SCREEN shot of Lineage II, the online game that AMDG will distribute exclusively for Korea's NCsoft.

Reporter

PC games distributor Asian Media Development Group (AMDG) has been tapped by Korean gaming giant NCsoft Corp. to market and distribute in Southeast Asia, the popular Internet game “Lineage II” through a $5.5-million deal. The deal rides on an exclusive marketing and distribution agreement.

This is the first time that NCsoft has awarded a licensing contract for Lineage II outside its local subsidiaries—the Korean’s previous business policy.

The Lineage franchise is NCsoft’s flagship product line, reaching more than 55 million players worldwide.

Beyond its home country, NCsoft’s Lineage II is on available in Taiwan, Japan , China , Thailand , North America and Europe.                             

Ronald Allan Aquino, AMDG chief operations officer, said the company has made substantial investments to house a top-of-the-line gaming infrastructure for Lineage II in the Philippines. This will serve as the hub for hundreds of thousands of gamers expected within the Southeast Asia.

NCsoft and AMDG plan to run an open beta service for Lineage II and subsequently launch its commercial version before the year ends.

“Our business model has proven to be extremely effective in expanding our user base,” Aquino said. “Using the same marketing expertise, we will open up emerging markets within… Southeast Asia… and extend AMDG’s success beyond PC games distribution to online gaming.”

The Seoul, South Korea-based NCsoft is the developer and publisher of online games Lineage II, City of Heroes and City of Villains, Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall and Auto Assault.

In the coming months, NCsoft is poised to launch other multiplayer titles including Tabula Rasa and Aion in addition to various casual games via its game portal, PlayNC.

“We have been looking for an effective way to penetrate new markets, and we believe that AMDG has the expertise in providing proper game services that we at NCsoft require for our flagship product line,” the management of NCsoft said in a statement released by AMDG yesterday.

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PC games distributor Asian Media Development Group (AMDG) has been tapped by Korean gaming giant NCsoft Corp. to market and distribute in Southeast Asia, the popular Internet game “Lineage II” through a $5.5-million deal. The deal rides on an exclusive marketing and distribution agreement.

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