AMDG brings Lineage II to the Phils

[wAn_eyE]

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AMDG closes US $ 5.5M deal with Korean gaming giant NCsoft

Tuesday, February 13 2007 @ 01:16 PM GMT

Business

13 - AMDG closes US $ 5.5M deal with Korean gaming giant NCsoft

Asian Media Development Group (AMDG), the country's largest PC games distributor, signed a US $ 5.5 million deal with Korean gaming giant NCsoft Corporation to exclusively market and distribute "Lineage II" in Southeast Asia.

The landmark partnership marks the first time a Philippine company has been tapped to market a "Triple A" MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) like "Lineage II" in the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia.

It is also the first licensing contract ever awarded for "Lineage II." Previously, NCsoft maintained a policy of servicing the immensely popular online game only through local subsidiaries.

The "Lineage" franchise is NCsoft's flagship product line, with a customer reach of more than 55 million people worldwide.

Outside Korea, NCsoft is currently servicing "Lineage II" in Taiwan, Japan, China, Thailand, North America and Europe.

The game has a worldwide subscriber base of 14 million and commands a dominant 45 percent share of the MMORPG market in the Asia-Pacific region.

"We have been looking for an effective way to penetrate new markets, and we believe that AMDG has the expertise in providing proper game services that we at NCsoft require for our flagship product line," the management of NCsoft said in an official statement.

AMDG Chief Operations Officer Ronald Allan Aquino cited AMDG's success in developing a nationwide sales and distribution network for its PC gaming business that reaches more than 90 percent of Internet cafes in the Philippines.

"Our business model has proven to be extremely effective in expanding a user base," he noted.

He adds that "using the same marketing expertise, we will open up emerging markets within the Southeast Asian region and extend AMDG's success beyond PC games distribution to online gaming."

AMDG has made substantial investments to house top-of-the-line gaming infrastructure for Lineage II in the Philippines, which will serve as the hub for the hundreds of thousands of gamers expected within the Southeast Asian region.

NCsoft and AMDG plan to start open beta service and subsequently launch commercial service for Lineage II before yearend.

Established in November 1999, AMDG is the largest PC games distributor in the Philippines. It is the official Philippine partner of NCsoft. For more information, please visit www.amdg.net.ph

Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, NCsoft Corporation is the world's leading developer and publisher of online games.

NCsoft has offices in North America, the United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan, China and Thailand.

In fiscal year 2006, NCsoft posted revenues of KRW 338.7 billion. (PNA)

[Mabix]

mmmmm lineage 2. unsa daw platform ani market nila sa phils, F2P or P2P??

[wAn_eyE]

mmmmm lineage 2. unsa daw platform ani market nila sa phils, F2P or P2P??

I don't know. I guess we'll have to wait. ^_^

for those who don't know what lineage II is -> www.lineage2.com

[Nezumix22]

ehhh... L2 is like 3 yrs old with 5 expansion packs already.., nice artwork but typical Korean MMO, played in a private server once and.... nice graphics..... dont expect groundbreaking gameplay here but the player base in Korea are the most adamant ever.. just try searching how many violent incidents were reported to the police in Korea for Lineage 2 (and Lineage I)

[harabas]

LINEAGE was one of the groundbreaking games in the MMO market bout 5 years ago. some, if not most, games of today which is tagged as a MMORPG is cloned after LINEAGE. i've been playing the game before, but the super grinding batters away my enthusiasm with it. as opposed to EVERQUEST, L1 and L2 are two grindfest games, i played for almost 2 years and only managed to get to lvl 58. but the ideas of its gameplay at that time was breathtaking, but if they put it up on the local scene, i doubt it will succeed since the MMO market of the Phils is already swamped by KOREAN made MMOs.

just my 2 cents, no offense to the guys...you know...

[Deanmonyo]

When ta mkasugod duwa ani diri sa phils.?

[larvs]

yah, i heard the grind in L2 is even worse than silkroad online. but there's something about it's player base not jsut in Korea is something really worth trying, the least.