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NCsoft To Establish Joint Venture In Taiwan

by Thomas on Aug. 26, 2003 @ 9:16 a.m. PDT

NCsoft Corporation has unveiled plans to establish a joint venture, NC Taiwan, with Taiwan's leading game distributor, Gamania. The announcement came during a joint press conference held in Taipei, Taiwan. One of the first products to be distributed by the new venture will be NCsoft's highly anticipated Lineage II. Officials indicated plans to launch beta services for Lineage II in Taiwan by the fourth quarter of this year.

NCsoft's role in the venture will be to provide NC Taiwan with rich online game content, such as Lineage II and other titles to which NCsoft holds publishing rights. Gamania will market, distribute and service NC Taiwan games in Taiwanese regions.

NC Taiwan's capital stock stands at (New Taiwan) NT$140 million (US$4 million). NCsoft and Gamania hold 49% and 51% stakes in the joint venture, respectively. Albert Liu, CEO of Gamania, will serve as NC Taiwan's managing director, while Jung Hwan Kim, currently at NCsoft Korea, will serve as CEO.

Tack Jin Kim, CEO of NCsoft, commented, "Cooperative ties built thus far between Gamania and NCsoft have already proven Gamania's marketing and service capabilities to be the best in Taiwan. Building on our mutual trust, we're establishing this joint venture to explore closer long-term cooperation. Given that Taiwan is the largest market for online games after Korea, the establishment of a Taiwanese joint venture will mark a milestone in NCsoft's globalization efforts for a world-wide network."

At present, NCsoft has joint ventures in Japan, China, and Hong Kong, as well as offices in the US that all support local Lineage services.

"The combination of NCsoft's high-level development skills with Gamania's brand awareness and distribution strengths is a perfect fit," said new NC Taiwan CEO Jung Hwan Kim. "The new venture will provide Taiwanese gamers with more professional game services and the dynamics of such a powerful relationship will lead to the development of unique and original game content."

Gamania is Taiwan's foremost game distributor, and has been providing Lineage services in Taiwan since July 2000. It has successfully grown Lineage into Taiwan's most popular online game with approximately 180-thousand concurrent users

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