Kingsoft, Alchemy team up

KINGSOFT Corp Ltd has agreed to establish an online game joint venture with Alchemy Studio, an online game R&D. Originated in and with R&D located in Zhuhai, the Beijing-headquartered Kingsoft is a pioneer of online games in China. With an investment of 10 million yuan ($1.43 million), Kingsoft will hold a 40 per cent share in the venture.
The joint venture will help Kingsoft spread its wings in online game categories and strengthen its leading position in the domestic industry, Board Chairman and Acting CEO Qiu Bojun said.
Online games earned Kingsoft 71 per cent of its revenue with each player paying 37 yuan per month in 2007, increases of 84 and 106 per cent respectively over previous year, according to a yearly report.
With top-notch R&D engineers, Alchemy Studio has independently developed Alchemy engine, a 3D game engine, and popular online games such as Tianlong Babu and Eudemons Online.
There is much potential to develop the market through. Sales revenue of domestic online games hit 12.8 billion yuan ($1.83 billion) in 2007, a year-on-year rise of 67 per cent. It is expected to grow by 20 per cent annually to 40 billion yuan ($5.71 billion) in 2011, according to an iResearch report.
Twenty-four provincial large SOEs under the Guangdong Provincial State-Owned Assets Supervision & Administration Commission have signed 5 million yuan ($714,000) in agreements with Kingsoft for the purchase of the company’s WPS Office 2007 software.