Netease

Netease headlines

• World of Warcraft Netease deal extended

  Netease has signed up for another three years of delivering World of Warcraft to China.

• NetEase profits and revenue rise on Chinese WoW

  World of Warcraft’s Chinese operator, NetEase, has posted a 39.8% increase in year-over-year revenue, noting a profit rise of 41.3% to $128.2 million and revenues of $308.3 million. The upswing for the quarter ending September 30 is despite the decline in subscription numbers for the Blizzard MMO, which were down 800,000 to 10.3 million for […]

• NetEase posts major growth, blames World of Warcraft

  Chinese World of Warcraft provider NetEase has reported significant increases in sales and profit since taking over from The9.

• StarCraft II submitted for review in China

  According to a GP report, StarCraft II has been submitted for review for China by NetEase, operator of World of Warcraft in the country.

• Wrath of the Lich King hits China on August 31

  Blizzard and local operator NetEase have beaten the Chinese bureaucracy machine to finally peg a release date on WoW expansion Wrath of the Lich King.

• Chinese WoW boss resigns from post

  World of Warcraft’s Chinese boss has resigned his post.

• New account registration for WoW in China suspended

  NetEase has suspended registration of new accounts for World of Warcraft in China.

• Decision on Chinese WoW to be made soon

  It seems that a decision of World of Warcraft’s short-term future in China is about to be sorted. A JLM Pacific Epoch report (via GP), has claimed that the country’s GAPP and Ministry of Culture has prepared sanctions for Chinese WoW operator, NetEase.

• Shanghai: Q3 revenue drops 94% for The9 after losing WoW

  Shanghai-based MMO operator, The9, has reported that Q3 sales dropped 94 percent after loosing World of Warcraft to NetEase in China. However, the company remains optimistic, as revenues for Soul of the Ultimate Nation, Jiu Zhou Zhan Ji, Granado Espada, and FIFA Online 2 increased 55 percent compared to the previous quarter, while attracting 3.4 […]

• China orders World of Warcraft operator NetEase to shut game down

  The General Administration of Press and Publication in China, a regulatory authority, has ordered NetEase to cease operating World of Warcraft in the area due to the new version of the game lacking in approval. According to Reuters, the hammer has come down due to an apparent “governmental turf war” between the agency (GAPP) and […]

• WoW goes back online in China

  WoW’s now fully up and running in China again after over two months downtime, as you can see here. Local operator NetEase has also confirmed that the Chinese language version of Wrath of the Lich King is complete and is about to be submitted to the Chinese government for approval. There more on Gama about […]

• Weekly MMO news round-up: Trouble Edition

  It’s Saturday again, and time for your dose of MMO news. This one has been branded the “trouble” edition, because certain MMOS were either in trouble, or getting out of it this week. First off, Stargate Worlds is rumored to be in massive trouble, Age of Conan isn’t in as much any more, and China […]

• Chinese WoW down since June 7, no date for game to come back online

  The Chinese version of World of Warcraft is still offline, according to this Yahoo! report, having been taken off the air on June 7 when Blizzard’s contract with The9 expired. As the piece notes, new operator NetEase wasn’t ready to have the game up and running at the time, and clearly still isn’t. No one […]

• Why did Blizzard switch to NetEase in China? For $90 million a year, says Pachter

  Blizzard didn’t specifically say this morning why it’s dropped The9 in favour of NetEase to run its Chinese WoW operation, but Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter’s claimed the answer’s simple: it’s going to make a mother-trucking boatload more money from the new deal. “The company had previously contracted with The9, but the current arrangement will […]

• Confirmed: Blizzard partners with NetEase for China opps

  Blizzard just confirmed it’s gone with NetEase for its Chinese licensing, as has been rumoured for the last few days. The9 was the previous holder of the contract. NetEase will now run the Chinese version of World of Warcraft “for a term of 3 years following the expiration of the current license agreement,” according to […]

• NetEase posts Q2 net profit of $63.9m

  Chinese developer and MMO handler NetEase has posted a net profit of $63.9 million compared with $45.6 million for the previous year, reports Edge. Total revenues for Q2 08 were $104.4m compared with 2007s $81.3m. Company boss William Ding was in an understandably buoyant mood: “We experienced a strong second quarter due to solid execution […]

• Chinese company rumoured for "Starcraft Online" license

  According to this, Chinese MMO operator Netease’s first foreign license may be “Starcraft Online, developed by US-based Blizzard”. The report goes on, “Netease CEO Ding Lei didn’t confirm the market saying, adding that the company is observing many online games and has not signed any formal license contract.” Nothing, obviously, has been confirmed regarding a […]