SHANGHAI, China, Nov. 16 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Shanda Interactive
Entertainment Limited (Nasdaq: SNDA), a leading interactive entertainment
media company in China, announced today that it will release a next-generation
expansion pack entitled Evil Inside for World of Legend (Woool) on
December 18, 2006.
The launch of Evil Inside marks the beginning of Woool's upgrading under
the Come-Stay-Pay (CSP) revenue model. This expansion adopt an ideology
stemmed from Eastern philosophy, and is aimed at reflecting how human and
society can be influenced as the development of intelligence. Additional
features coming in Evil Inside include a more interactive and sophisticated
game environment such as new maps, new weapons, and new talents and abilities
for characters, thus it is able to both generate and satisfy user demands for
the game. This expansion is part of the buildup to the launch of Woool II,
which will take place in 2007.
"As the first MMORPG developed in-house by Shanda, the Woool enjoys a high
reputation and draws a large user base in China. After adopting the CSP model
for this game, Shanda has released a series of expansion packs which received
satisfactory results. While the revenues and users of Woool are continuously
growing, Evil Inside will be launched as the most important expansion to
date," said Tianqiao Chen, Chairman and CEO of Shanda. "Based on our rich
operational experience, we believe Evil Inside closely addresses the user
demands under the new revenue model. With this expansion, we're looking
forward to offering users more advanced experience of gameplay. Also, we will
launch a new version--Woool II under the CSP revenue model next year. Going
forward, we are confident about the continued growth of Woool."
The Woool was the first online game developed in-house by Shanda, and was
widely recognized among Chinese players. The game was commercially launched in
September 2003 and then switched to an item base revenue model in late
November, 2005. For more information, please visit http://woool.sdo.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that are based on
current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the
companies and the industry. All statements other than statements of historical
fact in this announcement are forward-looking statements, including but not
limited to the statements regarding launch date and specific features of Evil
Inside, the ability of Evil Inside to generate and satisfy user demand, launch
schedule of Woool II and further growth potential of Woool II. These forward-
looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. Although the
companies believe that their expectations expressed in these forward-looking
statements are reasonable, they cannot assure you that their expectations will
turn out to be correct. Important risks and uncertainties could cause actual
results to be materially different from expectations include but not limited
to the risk that the commercial launch of Evil Inside and/or Woool II may be
delayed or not be launched at all, that Evil Inside and/or Woool II will not
be well received by users in China, that we may be required to modify portions
of Woool and any of its expansion and sequel, or to completely cease operation
of Woool and any of its expansion and sequel if we lose the copyright
infringement and unfair competition lawsuit brought against us by Wemade
Entertainment Co., Ltd. and Actoz Soft Co., Ltd. and the risks set forth in
Shanda's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission, including
Shanda's annual report on Form 20-F.
About Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited
Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited (Nasdaq: SNDA) is a leading
interactive entertainment media company in China. Shanda offers a portfolio of
diversified entertainment content including some of the most popular massively
multi-player and casual online games in China, along with online chess and
board games, network PC games and a variety of cartoons, literature works and
music. Shanda's interactive entertainment platform attracts a large and loyal
user base, of which more and more is coming from homes. Each user can interact
with thousands of others and enjoy the interactive entertainment content that
Shanda provides. Interaction enriches your life. For more information about
Shanda, please visit http://www.snda.com