Chinese Internet video games maker Shanda Games posted a jump in quarterly sales helped by strong demand for its massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs).

The company said it continues work at expanding the focus of its business to include the introduction of social and mobile games through a broad range of mobile devices and social networking sites.

Shanda Games, once a leader in China's online games market, is trying to regain the market share it lost over the last year to Tencent Holdings and NetEase.com.

For the second quarter the company, known for games such as Mir 2 and Woool, posted a net income of $47.2 million, or 17 cents per American Depositary Shares (ADS) -- nearly flat compared with the year-ago period.

Excluding special items, the online game developer, earned 20 cents per ADS, it said in a statement.

Quarterly sales jumped 19 percent to $204 million, helped by a 17 percent rise in sales of MMORPGs, which came in at $180.1 million and made up nearly 90 percent of total sales.

Analysts, on average, were looking for earnings of 17 cents per ADS, on sales of $200.1 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of the company, which have lost about a third of their value over the last three months, were up at $5.18, in extended trade. They closed at $4.88 on Tuesday on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das)

China Gaming