Shanda to Operate NHN Games' ArchLord in China
biz.yahoo.com
Thursday February 9, 8:30 am ET
SHANGHAI, China, Feb. 9 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited (Nasdaq: SNDA), or Shanda, a leading interactive entertainment media company, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with NHN Games Corporation, a leading online game company in South Korea, for an exclusive license to operate ArchLord, a 3D massively multiplayer online role playing game, or MMORPG, in mainland China. The game is expected to enter closed beta testing in China during the second quarter of 2006.
With an evolving storyline of conquest and betrayal, ArchLord presents an epic adventure in which users band together as they embark on a quest for the ancient relics of the Archons. Following the launch of open beta testing in March 2005, ArchLord was well received by Korean users. NHN Games commercially launched ArchLord in Korea in January 2006.
"We are very pleased to add ArchLord to our diversified MMORPG portfolio," said Tianqiao Chen, CEO of Shanda. ''ArchLord is a fresh take on the MMORPG genre, mixing unique new features with already popular elements. We believe this game will appeal to both new and established MMORPG players in China, thus broadening the user demographic base for our home strategy.''
''We believe Shanda's extensive experience operating online games in China makes it the ideal partner to operate ArchLord in China.'' Kim Byoung Gwan, CEO of NHN Games commented, ''With its superior quality and key new features where players compete to become the 'archlord' and shape the virtual game environment, we believe ArchLord will meet the expectations of Chinese users.'' |
