CDC Invests In Auran, Fury

CDC Games has invested $3-million in Auran. This Chinese company claims to have pioneered the "free-to-play, pay-for-merchandise" model and their presence on the Auran board may well tip the hand of how Fury plans to monetize their product.

A fun note, the release also mentions "Battlestar Galactica Online Games". Note the plural. Auran has already announced an Xbox 360 title based on that IP for Xbox Live, but they are using the plural there. One has to wonder.

CDC Games Invests in Leading Online Games Developer in Australia

CDC Games to Invest in Auran, Largest Online Games Company in Australia and Developer of "Fury" and "Battlestar Galactica" Online Games

Beijing, March 7, 2007 -- CDC Games, a business unit of CDC Corporation (NASDAQ: CHINA) and pioneer of the "free-to-play, pay-for-merchandise" model for online games in China, announced today it has signed a definitive agreement to invest in Auran, a leading developer of online games in Australia.

This is CDC Games' latest investment as part of its previously announced establishment of CDC Games Studio, a wholly owned subsidiary of CDC Games that will have up to $100 million in investment funding. CDC Games Studio invests in strategic games development partners to accelerate the development of new and original online games for the China market along with supporting emerging games developers with the resources they need to rapidly develop innovative products for distribution in China and targeted global regions. CDC Games Studio also supports emerging game developers which may already have operations in China or are seeking to relocate or expand into China.

CDC Games will invest about (U.S.) $3 million in Auran, and in exchange for providing Auran with strategic advice, CDC Games also will obtain certain rights to receive a percentage of revenues received from Fury. With this investment, John Lee, president of CDC Games, will serve on Auran's board of directors. Auran, one of Australia's most experienced developers of highly successful online games, plans to launch Fury, an innovative game that blends MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) and FPS (first person shooter) genres, later this year.

"Our investment in Auran will provide us with innovative and highly popular online games, such as Fury, for our China market that will fuel our continued strong growth," said John Lee, president of CDC Games. "We are confident that this will be a highly successful partnership based on Auran's extensive expertise and proven track record in developing widely popular and innovative online games for the global marketplace."

"We are excited to have one of the most successful online games companies in China investing in Auran," said Graham Edelsten, co-founder of Auran. "With CDC Games' investment and their breadth of operations and expertise in China, the world's largest online games market, we expect to see significant success for Fury and our other games in the global marketplace."

This investment in Auran is the latest in a series of steps taken by CDC Games to deepen its games portfolio, strengthen its move into games development and expand its distribution channels and geographic reach on a global scale. Recently, CDC Games announced an agreement to form a joint venture with Abandon Mobile to distribute Freaky Creatures, the first mobile community-based game of its kind to combine user created content, strategy, simulation and popular trading card game elements, with true cross-platform gaming connectivity between mobile handsets and personal computers. CDC Games also recently announced its investment in Possibility Space, a developer of free-to-play online games. In late 2006, CDC Games announced its investment in Gorilla Banana, an online games developer from Korea.

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