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.
