THQ ANNOUNCES DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT WITH KOEI CO. LTD

The four PlayStation 2 titles outlined in the agreement include Kessen II, Dynasty Warriors 3, Gitaroo Man, and G1 Jockey. As part of the agreement, Koei will localise the games into English, German and French languages. The first titles released, Kessen II and Dynasty Warriors 3 are scheduled to release in March 2002.

Kessen II is an action-strategy game set in Imperial Japan. Featuring up to 500 soldiers on-screen, including elite-Horsemen and Elephant Cavalry, the game is a large-scale historical fantasy combat game for fans of the real-time-strategy genre.

Dynasty Warriors 3 is the third instalment of the highly acclaimed Dynasty Warriors series. Having sold over 750,000 copies to date in Japan, Dynasty Warriors 3 is a melee-combat action game featuring incredibly colourful and diverse visuals combined with dynamic gameplay to immerse players into an intense hack-n-slash environment.

Tim Walsh, Senior Vice President of International Publishing, THQ, commented, “Koei has a great reputation for creating unique and innovative games. We are really excited to add these titles to our International portfolio. This deal highlights an ongoing diversification of our product portfolio and our commitment to tailoring our line-up for the International market.”

In response to the deal, Kiyoshi Komatsu, President and COO, KOEI Co., Ltd., says, "THQ is an excellent company with a well-developed sales and distribution base in the European market, making them the perfect partner to help us introduce our upcoming titles. This partnership not only helps us realize our commitment to expand our overseas presence, but also gives us the opportunity to further strengthen the KOEI brandname in the European marketplace. We are looking forward to working together with THQ to release our quality games directly to the European audience."