NET profit at China's leading online game operator NetEase rose 12.2 percent to 1.01 billion yuan (US$162 million) in the fourth quarter but the firm saw a drop in online advertising income.
Its overall revenue in the three months ended on December 31 rose 8.3 percent from a year ago to 2.3 billion yuan, the firm said in a statement yesterday. NetEase saw its income from ad sales falling 6 percent in the fourth quarter to 260 million yuan.
In the three-month period, online game revenue grew 9 percent from a year earlier to 2 billion yuan.
"We'll continue to invest in the mobile Internet sector this year to upgrade technology and in new products and will also seek opportunities in the mobile games sector," Chief Eexecutive William Ding told a conference call yesterday.
China's online game market this year is set to expand 23 percent from that of 2012 to 68.5 billion yuan, according to a recent report by research company Analysys International.