Perfect World scents success

For many companies, the global financial crisis poses more challenges than opportunities.

But for others like NASDAQ-listed online game vendor Perfect World, the economic woes are turning out to be a boon. More and more people are turning to online games to seek temporary escape from the depressing reality of crashing stock markets, evaporating asset values and surging unemployment.

In its latest posting, the Chinese game developer said its net profit for the third quarter of 2008 jumped 78 percent from a year ago to $29 million, on sales of $56.2 million, up nearly 100 percent. Perfect World's high profit margin is typical to all online game developers, industry experts said.