Blizzard's Chinese partner NetEase profits from Hearthstone launch

Blizzard's Chinese partner NetEase has posted financial results for the first quarter of the current fiscal year, reporting a modest rise in both quarterly revenue and profits year-over-year for its online game services business, which includes a variety of original games alongside versions of Blizzard heavyweights like World of Warcraft, Starcraft II and Hearthstone that have been localized for China. For the quarter ended March 31, 2014, NetEase posted revenues of 2.15 billion Chinese yuan (~$346.8 million USD) for its online game services business, up roughly 6 percent year-over-year. The growth was fueled primarily by revenue from Blizzard's digital card game Hearthstone, which NetEase launched in China on PC during the quarter. The company went on to release the iPad version of the game in April, after the close of the first fiscal quarter. Overall, the company posted revenues of 2.52 billion Chinese yuan (~$405.2 million USD),up roughly 12 percent year-over-year, and profits of 1.1 billion Chinese yuan (~$180.8 million USD), roughly the same profit the company reported during the same quarter last year. NetEase plans to continue capitalizing on its partnership with Blizzard, and it has announced plans to launch and operate a version of Blizzard's upcoming MOBA Heroes of the Storm localized for the Chinese market.