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SINGAPORE : In what's seen as a boost for online gaming in Southeast Asia, Korean gaming giant NCsoft Corporation will be hosting, for the first time, its latest "Multiplayer Online Game" in the Philippines.
The company has sealed a US$5.5 million deal with games distributor Asian Media Development Group.
This will likely pave the way for more major games developers to choose this region to host their online games.
Lineage 2, The Chaotic Throne is an AAA game. That means it's a major production, similar to Hollywood blockbusters like Lord of the Rings and Spiderman. So it's no surprise the Lineage franchise has a subscriber base of 14 million gamers worldwide.
Games like this usually make their screen debut in Korea or the US.
But this time, the latest Lineage saga will be hosted from servers in the Philippines for gamers in Southeast Asia.
And that means, instead of paying monstrous US rates, fans in the region will enjoy local rates to play this online multiplayer game.
Distributor Asian Media Development Group is working with telcos in the region like Singapore's SingTel and StarHub to allow gamers to connect directly with their peering networks.
The aim - seamless gaming for an increasingly growing and paying community.
"Right now there are 12 million online gaming players in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Singapore and Malaysia has the highest aggregate growth rate in the region in terms of online gamers right now. The 12 million is projected to grow to 20 million by 2010," says Roland Aquino, senior VP of Asian Development Media Group.
"In terms of revenue, it's a US$55 million industry right now, which is expected to grow to US$150 million by 2010."
The Korean gaming developer says although Taiwan is a bigger market than all of Southeast Asia combined, the only way for this region to go is up.
"Southeast Asia online gaming industry is getting bigger every year. If you look at the internet penetration rate, it's going really fast in Southeast Asian countries," says Dong Min Lee, head of International Business Team at NCsoft.
So industry experts are hoping that the latest move will act as a catalyst for major gaming studios to do more business in the region. - CNA /ls
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