Citi Assesses Starcraft II Beta-Testing Feedback (NTES)

Citi is providing an initial assessment on the Starcraft II beta-testing feedback.

“Our initial assessment on the game is positive,” Citi writes. “We believe the relatively low and affordable price of only Rmb 20/month will help to reduce the incentive for players to go outside of official battle.net, IF there are any successful illegal servers.

“We will wait for the result/feedback from the commercial launch to access the traction of the game before adjusting our model assumptions. We remain positive on NetEase.com Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES), given the relatively smooth regulatory approval process of SCII, and we believe the approval process for World of Warcraft's next expansion pack, Cataclysm, could also be smoother than WLK's last year.”

NetEase.com closed Tuesday at $48.72.