TURBINE SELECTS LETSGAME TO DISTRIBUTE DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: STORMREACH™IN KOREA
Companies Set to Cooperate in Korea¡¯s Online Gaming Market
WESTWOOD, MA ¨C SEPTEMBER 5, 2006 -- Turbine, Inc., a premier publisher of online subscription entertainment, announced today that it has a distribution agreement with LETSGAME, a leading online game and comunity portal in Korea. Under the agreement, LETSGAME and Turbine will cooperate in localizing DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: Stormreach™ (DDO) for the Korean market. LETSGAME will market, distribute and operate the game in that territory. DDO is based on the world-renowned DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® brand franchise from Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS). DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is under license from the Hasbro Properties Group, the intellectual property development arm of Hasbro.
¡°The Korean market represents an important opportunity for Turbine,¡± said Jeffrey Anderson, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. ¡°This agreement signals Turbine¡¯s commitment to a long-term presence in Korea and the continued rollout of DDO as a global franchise.¡±
LETSGAME is a leading online game and community portal in Korea offering 25 games to over 3.5 million registered users.
¡°As one of the leading online games operators in Korea, we have a deep understanding of the market,¡± said Jack Shin, chief executive officer of LETSGAME. ¡°There is enormous demand for more MMO titles in our community and through close cooperation with Turbine, we will deliver a premium title to our customers.¡±
¡°We are excited about the upcoming release of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE: Stormreach in Korea,¡± said Jeff Burdeen, vice president of digital media for the Hasbro Properties Group. ¡°The introduction of a truly unique and innovative massively multiplayer online game for the DDO gaming base reaffirms DUNGEONS & DRAGONS as the premier fantasy brand today.¡±
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE: Stormreach recreates the essence of the classic pen-and-paper roleplaying experience - with an emphasis on non-grinding, instanced quests that provide a unique, immersive experience for each party. Authentic features in the game include customizable characters, dungeons filled with devious traps, monsters and stories from the Eberron® campaign setting, an on-screen d20 (20-sided die) and a dungeon master. The unique online world of Stormreach is a bustling city with thousands of players from around the world. It represents a new paradigm for the MMO genre with unique features including party-based quests, integrated voice chat, real-time action combat, and award winning graphics.
Published by Atari, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATAR) in North America and Europe, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™ has been enthusiastically received by many gaming critics, including The New York Times, PC Gamer, Game Informer and many more.