Posted by: Ana Swanson on Nov 19 2009

Internet and online game service provider NetEase (Nasdaq:NTES) booked net profit of $57.7 for the third quarter of 2009, or diluted earnings of $0.44 per American depositary share, compared to $45.9 in the year-ago period and $68.6 in the second quarter of 2009...

Posted by: Sophia Fu on Nov 16 2009

Shenzhen-based download software provider Xunlei released an updated online game ranking based on client-end downloads from Xunlei's site gougou.com on November 16. The top ten online games by the end of the week were:

Dungeon and Fighter (Operator, Developer: Tencent (700.HK), Neople)
QQ Dancer (Tencent, Horizon 3D)
Legend of Mir 2 (Shanda (Nasdaq:SNDA), Wemade)
QQ Speed (Tencent)
World of Warcraft (NetEase (Nasdaq:NTES); Blizzard Entertainment)
Maple Story (Shanda, Wizet)
Tian Long Ba Bu (Changyou (Nasdaq:CYOU))
Fantasy Westward Journey (NetEase)
The World of Legend (Shanda)
Audition (Nineyou, T3 Entertainment)

Posted by: Cherry Zhang on Nov 03 2009

NetEase (Nasdaq:NTES) responded to a notice published by the General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) to the effect that it has halted its review of NetEase's licensed 3D MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW) and demanding the company suspend commercial operations of the game by announcing that neither it nor its WoW operations subsidiary Shanghai EaseNet has been officially notified of GAPP's decision...

Posted by: Cherry Zhang on Nov 02 2009

China's General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) issued a notice saying that it has halted its review of NetEase's (Nasdaq:NTES) licensed 3D MMORPG World of Warcraft (The Burning Crusade) and returned the company's application to operate the game in China, according to the China Press and Publishing Journal...

Posted by: Cherry Zhang on Oct 27 2009

A Ministry of Culture (MoC) official said Tuesday that it is still reviewing NetEase's (Nasdaq:NTES) application for "Wrath of the Lich King" (WLK), the second expansion of NetEase's licensed 3D MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW), though he would not confirm a release date for the expansion, Sina reported October 27...

Posted by: Cherry Zhang on Oct 26 2009

An unnamed Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) official has disclosed that the second expansion of NetEase's (Nasdaq:NTES) licensed 3D MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW), "Wrath of the Lich King" (WLK), may be released as early as mid-November this year, uuu9.com reports...

Posted by: Ana Swanson on Oct 22 2009

A class action lawsuit has been filed against online game company The9 (Nasdaq:NCTY) accusing the company of violating the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by making inaccurately positive statements about company finances between November 15, 2006 and July 15, 2009...

Posted by: Melody Jiang on Oct 12 2009

NetEase's (Nasdaq:NTES) licensed 3D MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW) has begun offering downloads of a 3.2.2 patch, reports 17173.com citing an October 10 company announcement. The patch will not affect the game's current version, said the announcement.

Reports on September 25 citing a source from the Ministry of Culture said that NetEase had submitted its application for the "Wrath of the Lich King" (WLK), WoW's second expansion, to the MoC for approval...

Posted by: Jessica Jin on Sep 29 2009

Online games do not count as 'publications' and thus are the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture alone, while games distributed in hard copy form -- for example CD-based client-end data -- fall under the jurisdiction of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), according to a notice on the Ministry of Culture's (MoC) website posted September 28...

Posted by: Cherry Zhang on Sep 25 2009

NetEase (Nasdaq:NTES) has submitted its application for "Wrath of the Lich King" (WLK), the second expansion of its licensed 3D MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW), to the Ministry of Culture (MoC), Duowan.com reported September 25 citing an MoC source...

Posted by: Sophia Fu on Sep 22 2009

Li Riqianq, the project chief for NetEase's (Nasdaq:NTES) licensed 3D MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW), said Tuesday that the game's resumption of commercial operations complies with government directives, but refused to answer other questions, Sina reports...

Posted by: Sophia Fu on Sep 21 2009

NetEase (Nasdaq:NTES) resumed official operation of its licensed 3D MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW) in mainland China on September 19, the company announced the same day. All domestic gamers were able to begin adding money to their accounts and registering for new WoW and "Battle.net" multiplayer platform accounts on the same day, said the announcement...

Posted by: Jessica Jin on Sep 08 2009

NetEase (Nasdaq:NTES) plans to offer free play to existing gamers of its licensed 3D MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW) between September 6 and September 14, after completing WoW closed beta on September 5, the company said...

Posted by: Tom Telford on Aug 28 2009

Chinese online game operator The9 Limited (Nasdaq:NCTY) booked a net loss of RMB 46.8 million ($6.9 million) in the first quarter of 2009, compared with a net income of RMB 75.6 million ($11.1 million) in the year-prior period, while the company's losses deepened 69% in the second quarter of 2009 to RMB 79.2 million ($11.6 million).

The9 reported total net revenues of RMB 426.2 million ($62.4 million) in the first quarter of 2009, up 4% sequentially and down 3% annually, while the second quarter brought a 32% drop quarter-on-quarter and a 37% year-on-year plunge in revenues to RMB 287.9 million ($42.2 million)...

Posted by: Sophia Fu on Aug 26 2009

An unnamed insider says NetEase (Nasdaq:NTES) is likely to start charging for its licensed 3D MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW) around the end of August, reports DoNews. NetEase did not confirm the news, said the report...