去创造，用AI创造更好的社区跟互动体验，那我觉得这个是一个很大的机会，那也是我们看中的一个，重点。
谢谢林总和 Simon. Just a quick reminder for investors on the phone call. If you wish to raise a question, please press star one, and operator will read your name before your question. 在电话上的投资者，如果您希望提问，请在电话键盘按星一键，并耐心等待操作员宣读您的名字。For the next question, we receive a question regarding the capital return initiative of the company: Can the company elaborate on its latest thinking behind its capital return initiative? For example, how much is it prepared to return to shareholders, regarding, based on its current capital structure? Thank you.
Uh, Ben。
Yeah, sure. So in terms of the capital return measures, I think, we've been keeping investors updated, you know, in the past, in the past couple of years. I think if you remember, a couple of years ago, we did announce a measure to do up to $300 million of stock buyback. Since then, we've actually been carrying out buybacks, you know, periodically. And last year we were not able to do buyback for the most part because of the compliance issues, because we have, we were in a quiet period due to the listing of our education business.
I think, and then after we announced the, the listing of our education business, we also started to resume our buyback, for a few months. And then, you guys would also notice that we've also declare a special dividend, this year, this time, on, on top of the, of the interim dividends.
I think from our, from a holistic perspective, you know, we want to, we want to make sure that we consistently return capital to, to the shareholders. So if you look at our, our announcement or our webcast a couple of years ago, we, we committed to return a majority of our, of our cash flows, of our free cash flow, you know, to our shareholders by way of a combination of stock buyback and dividends. And I think, you know, with the dividends that, that we've declared, yesterday, and also, a couple of rounds of special dividends that we've declared in the past couple of years, I think, I think we have, we have been kind of living up to that promise. So I think going forward, I think we will, we would be maintaining kind of that commitment. And, you know, but in the meantime, we also have to be, cognizant of kind of the market conditions, right?
Because, as you can see right now, the stock market is not in a very, very good condition, you know, on a broad basis. So is buyback, is stock buyback, you know, kind of the best approach to return to our shareholders? So that's something that we will continue to think about, and we will calibrate. It doesn't mean that we're not going to do stock buyback, but we're going to calibrate, you know, between stock buyback and dividends, and overall to make sure that, you know, we return, you know, the right amount of capital to our shareholders.
Let me put a caveat around it. What we're gonna do is actually we're gonna be review our strategy on a regular basis because we want also want to maintain some flexibility in terms of if we intend to do some M&A, so we have enough capital in the company to go do it. So, that's why we won't commit to a kind of like a specific plan on how to do it, but history demonstrates we will do the right thing at the right time.
Thank you, Ben and Simon, for your detailed response. So, 下一题来自，下一题我们有来自电话线上的投资者，来自国泰君安的投资者，请 operator 介入。谢谢。
谢谢，我们下一个提问是来自国泰君安的梁娇晶，请开始您的问题。谢谢。
[Foreign language]
好的，好的，谢谢管理层。然后各位领导好，我是国泰君安的Angus，然后首先我想请教一下，就是各位领导，就是关于咱们教育这边的一个小问题，因为我们看到我们公司在AI平板上面也有一些规划，所以想请教一下，就是我们现在AI平板的目前的一个推进的进度，那我们预计ASP会不会比普通的平板会有一个比较明显的提升呢？然后以及我们后面的，接下来会重点布局的一些市场，以及我们后面的出货量的预期是怎么样的，这个可能是第一个小问题。第二个是关于游戏这边，因为我们看到，今年包括像魔域互通版，魔域手游2的表现还是比较强劲的，我们整个魔域IP有一个比较强的生命力，所以也想请教一下领导关于我们，魔域IP这边明年的相关的游戏的一些上线的节奏，以及我们会对哪一款游的一个，魔域IP的游戏会有比较大的一个收入的预期。谢谢各位领导。
OK, Lin Chen, 我先回答那个教育，然后你可以讲这个，因为教育就会比较简单一点。第一，我们一定把那个AI也放进我们的panel，就，是不是把ASP提高了，就看我们这个整个的product strategy，其实最重要不是提高那个ASP，最重要是我们要create作为一个SaaS的那个recurring revenue subscription model，所以，我们不是看要不要提高那个ASP，但是有AI了，我们觉得可以帮忙，把市场，就是我们market share加大，这个一定可以。然后，我们的measurement，就是是不是成功，是我们的SaaS revenue的那个build up，就不是看那个ASP。Okay, Lin Chen.
Okay，那首先是这样，就在整个魔域的IP产品线的，布局上来说，我们可能在，今年会...
还有一个就我提到的，会重点做我们整个IP内容的一个布局，就是在今年下半年，我们会用我们的，IP的白皮书跟全新的这个更加完整的世界观呢会推出。那从整个战略上讲，一个，在我们看来叫内容向，在内容向的持续投入跟布局。第二个是叫产品线，那我们其实有在前面pipeline上看到，我们在，明年跟后年都有持续的端游跟手游的推出。那这个，在，在未来的这个预期上讲，因为整体的魔域的这个基数是，是比较大的，那我们更加期望它是一个，稳健的增长，比如说在未来的的一两年有20%或者30%的这种稳健增长，因为它整个的盘子的基数已经很大了。那再说对哪一款产品是，有预期的部分的话呢，我认为像这个重置版跟魔域新PC，它已经是业界验证过的，不光是魔域IP，可能说像剑侠的IP，或者说，完美的这些IP，它通过重置版跟新的迭代的一个新品，都能至少保证整体的IP产品线的收入有，10%-20%的稳健的增长。那在这个部分，我们是希望说魔域是我们的基本盘，它能够通过新产品跟内容布局，会稳健的每年的10-20的一个增长，那我们可能会有一些新的游戏，它可能会有爆款的可能性，那我们对它，是一个相对一个产品线的补充。整体上是这样，谢谢。
谢谢林总，还有 Simon. Due to time constraint, we would like to end the 2023 interim result presentation from NetDragon Websoft Holdings. 由于时间限制，我们现在，将会结束今天的 presentation。然后 once again, I would like to thank you all for joining us. If you would like to further communicate with the management, please contact NetDragon's investor relations team for meeting arrangements. Thank you and have a nice day!
感谢各位投资者今天的参与，希望大家多多关注公司。如您想要进一步与管理层交流，或者想要了解更多的信息，请于会后与网龙投资者关系部联系。谢谢大家，再见。