@deftangel, Errata : Article is dated November 03, 2005, not Jan 21, 2009.
Well, from the article : “We are obligated to pay royalties equal to 22% of the face value of WoW prepaid cards and online points sold by us by making recoupable advances against royalty payments in an aggregate amount of approximately US$51.3 million over a four−year period commencing from the commercial launch. We paid VUG an initial non−refundable license fee of US$3.0 million in 2004 and the first year minimum royalty guarantee of US$13.0 million in 2005."
13 Million US$ is royalty, guaranteed. Since royalty is 22% of cards, that mean at least 58.5 Million US$ revenue for The9. There are 5.5 Million WoW China players in 2008, which means probably 2 - 3 Million China players in 2005 (year of China launch). Let's use 2 Million x $10 (monthly fee, just an estimate from me, not researched properly) x 5 months (launch is June 7, and it reached 1.5 Million players in < 1 month) = US$ 10 Million revenue. I believe that means that : possiblities A. remaining 48.5 Million US$ come from game sales. or possibilities B. China player pay a higher monthly fee, to compensate for zero or minimum cost game sales.
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Errata : Article is dated November 03, 2005, not Jan 21, 2009.
Well, from the article :
“We are obligated to pay royalties equal to 22% of the face value of WoW prepaid cards and online points sold by us by making recoupable advances against royalty payments in an aggregate amount of approximately US$51.3 million over a four−year period commencing from the commercial launch. We paid VUG an initial non−refundable license fee of US$3.0 million in 2004 and the first year minimum royalty guarantee of US$13.0 million in 2005."
13 Million US$ is royalty, guaranteed. Since royalty is 22% of cards, that mean at least 58.5 Million US$ revenue for The9. There are 5.5 Million WoW China players in 2008, which means probably 2 - 3 Million China players in 2005 (year of China launch).
Let's use 2 Million x $10 (monthly fee, just an estimate from me, not researched properly) x 5 months (launch is June 7, and it reached 1.5 Million players in < 1 month) = US$ 10 Million revenue. I believe that means that :
possiblities A. remaining 48.5 Million US$ come from game sales.
or
possibilities B. China player pay a higher monthly fee, to compensate for zero or minimum cost game sales.