"We are delighted to have reached this agreement with Silverlode Interactive. SAGA Online is a fantastic MMORTS game which already enjoys a large community in the USA. The game is also our first opportunity to employ the one-stop solution that we offer potential partners," says Thorsten Feldmann, Senior Manager Online Entertainment for Koch Media. "This means we handle all aspects of operating, hosting, publishing and marketing in Europe, with the exception of Russia."

The world of SAGA Online is a traditional fantasy setting populated by characters such as elves, orcs, dragons and giants. It is a free-of-charge, persistent massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game where players get to create their own realms, do battle or trade with one another, or set out on cooperative quests with their friends in order to earn experience and loot. Among other things, the free-to-play MMORTS offers more than 1,000 quests and six factions, each with their own unique units and individual styles of play. SAGA Online incorporates many successful elements of massively multiplayer online games: there are guilds, raids, a live auction house where players can exchange cards, equipment upgrades, team quests, plundering of treasures, and so on. All of these are combined with features of real-time strategy such as city building, resource management, and warfare.

SAGA Online is a real-time strategy game with a special appeal for collectors, enabling players to own, swap, and collect virtual miniatures - similar to tabletop and trading card games. Once a card has been placed on the battlefield, it is animated so that online players can control their units in a real-time strategy environment.

Deep Silver will publish Silverlode Interactive's MMORTS SAGA Online in Europe (except Russia) at the end of this year.