| Aeria Games reveals numbers and new acquisition Posted: 19 Sep 2011 02:31 PM PDT Aeria Games has announced today that its online gaming hub supports over 23 million players globally, and gains an average of one million new registered users each month. The company focus on freemium MMOs and other online games targeted to a “power gamer” audience. Currently, the company publishes over 30 online titles in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Aeria Games has also gained a new mobile game (iOS and Android) that has yet to be named, plus an internal development team from Punch Entertainment, known for social online games. The acquisition is part of Aeria Games’ creation of a new mobile division to develop products for smart phone users.  Grand Fantasia Gameplay Screenshot
Source: AERIA GAMES REVEALS ITS FREE-TO-PLAY ONLINE GAMING SCOPE Leading Destination for Free-to-play Multiplayer Titles Passes 23 Million Targeted Power Gamers; Announces Strategic Acquisition of New, Yet-to-Be Named Mobile Game on iOS and Android and Development Talent from Punch Entertainment SANTA CLARA – September 19 2011 – Aeria Games, a leading destination for free-to-play online multiplayer games, today revealed more of its business successes by confirming it has surpassed 23 million dedicated power gamers worldwide. Led by seasoned executives from gaming, technology, internet, and financial sectors, the company has quietly gained significant momentum through its growing and active community, with an average of one million new, unique registered users every month. The California-based company has amassed a diverse portfolio of over 30 high quality online games and expanded its worldwide reach with presences in Europe, Latin America and Asia. Aeria Games' latest acquisition is a new, yet-to-be named mobile game on iOS and Android, along with an internal development team, from Punch Entertainment, bringing its worldwide staff to over 250 people. Aeria Games continues to be a global publisher of high quality online free-to-play games in North America, Europe, and Latin America. Its players enjoy access to a universal gaming destination providing deep, immersive online games accessible from PCs, browsers, tablets, and smart phones. The self-funded and privately held company is committed to supporting titles that cater to players looking for an engaging multiplayer experience with robust and active community support. Rather than targeting the wide but shallow pool of casual gamers, Aeria Games focuses its expertise on delivering highly profitable freemium experiences to what it terms "power gamers"—hard core and medium core players who play as much as four hours per day. "Our strategy of targeting highly engaged power gamers around the world and delivering high quality content and outstanding service is paying off with our steadily growing pool of tens of millions of gamers and our extremely strong average revenue per user," said Lan Hoang, Chief Executive Officer, Aeria Games. "As we move forward, we will continue to form strategic partnerships and grow our development teams while building and acquiring more engaging content to reward our dedicated power gamers." Aeria Games hosts a diversified and growing portfolio of critically-acclaimed client and browser-based free-to-play titles from multiple genres including action, MMO, and shooters, to name a few. Noteworthy games include the MMO Eden Eternal, which released in June as Aeria's biggest month one launch to date, the popular MMORPG, Shaiya, the supernatural MMOFPS, Wolf Team, and the innovative , Grand Fantasia. Additionally, the company has recently formed a new mobile division that will produce products geared for smart phone users as well as complementary titles to its core PC network. The newly acquired development team from Punch Entertainment joins Aeria Games' head office in Santa Clara, California to complete their yet-to-be named project in development, as well as produce new and additional titles. Serving a global audience of power players, Aeria Games releases its titles in multiple languages including English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Turkish, and Russian. For more information on Aeria Games, visit aeriagames.com.
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| DC Universe Online going free-to-play Posted: 19 Sep 2011 12:53 PM PDT Sony Online Entertainment has announced that DC Universe Online will be shifting to a free-to-play business model in October. With the new model, “DCUO” will become available for free via download, and will offer three levels of accounts: Free, Premium, and Legendary. Free players will have access to all current content, two character slots, and leagues, but may have to purchase game packs or updates, additional character slots, or powers through the cash shop. Premium players are those who have spent at least $5 in the shop (or who have subscribed at some point in the past), which gain additional character and inventory slots, as well as higher in-game cash limits. Legendary players are those who continue to have a subscription (at $14.99 a month) with full benefits and features. Sony Online Entertainment also publishes EverQuest 2 and Free Realms.  DC Universe Online Gameplay Screenshot
Source: DC Universe Online Goes Free-To-Play in October for PlayStation®3 System and PC
Sony Online Entertainment Announces Three Access Levels for Popular Superhero Online Action Game SAN DIEGO, Sept. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) today announced a new free-to-play business model for its popular massively multiplayer online (MMO) game DC Universe Online (DCUO) — where players have the freedom to become legendary fighting alongside DC Comics icons like Superman , Batman and The Joker in an ever-evolving online action adventure that has already logged more than 42 million hours of super-powered gameplay action by players since its launch earlier this year. Beginning late October, players will be able to download and access DCUO for free on both the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC. As part of this transition, SOE is introducing three new access levels to the game: Free, Premium and Legendary. All three levels will provide access to open world gameplay and missions, general game updates and fixes to the game, with each level offering different game options and benefits. “When we launched DC Universe Online, we introduced a very different brand of massive online game driven by fast action combat to PC and PS3™gamers and with that, we discovered a new type of online gamer,” said John Smedley, President, Sony Online Entertainment. “We’ve listened to our community, and we’ve determined that the free-to-play model is the best fit for DC Universe Online.” Smedley added, “Our philosophy embraces learning from our experience and as a pioneer in the free-to-play space with proven successful games like Free Realms and Clone Wars Adventures, we believe this new model will expand the DCUO experience and offer more options that cater to every type of player so they can play the game in a way that fits them.” All three levels provide access to the current game, but allow differing tiers of convenience and flexibility. The levels are: - Free: New players will now have access to the current gameplay in DC Universe Online (including Gotham City, Metropolis, and all current raids and alerts), with the ability to create two characters, join a league and many other benefits. Free level players will be able to purchase downloadable game packs/updates, additional character slots, powers and more through microtransactions.
