Shanda Games Q1 revenue hits $221M

Shanda Games sees net revenue jump in first quarter of 2012 compared to the same period last year as its diversifies its revenue stream, says company.

In a statement Monday, the Chinese online game developer said its net revenues increased 10.9 percent year-on-year to 1.39 billion yuan (US$221 million) for the first quarter, ended Mar. 31, 2012.

Shanda said its average number of monthly active users in China for the quarter dropped to 19.1 million from 20.4 million in the last quarter of 2011. The average monthly paying users in China also decreased from 4.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 4.3 million.

Despite the decrease in the number of active users and paying users, the monthly average revenue per paying user for games in China grew to 99.9 yuan (US$15.8), from 92.8 yuan (US$14.7) in the last quarter of 2011.

Alan Tan, chairman and CEO of Shanda Games, said in the release: "Despite the negative seasonal effects related to the New Year and Chinese New Year holidays, we were further able to diversify our revenue streams through selected investment in our game portfolio."

Shanda's gross profit for the first quarter grew 13.8 percent to 899.8 million yuan (US$143.0 million), compared to the same quarter last year. Operating income grew 18.6 percent year-on-year to reach 492.9 million (US$78.3 million), it added.

The games company is expanding beyond China. According to Tan, the company launched "Dragon Nest" in Thailand and will release the game in Russia and Indonesia in the third quarter. Shanda will also be launching "Legend of Immortals" in Vietnam later this year, he said.

"Looking forward, we believe investing in our strong game portfolio, platform and operations will provide us with new opportunities as we generate value for our shareholders over the long term and create a wealth of game experiences for our users around the world," said Tan.