SHANGHAI, Oct. 23 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Giant Interactive Group Inc. (NYSE: GA) ("Giant" or "the Company"), a leading Chinese online game developer and operator, today announced that it signed an agreement with Astrum Nival, LLC ("Astrum Nival"), an online game operator and publisher in Russia, to grant a license to Astrum Nival to operate ZT Online, Giant's flagship 2D massively multiplayer online role playing game ("MMORPG"), in the Russian Federation and other Russian speaking territories.
ZT Online is Giant Interactive's first internally-developed 2D free-to-play MMORPG. Since its commercial launch, ZT Online has reached peak concurrent user (PCU) levels over 2.1 million and was voted the most popular game in China in 2006 according to International Data Corporation. As a free-to-play game, revenues are derived from in-game purchases of virtual items and services. ZT Online is currently operated in Mainland China by the Company and in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore via a license to Lager Network. Additionally, Giant has also granted a license to VinaGame Software Service Joint Stock Company, or VinaGame, to operate ZT Online in Vietnam.
Mr. Yuzhu Shi, Giant's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are pleased to announce our new partnership with Astrum Nival, Russia's leader in the online game space. This agreement paves the way to introducing ZT Online into a new market and furthers our vision to become the leading online game provider in Asia. Our flagship game has already enjoyed success in international markets such as Vietnam, and we believe ZT Online's unique content set and gameplay features will be well-received by the growing number of online gamers in Russian speaking territories."
Mr. Dmitry Devishev, Astrum Nival's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We welcome the opportunity to add an online game as renowned as ZT Online into our product offering. I am confident that Giant's reputation for developing innovative and exciting games, coupled with Astrum Nival's expertise in the Russian online game market, will prove a successful combination. In order to maximize the success of this game in Russia, we will work closely with Giant's R&D talents to tailor ZT Online to the preferences of our gamers."
About Astrum Nival
Astrum Nival is the leading developer and operator of free to play client-based online games in the Russian Federation and the CIS. Astrum Nival develops rich online worlds full of epic adventures, challenges and fun for international audiences. Allods Online, the epic MMORPG continuation of the globally acclaimed Allods series (known internationally as Rage of Mages), developed by Astrum Nival has been recently launched in Russia and CIS. Astrum Nival is the exclusive operator in Russia and CIS of ZT Online, Perfect World, Granado Espada, and Pirate King Online (branded locally as Piratia(TM)). Founded in 2006, Astrum Nival is headquartered in Moscow, with development studios in Moscow and Voronezh, Russian Federation. Additional information is available at http://www.astrumnival.com .
About Giant
Giant is a leading online game developer and operator in China in terms of market share according to iResearch Consulting Group, an independent Chinese research center, and focuses on massively multiplayer online role playing games. Currently, Giant operates multiple games, including ZT Online and Giant Online. Giant has eight additional online games that it intends to launch, including ZT Online Green Edition, King of Kings III, ZT Online II, Dragon Soul, The Golden Land, My Sweetie, XT Online, 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 June 30, 2009 consisted of over 290 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 anticipated benefits of launch of ZT Online in Russian speaking territories. 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 uncertainties with respect to the PRC legal and regulatory environments and volatility in the markets we operate in, failure by ZT Online gamers to resume in-game spending or continue in-game spending at historical levels due to changes in our game features or otherwise, our ability to develop, purchase or license additional online games that are attractive to our players in accordance with our scheduled release dates or at all, our ability to develop and successfully launch expansion packs for our online games, our ability to adjust and enhance our online games to users' preferences to generate revenues, our dependence on one online game, which currently accounts for the majority of our historical net revenues, our ability to respond to competition, our ability to adjust to the current global economic crisis, 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. 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 8 of our annual report for fiscal year 2008. 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:
Michael Henson, Director
Taylor Rafferty
Tel: +1-212-889-4350
