Participants assume the roles of online characters that interact with other players while engaging in battle and other activities through multiple levels. New to this genre, is the revenue model whereby the game is free to download and play, but players purchase value-added, in-game services and assets, along with premium features that enhance the game experience.
"We are proud that Neowiz chose G4BOX to bring this leading FPS to North American and U.K. gamers," said Howard He, Chief Executive Officer of G4BOX. "Cross Fire is an innovative and compelling FPS and we look forward to making it a major success."
A military online shooter game for the PC, Cross Fire is developed by Smilegate. Cross Fire is the role model of a first person shooter game with stable and powerful action as well as a strategic battle map. The game boasts sophisticated graphics and a unique system which allows the game to run smoothly even on low-end PCs. The game has proven to be a huge success in Korea where it first launched in 2007. Additional servers had to be added within one hour of the game going live due to the amount of traffic and people playing the game. In mid-March of this year, Cross Fire was the first FPS to launch its open beta in Vietnam. Within three days of the launch, the number of Cross Fire concurrent users reached 62,000 with more than 1.09 million subscribers in total.
"G4BOX is an excellent partner to bring Cross Fire to western gamers," said Won IL SUH, Senior Vice President of Neowiz. We are sure their expertise and publishing experience will help establish Cross Fire as a leading FPS that will truly excite the market."
"Securing the CrossFire rights is the next step in developing our online game portfolio," said Wojtek Kawczynski, SVP & GM of SilverBirch Studios. "Following our current success with Metin2, we are now pioneering use of the proven "free-to-play" model for FPS games."
"CrossFire has been a huge success in other operating regions such as China, Japan and Vietnam," said Howard He, CEO of G4Box, noting that the game achieved 62,000 concurrent users and more than 1 million subscribers in Vietnam just three days after the open beta test in that country launched, in March. "We look forward to replicating this success for the English-language version."
CrossFire has been selected as one of the PC titles to qualify the China team for the World Cyber Games (WCG) competition to be held in China next year. Other PC titles selected for the tournament include Warcraft III and Starcraft. The WCG tournament is the largest gaming event in the world.
The English-language version of CrossFire is expected to begin generating revenue shortly after it goes live this fall, following open-beta testing.