China's millions flock to World of Warcraft

Company executives said in an earnings announcement that The9 generated $7.3m in net profit and $26.5m in revenues in the first quarter, about 99 per cent of which came from World of Warcraft.

Of the 4.3 million registered player accounts in China, on average 300,000 are playing at any one time, according to The9. During peak hours there are up to 610,000 playing simultaneously.

The9 generates average revenue per user of $0.043, according to chief financial officer Hannah Lee. This is a fall of about three per cent from the previous quarter, a drop that Zhu attributed to technical problems with a database, rather than an actual fall in income.

Launched in China only one year ago, World of Warcraft has generated intense interest, outpacing all other massively multiplayer games in the country. The game's user base now seems to be growing beyond China's main urban centres.

"There is an increase in usage in the second- and third-tier cities," said Lee. "But we don't have the exact percentage of the composition of our revenue. "

Anecdotal accounts suggest another factor driving the increase in players. The game has also become very popular with so-called 'farmers' who play simply to generate items in the game which can be sold to players overseas for real world cash.

One operator of a Chinese farming company, speaking to a foreign researcher earlier this year, estimated the number of such players in popular online games in China at 200,000.

World of Warcraft is a notable income generator for Blizzard's parent company, Vivendi. "Vivendi Games' quarterly earnings from operations were €23m, up 109.1 per cent compared to the prior year," the company announced earlier this month.

"This dramatic improvement was driven by a growth in revenues, with an increased proportion relating to the higher margin of World of Warcraft business."