Not content with meaningless microtransactions and the music business here in the good ol’ U. S. of A., Electronic Arts, it has just been revealed, is now sinking $200 million into the major online Chinese game company The9. EA killer robots to follow?
Electronic Arts is taking a major step to penetrate the Chinese online gaming market by buying a $200 million (19 percent) stake in major Chinese online game operator The9, according to a Reuters report which cited Chinese sources. The local Chinese newspaper Shanghai Securities News said that EA and The9 reached a “basic agreement” regarding the deal.
Big deal, you say? Hmmmm. Look at this:
The9 generated $126.3 million in revenues for fiscal 2006, a 112 percent year-over year increase. Net income was $40 million for the period.
A 2006 report from Pearl Research said that the China games market could top $1 billion by 2009, with 95 percent of those revenues coming from the online segment.
The Chinese are gonna love our microtransactions. Maybe, just maybe, with the extra bank EA will most likely be pulling in, we can get better games. Nah, who am I kidding?
[Via Next-Gen]
