Perfect World has released its financial report for the first half of 2026. The Chinese company had a mixed reporting period. For one thing, it fell back into the red, with total revenue down by more than a quarter. On the other hand, the global launch of “Neverness to Everness” has generated more than 2 billion yuan (approximately US$297 million) in revenue.
However, the report is interesting not only in its financial metrics. It provides insights into how Perfect World’s strategy in international markets may change following the launch of NTE. The company continues to talk about global expansion and self-publishing games abroad, but has yet to reveal a specific list of games it plans to release internationally. There is no news about the MMORPGs “Zhu Xian World” and “Zhu Xian 2”, for which the international version had high hopes.
As of now, Perfect World has not announced the cancellation of its plans to launch a global version of its major MMORPG. However, combined financial results, NTE’s hefty distribution costs, and a slate of new games in development suggest the company may become more selective when it comes to moving projects outside of China.
Perfect World suffered losses in the first half of the year
In the first six months of 2026, Perfect World’s revenue was 2.751 billion yuan (approximately US$408.6 million), an annual decrease of 25.47%. The net loss attributable to the company’s shareholders reached RMB 118.4 million (approximately US$17.6 million). In comparison, in the first half of 2025, Perfect World achieved a net profit of RMB 503.2 million (approximately US$70 million based on the exchange rate on August 15, 2025).
The company’s main source of revenue remains gaming. In the first half of this year, the game business generated 2.639 billion yuan (approximately US$392 million), accounting for 95.93% of total revenue. At the same time, its various indicators only fell by 9.19%.
But things looked worse in the TV direction: its revenue plummeted 86.56% to 103.1 million yuan (about 15.3 million U.S. dollars). The company attributed this to a lower number of new games released during the reporting period.
Meanwhile, Perfect World continues to cut some costs. For example, administrative expenses decreased by 7.19%, and research and development expenses decreased by 19.8%. In particular, the company linked reductions in R&D costs with reductions in personnel costs.
However, the savings were not enough to offset the sharp increase in marketing costs, which increased by 213.05% compared with last year. In the first half of the year, Perfect World spent a total of 1.032 billion yuan (approximately US$153.3 million) on advertising and promotions. The company cited the global release of Neverness to Everness as the main reason.
Neverness to Everness has nearly $300 million in revenue, but it’s too early to talk about success
“Neverness to Everness” has become Perfect World’s largest project in recent years and the first severe test of the company’s new global strategy. As of June 30, the game’s cumulative global revenue has exceeded 1.4 billion yuan (approximately US$207 million). More than 60% of this comes from Perfect World’s own global channels, including official PC clients and Android versions.
As of August 18, this figure has exceeded 2 billion yuan (approximately US$297 million). The company also stated that “Neverness to Everness” has repeatedly ranked among the top five App Store game revenue in major markets, and has repeatedly ranked as the No. 1 best-selling PlayStation game in Japan.
However, Neverness’ contribution to the company’s financial performance will become more evident starting in the third quarter. Therefore, despite high revenue in the first few months after launch, the first results do not yet allow us to clearly assess the success of the project.
Of particular importance to Perfect World is the fact that the company is independently responsible for the game’s global distribution in most countries and regions. NTE became one of the first major projects that Perfect World decided not to limit itself to domestic market development and transfer of foreign copyrights to third-party publishers, but to independently build a global publishing infrastructure.
Zhu Xian is still an important series, but the future looks uncertain
Perfect World discussed the Zhu Xian series separately in its financial report, calling it “one of our key long-term game assets.” The original MMORPG Jade Dynasty is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The mobile game “Zhu Xian” has been around for ten years, and “Zhu Xian: New Fantasy” has been around for five years.
However, in terms of further development and future launch, Perfect World has only revealed the specific date of “Dream New Zhu Xian: Light Enjoyment”, which will begin open beta testing in China on September 3, 2026.
There is no concrete news yet on the global release fate of “Zhu Xian World” and “Zhu Xian 2”. As part of its financial report, the company made no mention of timelines for international testing, localization, overseas infrastructure or expansion outside China.
The most obvious example is the situation of the Taiwan version of “Zhu Xian World”, whose official website has not been updated since January 2026. Meanwhile, the game’s Steam page created for China a year and a half ago is still not online, and is still promised a release in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The fate of the global version of “Jade Reign 2” also remains a big question. In particular, the versions in Singapore and Malaysia were removed from Google Play. Let us remember that in July 2026, the game began public testing in these two countries, which according to rumors should be the first step towards a global release.
In addition, we noticed that according to recent rumors, at the end of August, the company announced that it would freeze the global expansion plans of some projects, including “Zhu Xian World” and “Zhu Xian 2”. However, the news has not been officially confirmed.
A perfect world’s global strategy may become more selective
In the first half of the year, the company’s revenue outside China grew 178.11% to 511.3 million yuan (approximately US$76 million). At the same time, its share of total revenue increased from 4.98% to 18.59%. That growth has been huge, but its main driver has been Neverness to Everness, whose marketing costs have more than tripled since its launch.
It is worth noting that as of June 30, 2026, Perfect World’s total revenue outside China only accounted for about one-third of Neverness to Everness’ revenue. Even as part of an expensive and highly publicized global project, the Chinese market remains the company’s main source of revenue.
Zhu Xian World and Zhu Xian 2 may still be important games for the series and the Chinese market without the expensive international distribution costs. This is especially true for projects originally created for a Chinese audience, where a global release on PC or mobile platforms may not attract a sufficient audience.
What to do next?
Despite losses in the first half of 2026, Perfect World expects financial performance to improve significantly and continues to prepare new games. A total of more than ten projects are under development, including casual MMORPGs, card animation games, simulators, mobile online strategies, and WeChat and Douyin games.
Many of the projects being developed will likely not make it out of China. However, if the project is deemed financially successful, the most ambitious among them can proceed along the path from “Neverness” to “Everness”.
