[GamePea Exclusive, Reproduction Prohibited!] GamePea reports: This month, the highly anticipated anime-style open-world game 'Project: Reborn' (with over 30 million pre-registrations) is about to launch its public beta. Meanwhile, 'Honkai: Star Rail' and 'Wuthering Waves' are preparing for their anniversary celebrations, making the current anime game scene a fierce battleground. However, this is just a glimpse of the intense competition in the anime game sector over the next few years.
With the upcoming releases of 'Arknights: Endfield,' 'Project: Reborn,' and 'Infinity Nikki,' along with potential contenders like 'Blue Star: Travelogue' and 'Return Loop,' plus new games from Kuro Games and Deep Sea Interactive, and miHoYo's own new titles, GamePea has noted that the saturation of the anime game market may reach alarming levels.
In the impending new wave of anime game wars, Yongshi Network, the developer of 'Azur Lane' (co-developed with Manjuu) and 'Aether Gazer,' seems to have faded from the industry spotlight. However, based on job postings on Yongshi Network's official website, this long-silent anime game company is actively preparing its next-generation products.
As anime games stand at a crossroads, Yongshi Network, as the only publicly listed anime game company in China (listed on the New Third Board), has released its detailed 2025 financial report. This not only reveals the company's current state but also reflects the situation of most anime game companies today.
Net Profit Continues to Decline by 25.91%, Yongshi Distributes 15 Million Yuan in Cash Dividends
According to Yongshi Network's 2025 annual performance report (hereinafter referred to as the financial report), the company's 2025 operating revenue was 229 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 8.37%; net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 28.2674 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 25.91%; operating profit was 7.6439 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 70.75%.
Notably, on the same day the annual report was released, Yongshi also published the '2025 Annual Equity Distribution Plan Announcement.' As of December 31, 2025, the parent company's undistributed profit on the consolidated balance sheet was 267,282,794.08 yuan, while the parent company's undistributed profit was 248,424,096.48 yuan.
The company also announced its 2025 annual equity distribution plan: based on the total share capital of 5 million shares, it will distribute a cash dividend of 30 yuan (including tax) for every 10 shares to all shareholders, totaling 15 million yuan in cash dividends, accounting for 53.06% of the net profit attributable to the parent company.
The financial report noted that operating profit decreased by 70.75% year-on-year, primarily due to reduced revenue and increased R&D investment. R&D expenses and management expenses both increased compared to the previous year: total expenses in 2025 were 165 million yuan, up 13.78% year-on-year.
Additionally, operating costs for the period were 8.4732 million yuan, down 30.16% year-on-year, mainly due to reduced revenue and corresponding decreases in server and channel fees. Selling expenses were 30.2176 million yuan, down 30.82% year-on-year, including 12.9635 million yuan in promotion and advertising expenses, also due to reduced revenue.
According to the financial report, Yongshi's main business (game revenue) was 220 million yuan, down 8.56% year-on-year. The report attributed the decline to the extended lifecycle of games, with the self-operated 'Aether Gazer' (China server) experiencing a significant drop, along with reduced operating costs.
From a revenue structure perspective, since Yongshi's financial report does not precisely define the scope and products involved in 'authorized operations,' 'joint operations,' and 'self-operated operations,' based on general game company practices, among Yongshi's two products, 'Azur Lane' is fully distributed by Bilibili, so the authorized operations category likely refers to revenue from 'Azur Lane' (as well as overseas revenue from 'Aether Gazer' before it was handed back to Yongshi).
The financial report shows that authorized operations remain Yongshi's main revenue source, though with some fluctuations: 2025 operating revenue was 142 million yuan, down 2.38% year-on-year. This may be due to Youxing and Bilibili withdrawing from the overseas operation of 'Aether Gazer,' leading to a decline in authorized revenue.
Authorized operations still account for the majority, and combined with Bilibili's annual report data, this further confirms the stability of the 'Azur Lane' IP. Bilibili referred to 'Azur Lane' as an 'evergreen game' in its 2025 mid-year financial report. After the annual report release, Chen Rui revealed that 70% of Bilibili's game revenue comes from long-term operated products like 'Three Kingdoms: Strategy' and 'Azur Lane,' underscoring the stability of 'Azur Lane's' revenue.
Typically, joint operations refer to co-publishing channels. Currently, 'Aether Gazer' only connects to Xiaomi on Android channels, along with the Bilibili server—joint operations likely refer to the Bilibili and Xiaomi servers of 'Aether Gazer.' Self-operated operations refer to the official servers of 'Aether Gazer' domestically and internationally. According to the financial report, Yongshi's joint operations revenue last year was 29.5584 million yuan, down 8.51% year-on-year; self-operated revenue was 48.6966 million yuan, down 22.84% year-on-year.
By region, Yongshi's domestic operating revenue last year was 142 million yuan, down 15.48% year-on-year; overseas revenue was 78.6979 million yuan, up 7.24% year-on-year. This is likely because after self-publishing the overseas server of 'Aether Gazer,' revenue sharing with agents decreased, boosting overseas income.
Now, as domestic anime games enter a phase of deep globalization, especially for long-term operated games, anime game companies are increasingly inclined to establish local teams for overseas publishing rather than seeking professional publishers. For example, Kuro Games' 'Wuthering Waves' and Hypergryph's 'Arknights: Endfield' have already begun global simultaneous self-publishing.
R&D Expenses Account for 70%, Yongshi's Next Game May Not Be Traditional Anime?
After experiencing a halving of net profit in 2024 (down 56.25% year-on-year), Yongshi continued to struggle with declining performance in 2025, largely due to a lack of new product supply.
Currently, Yongshi's launched products are still limited to 'Azur Lane' (co-developed with Manjuu and operated by Bilibili) and 'Aether Gazer' (self-developed and operated, with the overseas server also self-operated since April last year). While 'Aether Gazer' has underperformed in the long term, 'Azur Lane' has maintained stable performance, providing Yongshi with a valuable buffer period.
Additionally, according to the financial report, Yongshi had 551 employees last year, an increase of 21 from the previous year, including 469 technical staff, 55 operations staff, and 27 management staff. By education level, the company had no PhDs, 47 master's degrees, 417 bachelor's degrees, 69 associate degrees, and 18 below associate degree level—the increase in employee numbers reflects higher R&D and management expenses, contributing to the performance decline.
In the long term, continuous investment in R&D for next-generation products is essential. Despite a significant drop in revenue, Yongshi has increased R&D investment for two consecutive years, demonstrating the company's determination.
The financial report shows that Yongshi's R&D expenses last year were 165 million yuan, up 13.78% year-on-year, accounting for 71.89% of total expenses—this underscores that even for mid-sized anime game companies, product development costs are rising steadily. Of course, Yongshi is aware that launching its next-generation product as soon as possible is the key to escaping the performance slump.
This raises the question: what type of project is Yongshi's next product? Last year, job postings on the official website hinted that Yongshi's new product might be an urban, trendy Q-version 3D auto-chess game. By 2026, GamePea found that the recruitment information for Yongshi's new project had changed slightly.
Based on Yongshi's 2026 job requirements, the new project may still be a Unity-developed Q-version 3D auto-chess game, but the overall style positioning may have shifted: 'Style is not Japanese or American cartoon, but realistic rendering, realistic next-gen characters'... The emergence of new keywords suggests that Yongshi wants to break away from the traditional 'anime game' category and explore new directions like next-gen realism and American cartoon styles.
Of course, the specific details of the new project remain to be revealed by Yongshi in the future.
Tags: 'Azur Lane,' Yongshi