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

mass media Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises b ...

company based in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. It was founded in 2004 by Chi Yufeng. 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 entertainment company. Founded in 2008, it engages in the production, distribution and marketing of film and television content, content related advertising, merchandising business, and talent managemen ...

, a film

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

. 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 Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...

's games ''

Dota 2 ''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve Corporation, Valve. The game is a sequel to ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created Mod (video gaming), mod for Blizzard Entertainment's ''War ...

'' and ''

Counter-Strike 2 ''Counter-Strike 2'' is a 2023 free-to-play Tactical shooter, tactical first-person shooter video game, game developed and published by Valve Corporation, Valve. It is the fifth entry in the ''Counter-Strike'' series, developed as an updated v ...

'' in China.

History

Perfect World was founded in 2004 by Chi Yufeng. A 1994 graduate of

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

, 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 Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

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) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

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, 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 Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

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 maj ...

in Perfect World. Perfect World bought the developer

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

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. In December 2021, Perfect World sold Perfect World Entertainment and

to Embracer Group. In June 2024, Perfect World reportedly laid off over 1,000 employees.

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 ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. 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. The subsidiary formerly owned Perfect World Entertainment, the publishing arm of the company which was sold to Embracer Group in 2021.

Hotta Studio

Developer of Tower of Fantasy and Neverness to Everness.

Runic Games

Runic Games was a developer founded in 2008 and based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. 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 water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

service for the Chinese market. On 13 November 2023, it was announced that Perfect World would be hosting the second Valve-sponsored ''Counter-Strike 2'' Major Championship in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, China, with the event scheduled for 30 November 2024.

Games developed

* '' Perfect World'' – January 2006 * ''Perfect New World'' * '' Legend of Martial Arts'' – September 2006 * '' Jade Dynasty'' May 2007 - 2018 * '' Chi Bi'' – January 2008 * '' Hot Dance Party'' – March 2008 * '' Ether Saga Odyssey'' – 2008 - 2016 * '' Battle of the Immortals'' – April 2009 * '' Fantasy Zhu Xian'' – October 2009 * '' Dragon Excalibur'' – October 2010 * '' Forsaken World'' – October 2010 - 2022 * '' Swordsman Online'' – July 2014 - 2018 * '' Final Fantasy Awakening'' – 2017 * '' Tower of Fantasy'' – August 2022 * '' Persona 5: The Phantom X'' - 2024 * '' One-Punch Man: World'' - 2024 * '' Neverness to Everness'' - TBD

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