Electronic Arts acquiring a stake in Chinese company The9 Limited

Electronic Arts acquiring a stake in Chinese company The9 Limited

World’s largest video game publisher Electronic Arts has said that they are acquiring about 15 percent of China’s The9 Limited.

They are going to pay about 167 million dollars for this stake to expand their presence in the Chinese market.

The9 is a china based online game operator and they currently hold the exclusive rights to publish US-based Electronic Arts’ popular soccer game FIFA Online in China.

Zhu Jun, chairman and chief executive of The9 added in a statement on this deal: “We are seeing strong interest in online sports games in China with the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics and the FIFA World Cup in 2010.”

The two companies added in their joint statement: “The agreement builds on EA’s strategy of partnering with proven regional operators to bring online games to Asia, and The9’s strategy of expanding its game product offerings in the Chinese market.”