Perfect World Q4 revenues jump thanks to Dota 2 soft launch
Perfect World Entertainment noticed an increase in revenues and PC gamers during the fourth quarter of its financial year, which it attributed to to the early stages of introducing Dota 2 to mainland China.
The publisher announced quarterly revenues of $151 million, an increase on the third quarter's $133.6 million but a year-on-year decrease from $110.7 million.
This resulted in an operating profit of $1.6 million, a significant quarter-on-quarter decrease from $18.7 million and down year-on-year from $4.5 million.
For FY2013 as a whole, revenues were $504.3 million, down from $451 million in FY 2012. Operating profits were $55.8 million, down year-on-year from $92.1 million.
Online game revenues increased, with strong performances from Return of the Condor Heroes and Zhu Xian, as well as Dota 2. Thanks to the soft launch of Dota 2 in mainland China, the aggregate total of PC players in mainland China rose to 803,000, up from 778,000 in the previous quarter and 620,000 in the same quarter in FY2012.
Licensing revenues decreased, and Perfect World noted Torchlight 2 sales had dropped, as there were no promotions this year.
"Our revenues rose by 11% sequentially, which came in above the high end of our expectations," CEO Robert Xiao said.
"As part of our consistent practice to invigorate our existing games, we released a number of expansion packs and content updates during the quarter. We have also been working on a more comprehensive and well-rounded pipeline with a line-up of attractive client-based games across a wide range of genres, such as the highly-anticipated Dota 2 and our 3D MMORPG Legend of the Condor Heroes, as well as a number of web and mobile games.
"Dota 2 is currently at the initial stage of commercialization and we expect to have a large-scale full launch in China soon. Neverwinter, another world-class title that has already generated wide excitement among gamers in the US and Europe, is gearing up for launch in China later this year."