Perfect World Co., Ltd. ( zh, 完美世界股份有限公司) is a Chinese

mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit informati ...

company based in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

. It was founded in 2004 by

Chi Yufeng Michael Chi or Chi Yufeng (Chinese: 池宇峰; pinyin: Chí Yǔ Fēng; born in September 15, 1971) is a Chinese Internet entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of the Perfect World Investment & Holding Group, a China-based entertainment indu ...

. The company consists of two business segments: Perfect World Games, a

video game publisher A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ...

, and

Perfect World Pictures Perfect World Pictures (PWPIC) is a Chinese and American entertainment company. Founded in 2008, it engages in the production, distribution and marketing of film and television content, content related advertising, merchandising business, talent m ...

, a film

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...

. Perfect World is the exclusive distributor of

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...

'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 ...

'' and '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' in China.

History

Perfect World was founded in 2004 by

. A 1994 graduate of

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbr. THU) is a national public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. The university is a member of the C9 League, Double First Class University Plan, Projec ...

, 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 Developer may refer to: Computers *Software developer, a person or organization who develop programs/applications * Video game developer, a person or business involved in video game development, the process of designing and creating games * Web de ...

and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

online multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

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

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 Exch ...

, 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 A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

founded by Chi on 14 August 2013, owns a

controlling interest A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds less than the major ...

in Perfect World. Perfect World bought the developer

Cryptic Studios Cryptic Studios is an American video game developer specializing in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. It is headquartered in Los Gatos, California and was a wholly owned Perfect World subsidiary, and is now owned by Embracer Gro ...

from

Atari, SA Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. It is the current owner of the Atari brand through Atari Interactive. B ...

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

Embracer Group Embracer Group AB (formerly Nordic Games Licensing AB and THQ Nordic AB) is a Swedish video game and media holding company based in Karlstad. The company was established under the name Nordic Games Licensing in 2011 as part of Nordic Games Grou ...

. Both Studios are under

Gearbox Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), diff ...

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 Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. Gabriel Hacker was appointed as Perfect World Europe's

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

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 Runic Games was a Seattle-based American computer game company formed by Travis Baldree (creator of '' Fate''), Max Schaefer and Erich Schaefer (co-founders of Blizzard North, creators of '' Diablo''), Peter Hu, and the Flagship Studios Seattle ...

was a developer founded in 2008 and based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

. 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 In the video game industry, games as a service (GaaS) represents providing video games or game content on a continuing revenue model, similar to software as a service. Games as a service are ways to monetize video games either after their initi ...

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 vaporizatio ...

service for the Chinese market.

Games developed

* '' Perfect World'' – January 2006 ** ''

Perfect World II ''Perfect World'' (, commonly abbreviated as PW and W2), is a 3D adventure and fantasy MMORPG with traditional Chinese settings. Players can take on various roles depending on choice of race and choice of class within that race. Perfect World In ...

'' – 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 ''Ether Saga Odyssey'' (commonly abbreviated as ESO), was a free-to-play Massively multiplayer online role-playing game, MMORPG developed by Perfect World (company), Perfect World. The International version was released worldwide in an English-la ...

'' – October 2008 * ''

Battle of the Immortals ''Battle of the Immortals'' was a free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) by Perfect World Entertainment. Beta began on April 14, 2010, and is open to all users with a Perfect World account. On April 30, 2010, the ...

'' – April 2009 * '' Ether Saga Odyssey'' – July 2009 * '' Fantasy Zhu Xian'' – October 2009 * ''

Dragon Excalibur A dragon is a reptile, reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages hav ...

'' – October 2010 * ''

Forsaken World Forsaken World (, commonly abbreviated as FW), is a 3D adventure and fantasy MMORPG with traditional Chinese settings, developed by Perfect World Entertainment's Beijing studio. Players can take on various roles depending on choice of race and c ...

'' – October 2010 * '' Empire of the Immortals'' – Q4 2010 * ''

War of the Immortals War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

'' – December 2012 * ''

Swordsman Online ''Swordsman'' was a free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) by Perfect World Entertainment. Closed Beta began on , and was open to all users with a Closed Beta key. On , the closed beta ended and the open beta began o ...

'' – 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 (operating system), Android. It was first released in China by Perfect World in December 2016, with releases in other ...

'' – 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