Perfect World Co., Ltd. ( zh, 完美世界股份有限公司) is a Chinese
mass media company based in
Beijing. It was founded in 2004 by
Chi Yufeng. The company consists of two business segments: Perfect World Games, a
video game publisher, and
Perfect World Pictures, a film
production company.
Perfect World is the exclusive distributor of
Valve's games ''
Dota 2
''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.'' ''Dota 2' ...
'' and ''
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' in China.
History
Perfect World was founded in 2004 by
Chi Yufeng.
A 1994 graduate of
Tsinghua University, Chi had founded Beijing Hongen Education and Technology in 1996, which sold educational software to teach Chinese consumers how to use personal computers and learn English. He established Perfect World, then also known as Perfect World Games, as a
developer and
publisher of
online multiplayer video games. The company became listed on the
Nasdaq
The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...
stock exchange in 2007. In 2008, Chi founded the film
production company Perfect World Pictures. After Perfect World Games was delisted from Nasdaq in 2015, it was merged with Perfect World Pictures, which was traded on the
Shenzhen Stock Exchange
The Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE; ) is a stock exchange based in the city of Shenzhen, in the People's Republic of China. It is one of three stock exchanges operating independently in Mainland China, the others being the Beijing Stock Excha ...
, in 2016. The combined company was renamed Perfect World.
Perfect World Investment & Holding Group ( zh, 完美世界控股集团有限公司), a
holding company founded by Chi on 14 August 2013, owns a
controlling interest in Perfect World.
Perfect World bought the developer
Cryptic Studios from
Atari, SA in May 2011 for . The transaction was completed by August that year.
Perfect World Entertainment was Perfect World's North American video game subsidiary. It was established in June 2008.
Perfect World sold Perfect World Entertainment and
Cryptic Studios to
Embracer Group. Both Studios are under
Gearbox as of 2021.
Subsidiaries
Perfect World Europe
Perfect World Europe B.V. is Perfect World's European video game subsidiary. It was established in early 2010 in
Amsterdam. Gabriel Hacker was appointed as Perfect World Europe's
general manager in May 2012. In early 2020, a large portion of the company's staff was laid off, leaving only the finance, customer support, and localisation departments.
Runic Games
Runic Games was a developer founded in 2008 and based in
Seattle. Perfect World acquired a controlling interest in the studio in May 2010 for . On 3 November 2017, Perfect World shut down Runic Games, citing the publisher's focus on
games as a service.
Collaborations with Valve
On 25 February 2016, Perfect World hosted ''Dota 2''s
Shanghai Major. While the tournament itself was well received in regards to the player performances, the event garnered criticism due to delays on stream, spotty broadcasts, and various other problems within the tournament, including the theft and deterioration of the competing teams' equipment. In the month that followed the event, the president of Perfect World, Yunfan Zhang, apologised for the issues with the event.
In June 2018, Perfect World and Valve announced that they were developing a version of Valve's
Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
service for the Chinese market.
Games developed
* ''
Perfect World'' – January 2006
** ''
Perfect World II'' – November 2006 was later rebranded ''Perfect World International and has had 16 expansions from 2008-2021
* ''
Legend of Martial Arts'' – September 2006
* ''
Jade Dynasty'' – 3D MMORPG - May 2007
* ''
Chi Bi'' – January 2008
* ''
Hot Dance Party'' – March 2008
* ''
Pocketpet Journey West'' – October 2008
* ''
Battle of the Immortals'' – April 2009
* ''
Ether Saga Odyssey'' – July 2009
* ''
Fantasy Zhu Xian
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama. ...
'' – October 2009
* ''
Dragon Excalibur'' – October 2010
* ''
Forsaken World'' – October 2010
* ''
Empire of the Immortals'' – Q4 2010
* ''
War of the Immortals'' – December 2012
* ''
Swordsman Online'' – July 2014
* ''
Final Fantasy Type-0 Online
''Final Fantasy Awakening'' was an action role-playing game developed by Perfect World Games and Square Enix for iOS and Android. It was first released in China by Perfect World in December 2016, with releases in other languages including Englis ...
'' – 2017
* ''
Tower of Fantasy
''Tower of Fantasy'' () is a free-to-play open world action role-playing game developed by Hotta Studio, a subsidiary of Perfect World. The game is set in the far future on the extraterrestrial planet "Aida", contaminated with a mysterious b ...
'' – August 2022
References
External links
*
{{Perfect World (company)
2007 initial public offerings
Chinese brands
Chinese companies established in 2004
Companies based in Zhejiang
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq
Companies formerly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
Software companies based in Beijing
Video game companies established in 2004
Video game companies of China
Video game development companies
Video game publishers