SHANGHAI, China, Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- Giant Interactive Group Inc. (NYSE: GA) ("Giant" or "the Company"), one of China’s leading online game developers and operators, announced the establishment of Win@Giant, an "Online Game Incubator" program to facilitate and to foster innovative game designs into successful and marketable products.
The Win@Giant incubation program is open to applicants possessing special expertise and innovative talent in any of the areas of game design, project management, programming, art, and other specialties related to online games. The program is flexible and can accommodate individuals, small project teams, and full fledged studios. The incubation program is aimed at encouraging creative and innovative talents to expand their ideas with minimum risk. Win@Giant participants will have access to Giant’s operational expertise and tools, such as Giant’s game engines, payment systems, and back-end systems, along with other resourceful assistance from Giant’s research and development ("R&D") department and sales and marketing channels.
Mr. Yuzhu Shi, Giant’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "I am excited about the formation of Win@Giant as we aim to attract additional creative and innovative talent. By providing full incubation support so the qualified participants can focus on developing their core ideas while reducing the gestation period, we hope these talents will produce additional online game products and genres, broaden our future product pipeline, and diversify our revenue sources. In the long term, the incubation program will benefit both Giant’s R&D efforts and each entrepreneur’s aspirations."
Ms. Wei Liu, Giant’s President, commented, "We will not only focus on the intellectual ideas generated by our own internal R&D teams, but we are also interested to hear from any team or individual with new product ideas and potential. We have established an infrastructure, a system in evaluating the entrepreneurs’ ideas and progress, a sound incubator incentive plan, and a pool of experienced business professionals ready to assist such promising and talented individuals."
About Giant
Giant Interactive Group Inc. (NYSE: GA) is one of China’s leading online game developers and operators in terms of revenues, focusing on massively multiplayer online role playing games. Giant’s first game, ZT Online, was voted the most popular online game in China in 2006 according to the International Data Corporation. The Company’s second game, Giant Online, entered into open beta testing on March 28, 2008. Giant has two additional online games that it intends to launch, including King of Kings III and Empire of Sports. Giant has built a nationwide distribution network to sell the prepaid game cards and game points required to play its games, which as of September 30, 2008 consisted of over 270 distributors, and reached over 116,500 retail outlets, including internet cafes, software stores, supermarkets, bookstores, newspaper stands, and convenience stores located throughout China. For more information, please visit Giant Interactive Group on the web at http://www.ga-me.com .
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this release contain "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements and among others, include the anticipated benefits of the Win@Giant incubation program and our ability to improve R&D for the Company, attract qualified program participants, produce additional online games and diversify revenue sources. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts but instead represent only our belief regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition and other circumstances may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. Among the factors that could cause our actual results to differ from what we currently anticipate may include our ability to successfully implement the Win@Giant incubation program, our ability to develop, purchase or license additional online games that are attractive to our players, our ability to develop and successfully launch expansion packs for our online games, our dependence on one online game, which currently accounts for the majority of our historical net revenues, our ability to respond to competition, our need to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, our limited operating history and unproven long-term potential of our online game business model, our uncertainties with respect to the PRC legal and regulatory environments and volatility in the economic markets we operate in. The financial information contained in this release should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in our annual report on Form 20F for the fiscal year 2007, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 18, 2008, and is available on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. For additional information on these and other important factors that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, see "Risk Factors" beginning on page 7 of our annual report for fiscal year 2007. Our actual results of operations for the third quarter 2008 are not necessarily indicative of our operating results for any future periods. Any projections in this release are based on limited information currently available to us, which is subject to change. Although such projections and the factors influencing them will likely change, we undertake no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release. Such information speaks only as of the date of this release.
For more information, please contact:
Investor Contact:
Rich Chiang, IR Manager
Giant Interactive Group Inc.
Tel: +86-21-6451-1258
Investor Relations (US):
Mahmoud Siddig, Director
Taylor Rafferty
Tel: +1-212-889-4350
Investor Relations (HK):
Ruby Yim, Managing Director
Taylor Rafferty
Tel: +852-3196-3712
Media Contact:
John Dudzinsky, Director
Taylor Rafferty
Tel: +1-212-889-4350
