SEHK: 777 | |
Genre | massively multiplayer online games [1] |
Founded | May 1999 [1] |
Headquarters | , China |
Number of employees | 3300 (in 2014) [3] |
Subsidiaries | JumpStart Games |
Website | http://ir.netdragon.com/ |
NetDragon Websoft | |||||||
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Simplified Chinese | 福建网龙计算机网络信息技术有限公司 | ||||||
Literal meaning | NetDragon (Fujian) Computer Network Information Technology Co Ltd | ||||||
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NetDragon Websoft is a Chinese company that develops and operates massively multiplayer online games in addition to making mobile applications. [1] The company debuted its first product in 2002. [1]
Some self-developed games it operates in China are based on Western IP,such as properties of Disney,Electronic Arts,and Ubisoft. [4] Other games based on its own IP are distributed in CIS nations,the Middle East,North Africa,Portugal,Russia,and Vietnam,etc. [5] Some games are also available in English.
Prior to selling this side of the business to Baidu,the company created a mobile phone app store stocked with self-created games and applications.[ citation needed ] NetDragon had differentiated itself by eschewing selling apps through the distribution channels of others,instead creating its own; [6] in essence making consumers download a separate app to download their apps,allowing them exposure to other Netdragon offerings in the process.[ citation needed ]
The company headquarters,completed in 2014,garnered media attention for being inspired by Star Trek. [7]
NetDragon Websoft started getting involved in education [8] in 2010 with the aims to develop "the largest learning community globally." [9]
NetDragon has made several acquisitions regarding education and community,amongst which are included:
NetDragon sold its app store,91 Wireless,to Baidu in 2013 for $1.85 billion. At that time,the sale was hailed as the biggest deal ever in China's IT sector. [14] As the company controlled less than 58% of 91 Wireless,Netdragon took an estimated $1.06 billion from the sale. [15]
The mobile applications available through this store,many of which are "91" branded,[ citation needed ] are quite disparate and include more than mobile games – running the gamut from fortune telling to wealth management. [16]
The company sponsors the Fujian NetDragon Youth Business Foundation,which helps entrepreneurial youth to start a small business. [17]
China has been on the Internet intermittently since May 1989 and on a permanent basis since 20 April 1994,although with heavily filtered access. In 2008,China became the country with the largest population on the Internet and,as of 2023,has remained so. As of July 2023,1.05 billion use internet in China.
JumpStart Games,Inc.,formerly Knowledge Adventure,Inc.,was an American edutainment video game company based in Torrance,California. Founded in 1991,it was acquired by Chinese holding company NetDragon Websoft in 2017.
Baidu,Inc. is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services,products,and artificial intelligence (AI),headquartered in Beijing's Haidian District. It is one of the largest AI and Internet companies in the world. The holding company of the group is incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Baidu was incorporated in January 2000 by Robin Li and Eric Xu. Baidu has origins in RankDex,an earlier search engine developed by Robin Li in 1996,before he founded Baidu in 2000.
NetEase,Inc. is a Chinese Internet technology company providing online services centered on content,community,communications,and commerce. The company was founded in 1997 by Ding Lei. NetEase develops and operates online PC and mobile games,advertising services,email services,and e-commerce platforms in China. It is one of the largest Internet and video game companies in the world. NetEase has an on-demand music-streaming service. The company also owns several pig farms.
Shanda Group is a privately-owned multinational investment firm. With offices in Shanghai,Singapore,Hong Kong,New York and Redwood City,the firm invests in public markets,real estate and venture capital,focusing on companies in the fields of healthcare,financial services,media,and technology. The company was established in December 1999 as Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited,an online gaming company known for publishing and operating games such as The World of Legend and Magical Land. By 2004 Shanda was the largest online game company in China,and its listing on the NASDAQ that year under ticker SNDA was the largest IPO for a Chinese internet company in the United States. Shanda Interactive later diversified and its gaming unit spun off in 2009,raising $1.04 billion in an IPO (GAME). Shanda Group was taken private in 2012 by its founders,and by 2017 it had $8 billion in net assets under management.
Disney Mobile is an American division of Disney Consumer Products,which is in itself a division of The Walt Disney Company,that designs mobile apps,content and services.
The Naver Corporation is a South Korean internet conglomerate headquartered in Seongnam that operates the search engine Naver. Naver established itself as an early pioneer in the use of user-generated content through the creation of the online Q&A platform Knowledge iN. Naver also manages the video messenger SNOW,and group communication service BAND.
