New Company to Provide Chinese-Market Games on Mobage
China
HONG KONG and TOKYO, Jan. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- NetDragon
Websoft Inc., a leading online game developer and mobile internet
platform operator in China, and DeNA Co., Ltd., Japan's leading
social gaming platform operator, have announced today that
NetDragon and DeNA will establish a joint venture to develop and
operate mobile social games for the Chinese market. The new company
is scheduled to be formally established in the first quarter of
2012, with paid-in capital of 6 million U.S. dollars and an initial
staff of approximately 30.
The joint venture company will localize non-Chinese social games,
including a roster of DeNA Group's popular in-house and third party
titles, for the growing smartphone market in China. The new company
will then operate the localized games provided on Mobage China, the
social mobile gaming platform operated by DeNA Group in china. The
games will be available via NetDragon's app distribution platforms,
which are widely used by smartphone users in China.
The joint venture will allow DeNA to leverage NetDragon Group's
capability in developing and operating Chinese games, its proven
business management experience in China, as well as NetDragon's
highly popular mobile app store. NetDragon will benefit from DeNA's
extensive expertise in mobile social games.
NetDragon will also enrich its smartphone marketplace with games
from Japan and the U.S.
NetDragon and DeNA announced their initial strategic cooperation in
April 2011, and Mobage China app has since been provided on
NetDragon's store. NetDragon's smartphone marketplace is
particularly popular, with more than 40 million users.
Long-term, the joint venture also plans to develop original
in-house titles, including massively multiplayer online
role-playing games (MMORPG), for Mobage users around the
world.
About NetDragon
NetDragon Websoft Inc. is a leading innovator and creative force in
China's online gaming and mobile internet industries. Established
in 1999, we are a vertically integrated developer & operator of
MMORPGs and a cutting-edge R&D powerhouse. We launched our
first self-made online game Monster & Me in 2002, followed by
multiple titles including Eudemons Online, Conquer Online, Heroes
of Might & Magic Online and Disney Fantasy Online. We are also
China's pioneer in overseas expansion, directly operating titles in
overseas markets since 2004 in English, Spanish, Arabic and other
languages. Our online games currently in development include
Dungeon Keeper Online, TRANSFORMERS Online, Absolute Force, icombo,
and a new version of Ultima Online. In the mobile Internet
industry, we provide China's leading marketplace for smartphone
users, offering applications and content for the most popular
mobile operating systems. NetDragon owns many well-known mobile
Internet products, including 91 Panda Reader, 91 PC Suite, 91 Panda
Space, sj.91.com and hiapk.com.
About DeNA
DeNA Co., Ltd. is a world-leading online service company, and
operates Mobage social gaming platform, social networking services
and e-commerce websites. Drawing on its extensive community base
and rapidly expanding developer line-ups, Mobage currently serves
over 35 million users in Japan with more than 1,800 game titles for
smartphones, feature phones as well as PCs. The company generated
annual sales of more than 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in fiscal year
ended March 2011. To expand the Mobage platform globally, DeNA is
building a presence in the US, Europe, China and South Korea. DeNA
is listed on the Tokyo stock exchange (2432). For more information,
visit www.dena.jp/intl.
SOURCE﹛NetDragon Websoft Inc.