Changyou.com Snapshot
Changyou.com makes online gaming in China a collective experience. The company's massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Tian Long Ba Bu (based on the book, a martial-arts saga called Novel of Eight Demigods) has almost 2 million users. Changyou.com also licenses the game Blade Online, which has more than 150,000 players. The company is developing three new titles: Duke of Mount Deer, Immortal Faith, and Legend of the Ancient World. Players play for free but pay for virtual items such as gems or skills, most of which cost a few dollars. Changyou.com was founded in 2007 as the MMORPG developer for Chinese Web portal Sohu.com. The company filed an IPO in 2009.