In big three-letters-and-a-number company news today, Shanghai-based The9 Limited has announced their investment of 20 million dollars in Red 5 Studios, giving them a majority stake in the MMO start-up.
From the press release:
Mr. Jun Zhu, The9′s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Red 5 is a creator of innovative entertainment software, designing games that focus on ease of play and fun. With the acquisition, The9′s global strategy is beginning to take shape. It will further enhance our game development capability and diversify our game portfolio and pipeline. I believe our collaboration will create new and exciting entertainment content for people around the World.”
Mark Kern, the Chief Executive Officer of Red 5, said, “We are very excited to welcome The9 as our key investor and to announce that they are making a commitment to us with the equity infusion. The investment recognizes the hard work of the Red 5 team and the strong potential of the game we are working on, as well as our ability, in the future, to become a multi-game studio. By leveraging The9′s outstanding expertise in the operation of online games, we will have a great advantage in bringing our games to millions of online gamers around the World. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with The9.”
The9 was formerly the license holder for World of Warcraft in China, which when released there in June of 2005 promptly became the most successful online game of all time, and went on to spawn great commercials, like this one.
But, what Blizzard giveth, Blizzard can also take away, and the license was transferred last year to a competing publisher, NetEase, under contentious circumstances.
Red 5, a studio still in stealth mode, was founded by former Blizzard developers and executives, including a number of key members of the original World of Warcraft design and production teams.
With that in mind, is this announcement today all just a coincidence? I doubt it.
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