NetDragon's Revenue, Profits Up For Sixth Straight Quarter

Chinese online/mobile game developer and operator NetDragon Websoft announced its sixth straight quarter of revenue and profit growth, with its latest quarter buoyed by expansion pack releases and in-game events. For its third quarter ending September 30th, NetDragon reports its revenue jumping to RMB 202.7 million ($31.8 million), a 10 percent increase over the previous quarter and a 58.1 percent boost over the same three-month period in 2010. The company's net profit rose to RMB 49.8 million ($7.8 million), a 16 percent quarter-over-quarter increase and a 1619.8 percent year-over-year lift. NetDragon attributes the uptrend to a "continuous increases in the number of paid players," which it says was made possible by in-game events and expansion packs for titles like Eudemons Online, Conquer Online, and Heroes of Might and Magic Online. Despite that claim, the operator's total peak concurrent users for its online games has dropped by 11.5 percent quarter-over-quarter to 569,000, while average concurrent users has also fallen 3.5 percent quarter-over-quarter to 300,000. Looking forward, NetDragon expect that local launches for titles like Dragon Keeper Online and Transformers Online, as well as additional updates for existing titles, will fuel further growth in its online games business. On China's exploding mobile market, the firm says revenues increased for its mobile internet advertising business, as well as its internally and externally developed mobile titles. The number of its mobile app users has seen "dynamic growth," too. "We have invested in companies with growth potential and synergistic value, so as to lay a sound foundation for the long-term success of our mobile business," says NetDragon chairman and executive director Liu Dejian. "Going forward, we will continue to expand the depth and width of our mobile platforms and establish close partnerships with other leading developers in the industry as part of the move to enrich the content of the mobile platforms, provide more outstanding services and enhance the overall experience for both developers and users." The company recently expanded its portfolio with its first Facebook title, Conquer Online.