NetEase's CC Live to Shut Down on August 31, 2026, With Two-Phase Closure and Credit Conversion

NetEase's CC Live announced that it will officially terminate operations at 15:00 on August 31, 2026. CC Live's predecessor was "NetEase CC Voice", launched in 2009, initially serving team battles and guild voice communication for PC games such as Fantasy Westward Journey. In May 2016, the platform was officially renamed CC Live and transformed into a general entertainment live-streaming platform. In the second half of 2016, as Onmyoji became popular, CC Live's user base grew significantly, with peak registered users exceeding 280 million, monthly active users surpassing 45 million, and contracted streamers over 200,000.

The shutdown of CC Live will proceed in two phases. The first phase starts at 14:00 on June 30, 2026, closing all download channels, permanently stopping recharge services and new user registration, and no longer accepting new streamers or guilds. The second phase begins at 15:00 on August 31, 2026, officially stopping all live-streaming and interactive services, permanently shutting down servers, and taking down the official website cc. 163. com. The official also issued a recharge refund plan: users who have recharged via legal tender to obtain C coupons and gold ingots will have them converted into NetEase points at a ratio of C coupons:gold ingots:points = 100:100:1, stored in the user's NetEase account and usable for other NetEase games.

CC Live had linkage mechanisms with several NetEase games, including Naraka: Bladepoint and Onmyoji. In Naraka: Bladepoint linkage events, players could watch live streams to increase their level and obtain season chests. Onmyoji players could watch CC Live directly within the game, and gifts received by streamers could be converted into "charm points" rewards in the game. After CC Live shuts down, these channels for obtaining linkage rewards will disappear. As of the shutdown announcement, NetEase had not disclosed specific follow-up solutions for the game-player linkages.

The future of CC Live's employees and streamers has not been announced. According to public information, CC Live's team size was once several hundred people, and the platform had undergone multiple rounds of layoffs before the shutdown. Top streamers with exclusive contracts can terminate contracts early upon the platform's closure, and the platform will settle all live-streaming earnings that have been generated, but usually does not pay additional severance compensation.

CC Live's creation was directly related to NetEase's games. After renaming in 2016, it relied on the popularity of Onmyoji and other games to gain user growth. NetEase Games is the group's core revenue source. In the first quarter of 2026, net revenue was 30.6 billion RMB, of which game and related value-added services revenue was 25.7 billion RMB, accounting for more than 80% of total revenue.

Before CC Live's shutdown, the loss of top streamers was severe. The day before the official announcement, the Fantasy Westward Journey top streamer "Lao Wang" was confirmed to have signed with a new company and moved to Douyin. Previously, many streamers who were hugely popular on CC Live had already left or faded out of the game live-streaming circle.

NetEase has been continuously contracting its business in recent years. In 2025, NetEase shut down at least 14 games, including "She Diao", which was in development for six years and cost nearly 1 billion RMB, and which went from open beta to server shutdown in just 606 days. In terms of overseas self-developed studios, at least nine teams, including Worlds Untold in Vancouver, Jar of Sparks in Seattle, and Ouka in Tokyo, were shut down one after another in less than a year. The number of planned new games for 2026 was compressed to four, whereas a few years ago the figure was over a dozen.

Between 2022 and 2025, NetEase's total full-time employees fell from 31,119 to 25,382, a cumulative reduction of more than 5,700 people. In the fourth quarter of 2025, NetEase achieved revenue of 27.5 billion RMB, up 3% year-on-year, and net profit of 6.37 billion RMB, down 29% year-on-year. In the first quarter of 2026, NetEase's performance improved slightly, but the gaming business accounted for more than 80% of revenue. The segment including CC Live – innovation and other businesses – had net revenue of 1.5 billion RMB in the first quarter of 2026, down 4.6% year-on-year.