Online games drive NetEase profits to $514 million
Self-developed titles and Blizzard's Warcraft responsible for growth in 2011
Chinese internet services company NetEase has recorded full-year profits of $513.9 million (RMB 3.2 billion), with sales of $1.2 billion (RMB 7.5 billion).
The majority of sales were from online games, with $1 billion in revenues attributed to self-developed titles Tianxia III and Ghost, Fantasy Westward Journey and Tang Dynasty Online, as well as Blizzard's World of Warcraft.
"Our approach to technology innovation and product diversification to satisfy user demand is the core of our 2012 growth strategy," offered William Ding, CEO of NetEase.
"In the first half of 2012, we plan to enhance our portfolio of popular games with numerous expansion packs, including updates for Heroes of Tang Dynasty, Westward Journey Online II, Warsong of Westward Journey, New Fly For Fun and Legend of Fairy, as well as commence open beta testing for Ghost and Tianxia III. We also have two new self-developed games in process that are scheduled for beta testing in mid-2012."
Total sales for the fourth quarter were $341.4 million (RMB 2.1 billion) with profits of 142.8 million (RMB 898.6 million).