Chinese gaming giant Netease Games streamed its NetEase Connect 2023 event on YouTube at the weekend to highlight its new, upcoming titles. A total of 19 games were shown off with a big focus placed on Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, overall giving players a lot to look forward to in the coming months.

Game on

Harry Potter: Magic Awakened is a card collection MMORPG where players will create their own characters and attend Hogwarts classes. Battles take place with use of collected cards, and the game is full of familiar locations to fans of the franchise, such as the Black Lake, Forbidden Forest and Quidditch Pitch.

A mobile strategy game is also coming in the form of The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War. This title will involve players building armies to battle each other. As with Harry Potter, environments in The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War are based on the source material’s Middle-Earth. Classic characters like Gandalf and Legolas were also shown off.

During the event, a mobile version of martial arts game Justice was also given time to shine, showing off a range of snowy landscapes and lush forests. Releasing on 30 June 2023 in mainland China, the game will "retain most of the systems, functions and mechanisms of the PC version".

Other games shown off included Ace Racer, Eggy Party and Infinite Lagrange. There was also a tease for Vikingard’s next crossover with the Vikings TV show, featuring both new and returning characters such as Ragnar, Bjorn and Lagertha.

"NetEase Connect 2023 was exceptional and highlighted our passion for delivering outstanding gaming experiences to players worldwide," said NetEase Games head of overseas publishing Matt Liu.

"With 19 titles in the English Live Event, and 20 titles in the Japanese Live Event, across multiple genres, we aimed to cater to a diverse gaming community and were delighted to witness such an enthusiastic response."

Back in March, NetEase's Ace Racer officially surpassed one million downloads, achieving this in just five days.