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NCsoft Acquires ArenaNet
Studio with Creative Ties to Hit Games Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo To Join NCsoft Family
SEOUL, South Korea - Dec. 11, 2002 — NCsoftTM Corporation the world's largest online game company, today announced the acquisition of ArenaNet, a Seattle-based game development studio with a creative pedigree that has connections to some of the most successful computer games ever developed. The announcement was made during the opening day of the Korea Amuse World Game Expo 2002 (KAMEX) taking place in Seoul, South Korea.
ArenaNet was established in 2000 by three key members of the Blizzard Entertainment Development team. The Founders were involved in leadership roles in the creation of the Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo game series, and were responsible for the creation of the Battle.net gaming network. ArenaNet's mission is to create a state-of-the-art, interactive game network and to design and publish premier multiplayer online games for dedicated game players.
"We are pleased to announce the newest member of our NCsoft family," said Tack Jin Kim, president and CEO of NCsoft Corp. "The people at ArenaNet have an established track record in this industry of creating some of the most innovative and successful game titles ever. We're very excited to bring this gifted and talented team to NCsoft. They will make an already strong online product lineup even stronger."
"We are excited to become part of NCsoft," said Patrick Wyatt, who co-founded ArenaNet with Mike O'Brien and Jeff Strain. "We are confident that our development strengths will greatly contribute to NCsoft's continuing worldwide leadership in the online game market."
About NCsoft
Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, NCsoft is the world's largest independent online game company. Established in 1997 as a systems integration company, NCsoft has leaped to become Korea's and the world's leading online game software company. In Korea, its blockbuster hit game LineageTM (http://www.lineage.com) commands a 47% market share and attracts the greatest number of concurrent users in the world. NCsoft is a public company and is traded on the KOSDAQ Korean stock exchange. In fiscal year 2001, NCsoft posted revenues of 124,735,958,000 Korean won or approximately US$95 million. More information about NCsoft can be found at http://www.ncsoft.net.
About ArenaNet
ArenaNet, located in Seattle, Washington, was founded by key members of the creative teams that developed the hit game series Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo, as well as Battle.net, the most-successful gaming network in the world. ArenaNet will create a state-of-the-art, interactive game network and will design and publish premier multiplayer online games for dedicated game players. More information about ArenaNet can be found at www.arena.net.
NCsoft is a trademark of NCsoft Corp and Lineage is a trademark of NC Interactive. ArenaNet and Arena.net are trademarks or registered trademarks of ArenaNet, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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