NEXON AND VALVE ANNOUNCE COUNTER-STRIKE ONLINE FOR ASIA
Leading International Studios Join Forces to Extend the World's #1 First Person Multiplayer Game
Bellevue, WA -- July 27, 2007 - Award-winning game and technology studios Valve and Nexon today announce Counter-Strike Online, a new online version of the world's number one first-person multiplayer game that will be tailored for Asia.
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.
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WiiSucks, you're a gentleman and a scholar.
Tell 'em wheat. EG FTW!
Isn't it already here?
-Izaak, Lord of the Lotus Clan.
And why cant they use STEAM like everyone else???
There's no point of doing this besides steam release.
They're going to charge monthly fee in Asia just like GuildWars did in Taiwan and China. With NO extra content!
I'm beginning to see more Asian players in the FPS online games I play. Like here in the US, the new gen of players are more open to other ideas and are more willing to give them a shot (so to speak).
Theres a decent sized asian Lost Planet population playing online and Steel Battalion (Tekki) was 80% asian players (who wiped the floor with my ass in every game I played). Its a nice change of pace because almost none of them are rude arrogant little assholes like you'd find in a typical Halo 2 match.
WiiSucks you douche. How many pro koreans do you think play on english servers, or online pub at all for that matter?
They're doing this because Steam failed in countries like Korea. When WON was still around CS was extremely popular in Korea.