9You's Osaka IPO Cancelled in the Face of T3 Lawsuit

Filed in archive IPOs on August 21, 2007

Red Line China reported today that China Kinwa High Technology Co., the parent company of 9You, has received approval from the Osaka Stock Exchange to cancel 9You's IPO there.

9You holds the China license to the popular dance game, Audition. The game belongs to a Korean firm, T3 Entertainment. T3 and 9You are in a dispute at the moment over China royalties for Audition. While holding the license from T3, 9You developed a competing product that is very similar to Audition.




T3 threatened to sue 9You over royalties for Audition shortly after 9You announced its Osaka IPO. The unresolved public dispute forced 9You to postpone the IPO offering on July 6 - less than a week before it was to debut on the Japanese market. Audition is 9You's primary source of revenue.

Because of the dispute, T3 has awarded the license for Audition's upgrade, Audition 2, to 9You competitor, The9 in China. The 9 is listed on the New York NASDAQ.

In a bizarre twist that shows just how popular the Audition game is, Play No Evil is reporting a murder that is being associated with the online game. A 17-year-old gamer was allegedly murdered at an Internet cafe in Kunming, in Southwest China, by three competing gamers - aged 16 to 21.

Play No Evil described the Audition game as 'lightweight" and said that, "The idea of killing someone over this game is like someone killing someone over pokemon - shocking and absurd."