Shanda, netease and the9 account for 60% of china’s online gaming market

[THIS POST ORIGINALLY APPEARED ON ADRIAN CROOK’S FREETOPLAY.BIZ SITE.]

Motley Fool has a good wrap up of Shanda’s just released Q2 numbers. I’ve included a couple quotes from the article below.

Further to my previous article on the potential acquisition costs of the Asian F2P leaders, Shanda seems already unaffordable for all but the most well-heeled Western suitors.

Revenue soared 39% to hit $74.1 million in the second quarter. Earnings, before a one-time gain related to the company’s sale of its stake in SINA (Nasdaq: SINA), soared 78% to $0.42 per American depositary share (ADS).

Wall Street was expecting the company to earn just $0.36 per ADS on $72.4 million in revenue. The pros have been perpetually humbled by Shanda. This is now the fifth consecutive quarter in which the company lapped the market’s profit targets by at least $0.06 per ADS.

And most interestingly:

Yes, China’s online gaming market is getting crowded, but just three players — NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES), The9 (Nasdaq: NCTY), and Shanda — account for roughly 60% of the market. [ED: EMPHASIS MINE]