Playphone is a mobile gaming platform founded in 2003 headquartered in San Jose,California that provides direct-to-consumer mobile content distribution. It is funded by Menlo Ventures,Cardinal Venture Capital,and Coral Capital Management,and is a subsidiary of GungHo Online Entertainment.
Disney Interactive is an American video game and internet company that oversees various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company.
Promethean World Ltd is a global education technologies company that makes digital whiteboards and other products. Founded in 1997,it was acquired in 2015 by NetDragon Websoft,a Chinese video game company. The company has headquarters in Seattle and offices in Atlanta and Blackburn,England.
Disney Fantasy Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Netdragon marketed in China.
DeNA Co.,Ltd. is a Japanese provider of mobile portal and e-commerce websites headquartered in Shibuya,Tokyo. It owns the Mobage platform,which is one of the most popular cell phone platforms in Japan. It also operates many other services,including a popular e-commerce website DeNA Shopping.
Bushiroad Inc. is a Japanese entertainment company,producer of collectible card games and trading cards,publisher of mobile apps and games,promotional items and many other venues,which was founded in 2007 by Takaaki Kidani and is headquartered in Tokyo. Bushiroad created and owns various media franchises such as Tantei Opera Milky Holmes. Since 2019,Bushiroad is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and has traded on the TSE since its launch on July 24,2019.
Kongzhong Corp is a Chinese company that provides value-added services including video games via the Internet and various mobile networks. These include or included mobile web content,such as mobile message boards,WAP websites,and electronic books;ring tones;ringback tones;mobile games;and Internet games.
Link Motion Inc,formerly NetQin and NQ Mobile,is a multinational technology company that develops,licenses,supports and sells software and services that focus on the smart ride business. Link Motion sells carputers for car businesses,consumer ride sharing services,as well as legacy mobile security,productivity and other related applications. Link Motion maintains dual headquarters in Dallas,Texas,United States and Beijing,China. A Court Receiver,lawyer Robert Seiden,was appointed over Link Motion in February 2019 in the United States in the federal district court in the Southern District of New York by Judge Victor Marrero. The Receiver removed Wenyong “Vincent”Shi as chairman and chief executive officer,and replaced him by appointing Mr. Lilin “Francis”Guo.
Scopely,Inc is an American interactive entertainment company and mobile-first video game developer and publisher. The company is headquartered in Culver City,California,with offices across the US,EMEA and Asia.
Dungeon Keeper is a series of strategy video games released by Electronic Arts. Two games were developed by Bullfrog Productions for the PC in the late 1990s,and a third was in development but was cancelled before release. A Chinese MMO was in development from 2008–2013 and achieved open beta release,but was cancelled before full launch. A free-to-play game for Android and iOS was developed by Mythic Entertainment and released in 2013.
Nintendo,a Japanese home and handheld video game console manufacturer and game developer,has traditionally focused on games that utilize unique elements of its consoles. However,the growth of the mobile gaming market in the early 2010s led to several successive fiscal quarters where they were running at a loss. Nintendo,led by president Satoru Iwata at the time,developed a strategy for entering into the mobile games market with development partner DeNA,as a means of introducing their franchise properties to mobile players with a goal of bringing them to buy Nintendo's consoles later. Since 2015,Nintendo has internally developed a number of mobile games,while also publishing games with other developers,including games outside of the initial DeNA partnership. Several of them have been entered the top-downloaded games list on the iOS App Store and Google Play stores,earning over US$100 million in revenue in total.
Krafton Inc. is a South Korean video game holding company based in Bundang-gu,Seongnam. It was created in November 2018 to serve as the parent company for Bluehole,founded by Chang-Byung-gyu in Seoul in March 2007,and its subsidiaries. The company has produced or owns the rights to several notable video game titles including TERA,PUBG:Battlegrounds,New State Mobile, and Moonbreaker. According to Forbes,Chang has a net worth of $2.9 billion and is one of the seven gaming billionaires in South Korea.
The popularisation of mobile games began as early as 1997 with the introduction of Snake preloaded on Nokia feature phones,demonstrating the practicality of games on these devices. Several mobile device manufacturers included preloaded games in the wake of Snake's success. In 1999,the introduction of the i-mode service in Japan allowed a wide variety of more advanced mobile games to be downloaded onto smartphones,though the service was largely limited to Japan. By the early 2000s,the technical specifications of Western handsets had also matured to the point where downloadable applications could be supported,but mainstream adoption continued to be hampered by market fragmentation between different devices,operating environments,and distributors.