E-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group's founder Jack Ma, who pledged on at least two occasions that the company would never enter the gaming industry, seems to have changed his mind.

Ma said in 2008 that the company "would rather starve to death than live on games". In 2010, he said that Alibaba would not invest one penny in games.

But the company did not stick to that principle too long. Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group announced on Monday that it will establish a gaming business group.