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Shanda enters theme park venture
(eastday.com)
Updated: 2004-04-11 11:03
Shanda Networking Co Ltd, China's largest online game company by revenue and
subscriber numbers, said on April 9 it teamed up with a private
tourist investment firm to build a game theme park in Hangzhou, which is due to
open on May 1.
The Shanghai-based company said the move into the game theme park business, a
first for an online game company to venture into, is a step to divest itself
from the online game sector. An analyst attributed this step to a decline in
Shanda's revenue growth.
"Shanda's revenue increase rate dropped this year due to intense competition
in the domestic online market," said Yin Yijian, an online game analyst at
IResearch Inc, a local Internet consulting firm. "So it's natural for it to
diversify its business, both online and offline."
Tang Jun, Shanda's president, said: "The theme park is a good choice for
Chinese online game firms to expand their business scope. On the other hand,
it's a new business product for tourist companies."
"Our target is to become the Chinese equivalent of Disney," Tang added.
Hangzhou-based Songcheng Group, which used to be real estate developer, said
it has invested millions of yuan in the park in cooperation with Shanda.
For the theme park, whose area size is not revealed, Songcheng has
constructed several buildings and areas including weaponsmiths, drugstores,
grocery shops and battlefields, that appear in Shanda's game "the World of
Legend." Songcheng will employ people to play the characters in the game as
warriors and princesses.
Qiu Xiaojun, Songcheng's vice president, expects the park to lure about
200,000 people during the holiday, paying 60 yuan (US$7.23) entrance fee per
person.
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