(Yicai) July 10 -- Perfect World’s stock price fell after the Chinese media and video games company forecast a first-half loss on lower income from its gaming business.

The company’s shares [SHE: 002624] closed 1.5 percent lower at CNY7.01 (USD1.09) apiece in Shenzhen today, pulling back from a decline of as much as 4.6 percent. The stock is down 41 percent since the end of last year.

The net loss was likely between CNY160 million and CNY200 million (USD22 million and USD27.5 million) in the six months ended June 30, compared with a net profit of CNY380 million a year earlier, the Beijing-based firm announced yesterday.

Perfect World's revenue mainly comes from games, movies, and television series. Its gaming business is expected to have lost CNY140 million to CNY180 million, while the other two segments likely had a profit of about CNY80 million (USD11 million). 

The gaming segment loss was due mainly to the normal decline in existing games turnover, a temporary increase in costs related to personnel adjustments, and the worse-than-expected performance of some new game titles, Perfect World said.

Perfect World released One Punch Man: World for public testing overseas in the first half, but it did less well than expected, the firm said. It also released Persona 5: Phantom X for public testing in China and elsewhere, receiving positive player feedback and bringing in younger users, the company added.

According to media reports, Perfect World let go more than 1,000 employees at the end of last month.

Some of Perfect World's products performed below expectations, so it has optimized the allocation of resources to focus on core projects and has made the necessary personnel changes, it told Yicai previously. No effort is being spared to address the negative effects of these adjustments, it added.

Editor: Martin Kadiev