NTES - XY3 status – new expansion pact

My last article on XY3 can be found here:
http://chinese-net-gaming-stock.blogspot.com/2008/08/ntes-xy3-status-and-tx2-movie.html

According to the following article, XY3’s new expansion pact will be out somewhere around October, November time frame
http://xy3.163.com/2008/9/1/4782_191978.html

From the above article, there will be two major parts and multiple smaller parts comprised of the expansion pact. Out of the two major parts, the first part will be out in early to middle October and the second part will be out in November.

The official web site for this expansion pact can be found here:
http://xy3.163.com/2008/bxg/

This will be the first expansion pact since XY3 goes into commercial operation on 9/12/2007.

This is going to be an extremely important expansion pact for XY3. After struggling for the first two quarters, XY3 had started to stabilize. Actually, it had started to grow again. It actually achieved a new PCU of greater than 170k on 8/15/2008.

For the first 6 months of its operation, there is great doubt on the success of XY3. But XY3 caught a second wind and start to behave like it will grow into a major title. I think this expansion pact will confirm whether XY3 has legs.

If XY3 turns out to be a success, I believe it will then be the only paying game that will find success in China in the last two years. It will be extremely significant. It will indicate that there are still markets for new paying games (as opposed to free-to-play games) in China.