NetDragon Websoft
Chinese gaming company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
| 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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||||||
| |||||||
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:
- A partnership with the University of North Texas to launch the UNT-NetDragon Digital Research Centre.[10]
- Edmodo was acquired by NetDragon on April 8, 2018.[11]
- On July 3, 2017, NetDragon announced that it had acquired American educational software publisher JumpStart Games.[12]
- NetDragon also acquired a 100 percent stake in the UK-listed Promethean World back in 2015.[13]
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]
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