(Yicai) Aug. 10 -- Chinese game publisher Zhejiang Century Huatong Group has acquired the exclusive copyright to parts two and three of the hugely popular South Korean gaming series Legend of Mir on the mainland for the next five years for KRW500 billion (USD380 million).

The copyright to the multiplayer game which is set in an ancient oriental world includes not only the right to operate it on the mainland, but also to develop derivative works and to adapt them to TV series and movies, Century Huatong said yesterday. 

The deal was signed between Century Huatong, its South Korean unit Actoz Soft which is also a co-developer of Legend of Mir 2, and the other developer of the series WeMade Entertainment.

The Legend of Mir 2 was introduced into China in 2001 by another subsidiary of Century Huatong, Shanqu Games, formerly known as Shanda Games, and was one of the first online games to become a sensation in the country.

However since then, many pirated versions of the Legend of Mir 2 have surfaced. Shanqu Games bought a controlling stake in Seoul-based Actoz Soft in 2004 and developed a derivative game of its own. This led to a copyright dispute between Seongnam-based WeMade Entertainment and Actoz Soft that has now been resolved.

The fact that Actoz Soft was a signatory on the deal means that it is able to use the rights to the Legend of Mir series independently and this will boost the games’ development on the mainland, Century Huatong said.

Actoz Soft logged net profit of CNY22.4 million (USD3.1 million) in the first quarter on revenue of CNY95.4 million (USD13.2 million), it said.

In 2019, Century Huatong took over Shanqu Games for CNY29.8 billion (USD4.1 billion), thus completing its transformation from a manufacturer of auto parts to a game developer.

In the first quarter, Century Huatong’s net profit more than doubled year on year to CNY433 million (USD60.1 million), but revenue tumbled 14 percent to CNY3 billion (USD417.6 million), according to its latest earnings report.

Editor: Kim Taylor