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发表于 2011-12-5 10:42:38
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本帖最后由 archer1213 于 2011-12-5 10:51 编辑
Revenue Recognition
Online game operation revenues. Most of our revenues are earned through providing online game services to players. We have been providing online game services to our players pursuant to a time-based revenue model and an item-based revenue model. For online games using the time-based revenue model, we charge players based on the time they spend playing our games. Under the item-based revenue model, the basic game play functions are free of charge, and we charge users for purchases of in-game items.
Under both the time-based and the item-based revenue models, proceeds received from sales of online points to players are recorded as deferred revenues, while proceeds received from sales of online points to distributors and sales of prepaid cards are initially recorded as advances from customers.
As we do not have control over and generally do not know the ultimate selling price of the prepaid cards or online points sold by the distributors, net proceeds received from distributors after deduction of sales discounts are recorded as advances from customers. Upon activation of the game cards or charge of the online points, these advances from customers are immediately transferred to deferred revenues. We provide sales incentives in the form of rebates to major distributors that meet or exceed the sales target, which is ultimately recognized as a reduction of revenues. Accrued rebates are settled in the form of additional free prepaid cards.
Revenue recognition policies adopted for time-based and item-based revenue models are as follows:
Time-based revenue model. We recognize revenues when the online points representing the playing time are actually used by the players to play our games.
Item-based revenue model. Under this model, the players can access our games free of charge, but may utilize their activated prepaid cards or online points charged to their accounts to purchase the following categories of in-game items: (1) consumable items, including those with predetermined expiration time, such as facial expressions and fireworks; or (2) permanent ownership items, such as mine stones, materials, clothing and riding mounts.
Revenues in relation to consumable items are recognized when they have been consumed or expired (i.e., the actual lives of the in-game items), as our obligations in connection with such items have been fully rendered to our players as of that time. Revenues in relation to permanent ownership items are recognized over their estimated lives. We will provide continuous online game services in connection with these permanent ownership items until they are no longer used by our players (i.e., the estimated lives of the in-game items). We have considered the average period that players typically play our games and other player behavior patterns to arrive at our best estimates for the lives of these in-game items, which, in some cases, may be as long as the estimated life of the related game. We have also considered that the estimated lives of in-game items may be affected by various factors including the acceptance and popularity of expansion packs, promotional events launched and market conditions. However, given the relatively short operation history of our online games, our estimate of the period that players typically play our games may not accurately depict such period and hence the lives of the in-game items. We have adopted the policy of assessing the estimated lives of in-game items periodically. All paying users’ data since the launch of the games are used to perform the relevant assessments. Historical behavior patterns of those paying users during the period between their first log-on date and last log-on date are applied to estimate the lives of in-game items. While we believe our estimates to be reasonable in view of actual player information available, we may revise such estimates in the future as our games’ operation periods become longer and we continue to gain more operating history and data.
Any adjustments arising from changes in the estimates of in-game items would be applied prospectively on the basis that such changes are caused by new information indicating a change in the player behaviors pattern. Any changes in our estimate of lives of the in-game items may result in our revenues being recognized on a different basis than in prior periods and may cause our operating results to fluctuate. If the estimated lives of the in-game items increase by 10% or 15%, our online game operation revenues for the year ended December 31, 2010 would have decreased by approximately 0.4% or 0.6%, respectively.
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