The worlds of online gaming and movie production are beginning to cross paths in an effort to increase their presence and competitiveness in the Chinese entertainment industry. Companies like Shanda Games Ltd. and Perfect World, two of the largest online gaming companies in China, plan on releasing major motion pictures based on their company’s online games, following the multi-million yuan success of their first productions.
Although there are more than 60 million online gamers in China, the movie industry is another way to reach viewers and to gain an advantage in the increasingly competitive world of online gaming. The cost of developing, popularizing and operating an online game is very high, considering there are nearly 500 online gaming companies in the market. Companies are increasingly looking to other means of marketing their games. For example, Shanda Interactive has delved into games, literature, music, movies, online videos as well as the tourism industry by setting up joint ventures and making new acquisitions.
Yet the online gaming companies are not the only ones being creative. China Film Group Corporation, the country’s largest film maker, intends to form a new company to transform the plots of its movies into online games via cooperation with game developers. This may prove more difficult, however, considering to competitiveness of the online gaming market.
Edward Lehman, Senior attorney at Lehman, Lee, and Xu Law Firm, stated, “As a top-3 law firm in China, we have enormous experience dealing with antimonopoly, antitrust, mergers, acquisitions, entertainment, and intellectual property law-to name a few. The entertainment industry is only getting larger in China, and our firm has the resources and knowledge to suit the demand for quality legal expertise.”
Lehman, Lee & Xu is one of the first five private law firms established in the People’s Republic of China. After nearly twenty years of practice and development, Lehman, Lee & Xu now has more than two hundred patent, trademark and PRC-licensed attorneys working in numerous branch offices located in the most-developed cities in China. As one of the leading IP firms in China, Lehman, Lee & Xu provides high quality legal service to its clients and has been consistently rated among the top five IP law firms in China. Lehman, Lee & Xu is also a top-three commercial law firm, and has provided a variety of commercial legal services to hundreds of clients, many of them multinational corporations (MNCs) and Fortune 100 companies. The firm’s diverse catalog of commercial services covers foreign direct investment (FDI), merger and acquisition (M&A), tax, employment and many other areas.
For more information about Lehman, Lee & Xu, please visit the firm’s website at www.lehmanlaw.com .