- Premium: Any player who has spent at least $5 USD (including former paid subscribers and new players who have purchased $5 of in-game items) will qualify for the Premium access level. Premium level players will have more benefits available to them than the Free level player, including additional character slots, additional inventory slots, and higher cash limits. Downloadable adventure packs, additional character slots, and more can be purchased in-game.
- Legendary: Maximum features and benefits are included at this level. Loaded with enhanced additional features, Legendary access will be available for a $14.99 USD monthly fee and includes all DLC packs at no cost, more than 15 character slots, more than 80 inventory slots, the ability to form unrestricted-sized leagues, and many other benefits.
More information on the DCUO free-to-play access levels can be found here: dcuniverseonline.com/free. DC Universe Online combines immersive environments and fascinating story arcs with fast-paced, physics-based combat, allowing players to pick up buses and other objects in the environment, fly into the air and throw them at enemies; run up the sides of buildings to engage in melee brawls while shooting flames of fire from their hands; or cling to the side of buildings while using a grappling hook to pull flying opponents out of the sky – all while fighting alongside or against the legendary characters of DC Comics and charting their own path to legendary. DC Universe Online is licensed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on behalf of DC Entertainment. For more information about DC Universe Online, visit www.DCUniverseOnline.com.
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| Interview with Albert Liu, CEO of Gamania Posted: 19 Sep 2011 11:56 AM PDT It’s the middle of summer in Taiwan, and in a small brick building, representatives from several MMO websites (including MMOHut) are sitting on benches across from a group of Gamania’s executives and public relations representatives. In the center of them – beneath a Gamania Game Show backdrop – sits a man dressed in a black Giants t-shirt and camouflage cargo shorts. This man is Albert Liu, the CEO of Gamania, and he laughs lightly as he tells the room our seriousness is making him nervous. The truth is, we’re a little nervous too – it’s not very often you get to sit down and interview the CEO of a major gaming company in such an intimate setting. Gamania, he explains, began as a small game company created because he was a game programmer out of a job in an industry that practically didn’t exist in Taiwan. From making small games like Convenience Store, Gamania then moved on to licensing games from other developers (namely NCSoft’s Lineage) to grow as a company. Licensing took off so well, Gamania shifted its focus to expanding internationally and developing internally. This is when Gamania built its own R&D (Research and Development) department to build its own games – the efforts of which we’ve seen not only in Lucent Heart, but in the upcoming games shown at the game show itself. When asked what inspired Gamania to "go west" and enter the North American market, Mr. Liu explained that he wants the company to ultimately experience the same success as they have in Asia. This is being approached carefully though, with a "one step at a time" approach so that they can learn their market to reach this goal. However, Gamania doesn’t aim to be different from other East-to-West publishers, or even compete with them. Albert elaborates: there’s many things to learn from these publishers, citing NCSoft and Blizzard as particular inspirations. Instead, Gamania prefers to succeed by learning the market through each game released, learn from each player’s wants and needs, so they can learn from it and publish games that fit the western market.  So what innovations would Gamania like to see in online gaming? Albert says that he’d like to combine mobile devices and MMORPGs in a way that’s more than just to get a pet or check your character information. Two ideas he conveyed included the ability to use a iPhone as a controller, or using an iPad to allow more than one person play at the same time. While these ideas are just imaginings at this point in time, we can expect Gamania to apply its experience with MMOs, mobile, and social gaming to new developments in the future. It was a pleasure to speak with Albert Liu, and as he talked with each of us, there was an atmosphere of honesty and fun behind each answer. Gamania’s vision of its own future is aspiring, but laid with realistic plans and expectations. After two days at the Gamania Game Show, packed with demos and discussions of their new in-house development, we can definitely say the future looks promising so far. The Gamania Game Show (GGS) took place this year on Sept 8 and Sept 9 in Taipei, Taiwan. Press from around the globe, including MMOHut, were invited to take a hands-on look at the game company’s four new games in development – Dream Drops, Langrisser Schwarz, Tiara Concerto, and Core Blaze – as well as other products. |
