Guild Wars China to be operated by The9

How much money does The9 make from running these games? Is it a fixed-fee contract or percent-of-revenues contract? Are there publicly available financial statements for The9?

>>1 "How much money does The9 make from running these games?"

An @$$-load

PLEASE READ: Alan Rose***********

Hi Alan,

Keep these great posts coming! The9 Inc. has really been on a killer roll over the past year. I’ve been a fan of Joystiq.com since my brother introduced the site to me early last year. I’ve found the posts here to be intelligent and timely- and the commentary insightful.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ashton Lee. I currently work as a marketing manager in New York. This fall I will be starting my MBA at Oxford in the U.K focusing on marketing and strategy. Personally, I am interested in the future of the video game industry world wide and would like to incorporate some aspect of the industry into my studies.

A few weeks ago you did a great interview with Hoyt Ma, the senior marketing manager at China’s The9 Inc. I will be traveling in China this summer and in Shanghai in August. Would you be able to forward my request for a meeting with Hoyt or provide me with his email address so that I may ask him for some time to chat? Nothing formal and lunch would be on me of course! I wanted to chat with him particularly on:
1. The9 Inc. guiding principles that have lead them to become the game operating of choice in China- in a very competitive field that is increasingly regulated.
2. Successfully launching and growing western IP in the middle kingdom
3. Challenges of expansion through China/Asia

I could consider this to be an informational student (me) interview however I would love to share the transcript with you and the greater joystiq.com community.

Please let me know if this arrangement works for you. I can be reached at ashtonlee1@yahoo.com. Thanks!

-Ashton

"...although it doesn't specifically state if this includes the Guild Wars sequel, Factions."

You'd think this is the kind of thing NCSoft and The9 would want to clear up right away, given the recent dispute with Blizzard over the Burning Legion:

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/blizzard/ea-blizzard-and-china-162365.php