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.
SOURCE NetDragon Websoft Inc.