Top Chinese online game operator, Netease.com Inc. (NTES.O: Quote, Profile , Research), beat forecasts with a 2.7 percent rise in quarterly profit thanks to soaring online users during Chinese public holidays.

But Netease -- which operates online games in which thousands of players compete in a virtual world -- kept mum on its outlook after it recently said it was postponing the commercial launch of much-anticipated game "Tianxia II".

Chief Executive William Ding said he was disappointed in delays to "Tianxia II", but added that changes to the design would make the title appeal to a broader audience of experienced and beginner gamers.

"We believe the major event of the quarter was Netease delaying the commercial release of its new game "Tianxia" due to mixed player feedback," Goldman Sachs analyst James Mitchell wrote in a research note.

Beijing-based Netease earned a profit of 301.5 million yuan ($39 million), or 29 cents per American Depositary Share, for the three months ended March. That compared with 293.7 million yuan, or 26 US cents per diluted ADS, a year earlier. The result beat $36.64 million forecast by four analysts on Reuters Estimates.