Faced With a Lawsuit, 9you Postpones Osaka IPO

Filed in archive Internet on July 15, 2007

Online game company 9you this week postponed its Osaka IPO listing in the face of a threatened lawsuit by T3 Entertainment. 9you is the China operator of T3 Entertainment's Audition music game. T3 claims that 9you is evading royalties on that game.

Shanghai-based 9you announced on July 6 that the IPO would be postponed. The company's stock would have been listed in Osaka on July 12. No new date has been set for the listing.

9you is disputing T3 Entertainment's financial claims. To complicate matters, 9you's actual contract to distribute the Audition game in China is with an intermediary, Yedang Online Corp., and not directly with T3 Entertainment. 9you is questioning T3 Entertainment's legal standing to sue.

On Friday, 9you announced a new product, a MMORPG genre game called Fenghuo Zhilu. That game will enter an open beta test period tomorrow, July 16, 9you said. The new game could serve to strengthen 9you's IPO if and when a new listing date is set. Audition accounted for about 60% of 9you's revenue and T3 Entertainment has given the rights to operate Audition's upgraded version, Audition II, to one of 9you's competitors in China.