Counter-Strike, first released in 1999, is the world's number one first person multiplayer game, generating over seven billion player minutes per month and having sold over nine million retail copies worldwide. Nexon is the Korean-based publisher and developer of blockbuster titles such as MapleStory and KartRider. Valve is the creator of many popular first person games and the Steam online platform for PC games.
Under the terms of the agreement, Nexon will develop and be the exclusive publisher for Counter-Strike Online in South Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan. Services in Korea and Japan will be carried out respectively by its Korean and Japanese entities, NEXON Corporation (CEO: Joonmo Kwon) and NEXON Japan Co., Ltd. (CEO: David K. Lee), and in China and Taiwan through collaboration with local publishers.
"It is our utmost pleasure to be able to develop Counter-Strike Online with Valve," said David K. Lee, CEO of NEXON Japan Co., Ltd. "We will be devoting our expertise in online game development and service know-how for Asian territories to Counter-Strike Online. Already a global phenomenon, we are confident we can grow the success of Counter-Strike with this new product by tailoring the gameplay for the millions of gamers in Asia, one of the gaming industries fastest growing territories."
"With its hit titles such as MapleStory and KartRider, Nexon has become a dominant force in Asia," said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. "By combining their proven development abilities and leadership position in Asia with Counter-Strike's award-winning core gameplay, we have the recipe for customizing an online phenomenon for each of the Asian markets."
For more information about Nexon, please visit http://company.nexon.com. For more information about Valve and Counter-Strike, please visit http://www.steamgames.com.
About NEXON
Founded in 1994, NEXON developed the world's first graphic massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG), "The Kingdom of the Winds." Today, NEXON is one of the world's leading developers and publishers of online games and the largest online gaming portal. NEXON is servicing its online game titles in Korea, US, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore and Europe. While one of its hit titles "MapleStory" has over 57 million registered users worldwide, "Kart Rider" has more than 16 million only in Korea, a third of the entire Korean population. And after one year of service in China, "Kart Rider" has attracted 140 million registered users and 800,000 concurrent users.
About Valve
Valve is an entertainment software and technology company founded in 1996 and based in Bellevue, Washington. The company's portfolio of entertainment properties includes Half-Life®, Counter-StrikeTM, Day of Defeat®, Team Fortress® and PortalTM. Valve's catalog of products accounts for over 20 million retail units sold worldwide, and over 80% of PC online action gameplay. In addition, Valve is a developer of leading-edge technologies, such as the Source game engine and Steam, a broadband platform for the delivery and management of digital content. For more information, please visit www.valvesoftware.com.
Sursa: computergames