Bad News From Chinese Internet Game Firm The9
There was bad news from Chinese online game developer The9 Limited as it announced its unaudited financial results for the quarters ended March 31 and June 30, 2010, respectively.
Net revenues for the first quarter of 2010 increased by 6% quarter-over-quarter but decreased by 95% year-over-year to CNY22.1 million. Net loss for the first quarter of 2010 decreased by 63% quarter-over-quarter but increased by 62% year-over-year to CNY75.8 million.
Likewise, net revenues for the second quarter of 2010 increased by 15% quarter-over-quarter but decreased by 91% year-over-year to CNY25.4 million. Net loss for the second quarter of 2010 decreased by 13% quarter-over-quarter and decreased by 17% year-over-year to CNY65.8 million.
The poor financial results proved that teh company was a one-hit wonder, as the decrease in year-over-year net revenues in both quarters was mainly due to the decrease in revenue from World of Warcraft game, for which the license agreement expired on June 7, 2009.
For the first quarter of 2010, The9 reported total net revenues were CNY22.1 million, which increased by 6% compared to CNY20.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 and decreased by 95% compared to CNY426.2 million in the first quarter of 2009. The quarter-over-quarter increase in revenues was mainly due to the commercialization of World of Fighter in January 2010. The year-over-year decrease was mainly due to the expiration of WoW license in June 2009.
For the second quarter of 2010, The9 reported total net revenues were CNY25.4 million, which increased by 15% compared to CNY22.1 million in the first quarter of 2010 but decreased by 91% compared to CNY287.9 million in the second quarter of 2009. The quarter-over-quarter increase was primarily due to the revenue generated from Kingdom Heroes Online 2 which was commercialized in May 2010. The company again stated the year-over-year decrease was mainly due to the expiration of WoW license in June 2009.
Gross profit for the first quarter of 2010 was CNY1.7 million compared to gross loss of CNY76.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. Gross loss for the second quarter of 2010 was CNY4.6 million compared to gross profit of CNY1.7 million in the first quarter of 2010.