Shanda Interactive Entertainment

Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. (Chinese: 盛大互动娱乐有限公司) is a Chinese operator of online games and book publisher that is based in Shanghai. Established in December 1999 by Chen Tianqiao and Chen Danian, it claimed to have 460 million registered accounts and an average of 1.2 million players at any given time in 2005. Its 2004 listing on the US-based NASDAQ stock exchange raised $151.8 million USD.

Shanda's published and operated games include AION, MapleStory, The World of Legend, The Age, Magical Land, Ragnarok Online, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Crazy Arcade, and GetAmped.

History
In 2001 September, Shanda published its first game, The Legend of Mir 2 (Licensed from a Korean company, WeMade Soft).

In 2005 July, Shanda took over service for the Chinese version of Ragnarok Online (cRO) after the original publisher Softworld Beijing shut it down. Shanda later announced on 2011 November 1 that it would be closing down all RO service as of 2011 December 30. At the time of closing, cRO was updated to Episode 13.3 with Brasilis and Bayalan 6F. Player data was not going to be preserved for a future Chinese service or transfer to an existing service. On 2012 March 30, GRAVITY signed a contract with Kunlun Games to reopen cRO and began services on 2013 February 28.

In November 2005, Shanda announced that its multiplayer online role-playing games Magical Land and The World of Legend will forever be free to play. It was later revealed that once Shanda's games adopted this model, average customer spending increased from 30 Chinese yuan to 55 Chinese yuan per quarter. Following Shanda's example, other Chinese online game operators began to follow suit, declaring many of their titles free to play, popularizing this model in China.

In February 2005, Shanda announced a purchase of about 20% of the portal website SINA.com, targeting digital media markets. However, Shanda did not gain control over the board of trustees. On February 8, 2007, Shanda sold 4 million shares of Sina for $129 million, after Shanda transformed into a digital entertainment portal.

At the end of the fourth Quarter of 2010, Shanda Interactive Entertainment recorded operating revenues of CNY 1.5383 billion or USD 232.3 million, climbing 11% from a quarter earlier and 2% from a year ago.

Shanda Literature
In July 2008, Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited announced the establishment of Shanda Literature Limited. Former Sina Executive Editor Xiaoqiang Hou (Chinese:侯小强) became the CEO of this business unit. Shanda Literature owns three literature websites: Qidian, Hongxiu, and Jinjiang, capturing 80% of the market share in Chinese entertainment literature.

Towards the end of 2009, Shanda Literature announced its intention to sue Chinese Search Engine Baidu.com for not excluding online pirated literature works in its search results. By providing links to pirated sites, Shanda Literature claims that Baidu.com violates its rights and reduces its profits. Meanwhile, Shanda heavily promotes controversial writer Guo Jingming and signed on plagiarist vivibear as one of its new novelists despite of protest from readers.

Legend of Mir 2 copyright dispute
In 2003, a dispute over profit sharing caused the relationship to fracture between Shanda and Korean game-developer WeMade Entertainment. No longer able to operate The Legend of Mir 2 (Chinese: 热血传奇), Shanda developed a game called The World of Legend (Chinese:传奇世界), which began operation in June 2003. Shanda transferred all user data from The Legend of Mir 2 into the new game, promising its customers that their character, points, armors and weapons will remain the same. WeMade Entertainment deemed The World of Legend to be a copy of Mir 2 and sued Shanda for copyright infringement in October 2003. After a prolonged legal battle, the two companies reached a settlement on April 26, 2009.

Products

 * Bomb and Bubble
 * Company of Heroes Online, MMO real-time strategy computer game
 * Chinese Heroes, online video game
 * Dragon Ball Online
 * Dragon Nest
 * Dungeons & Dragons Online
 * GetAmped
 * Magical Land
 * MapleStory
 * Ragnarok Online
 * Shanda Rich Man
 * Super Star, First Online Karaoke Game
 * The Age
 * The Legend of Mir 2 (Licensed from a Korean company, WeMade Soft).
 * The Sign
 * The World of Legend
 * Three Kingdoms
 * Borderlands Online

Hardware

 * Ez Station, game console
 * Ez MINI, handheld game console

Subsidiaries
Aurora Technology is a subsidiary of Shanda. It publishes the MMORPG King of the World.