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Sonos to bring subscription-based QQ Music service to its hardware in China
Wireless HiFi maker, Sonos, has just signed a deal with Tencent Holdings to provide the QQ Music service direct via its hardware in China. The holdings firm owns the QQ suite of internet services that boasts a massive user base in the country. QQ Music already exists in an ad-supported form, but the new partnership will break it out directly into audio equipment, and hopefully encourage users over to the premium paid-for version. The consumer preview is available on all Sonos systems if China now via the Sonos controller. A personalized version will follow, later this year.
Weibo services 'punished' for Beijing coup rumors, comments temporarily disabled
For a country who doesn't really do April Fools' Day, you know China means business when it lays the smackdown on its weibo services. Here's the background story: about a week ago there was a rumor on the Chinese web about a military coup on one of the main streets in Beijing, and coincidentally I was in town around the time (for the Windows Phone launch). Funnily enough, I wasn't aware of this at all until my taxi driver in Hong Kong asked me about my visit, as he claimed that the passenger he picked up beforehand was actually a Chinese military officer who had several intense phone calls about said coup.But of course, nothing actually happened. In fact, the guards at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City were pretty relaxed when I visited on that very day. As for the rumormongers, the Chinese government announced through Xinhua that 16 websites have been shut down and six people have been detained, while local microblogging platforms Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo have been "criticized and punished accordingly," though it didn't elaborate on the details. All we know is that comments under each weibo post are now disabled until local time 8pm on April 3rd, during which these two companies can, in their own words, clean up the mess. Well, at least we now know where to draw the line for China's April Fools'.
Blade & Soul nearing commercial release, adding Summoner class
NCsoft is loath to talk about its Blade & Soul martial arts MMORPG here in the West, so we have to rely on third-party fansites and Chinese/Korean translations for most of our info. The latest such comes courtesy of MMO Culture, and it features an interview from a recent Tencent Games media event with a couple of newsworthy notables. First up is the fact that upcoming Korean and Chinese Blade & Soul beta phases will feature the new Summoner class. Not much is known in terms of class specifics yet, but the site says that it boasts an "easier" and "more relaxed" playstyle than other classes. The interview also touches on Blade & Soul's business model and its impending release. Despite the fact that NCsoft titles like Aion and Lineage II have recently committed to free-to-play in North America, the firm isn't talking about any particular Blade & Soul payment model just yet. Finally, MMO Culture reports that Blade & Soul "is currently near the end of the development phase for commercial release," and given the lack of info on a Western client, we expect said release to be exclusive to the Chinese and Korean markets for now.
Tencent grows its empire with SURA Online
If you haven't heard of SURA Online yet, well, consider yourself enlightened. The online action title is renowned for its fast-attack combat system inspired by martial arts cinema, and ThisIsGame reports that SURA has been picked up for worldwide distribution by Chinese mega-publisher Tencent. SURA boasts three races and six classes, and TIG compares its fighting mechanics to the Tekken series (you can see an official gameplay trailer after the cut, below). Tencent is a major player in the global MMO market; much of its revenue stems from the sale of virtual goods via its Q Coin currency. Interestingly enough, the company also acquired the ZAM Network in February.
ArcheAge to feature Chinese-themed city, additional content
XLGAMES' new fantasy sandbox is a big deal in its native Korea, of course, but it's also looking to turn a few heads in the Chinese market. ArcheAge has a strong presence at this week's Tencent media event, and XL has revealed that its devs are working on a new "main city" that features Chinese culture and architecture inspirations. Additional Chinese-themed content is coming in the "near future," according to MMO Culture, and it will include costumes, dungeons, maps, and events. ArcheAge recently closed the book on its fourth Korean closed beta test; XL's upcoming CBT5 phase will coincide with the first Chinese beta.
ArcheAge besieges us with a new warfare trailer
We have no idea when the Korean-developed ArcheAge is going to see the light of day on North American soil, but that doesn't mean we can't stare at the pretty trailers and hope that it's soon. Today, the official ArcheAge YouTube page has uploaded a new video that gives fans a look at the title's siege warfare. Now, you might think that you have an idea of what a fortress siege is like. A bunch of players group up, zerg rush the fortress, and the last side standing takes the prize, right? Well, not so much in ArcheAge's case. The video shows plenty of infantry clashing blades, but that's only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There are catapults and siege towers and aerial attacks and more, lending a suitable sense of chaos to the entire ordeal. The objective of the madness seems to be the destruction of a crystal nestled deep within the defending fortress, though we don't speak Korean, so don't quote us on that. At any rate, it's certainly an impressive display of the large-scale PvP offered by ArcheAge, so load your trebuchets and click on past the cut for the full video.
ArcheAge fills up its 2011 dance card with beta, events
Things over in ArcheAge's neck of the woods may seem quiet these days, but rest assured that the XL Games crew is hard at work on making the game the best it can be while spreading the word about it. Over on the ArcheAge blog, news about the continuing beta process and upcoming conventions has been laid out in one convenient place. First up, XL Games is preparing a fourth closed beta test for sometime before the end of the year. Expectations are that this will happen in November, although no official announcement has been made. ArcheAge will be making an appearance at two upcoming events as well. At G-Star, XL Games is forgoing a public booth for a private one in an effort to court business support for the game. ArcheAge's Chinese publisher will be showing off a demo of the game's character creation, questing system, and PvP at the Tencent Game Carnival in November.
New ArcheAge trailer released, Jake Song talks player content [Updated]
If you're as starved for news about ArcheAge as we are, the new video accompanying XL Games' announcement of ArcheAge China is akin to a desert oasis. The clip features a good amount of new in-game footage as well a bit of narration from lead designer Jake Song. What's the occasion? It seems that XL has partnered with Tencent Games to bring the sprawling fantasy sandbox MMO to the Chinese market, and the new trailer was created to show the game at Tencent's recent annual press conference. If you're an English-speaker, Song's comments (which appear in the video from approximately 1:30 to 2:20) have been translated at MMO Culture, and they illustrate how ArcheAge is being positioned as a third-generation MMORPG that refines the best of all that has come before. "The third generation online games use the previous two generations as the basics, further improving content and visuals. More importantly, players themselves can now create content and playing styles themselves, permanently reshaping the in-game world. When players log into the same place after some time, the place might look totally different," Song says. Click past the cut to watch the video and also note that the video repeats itself around the 7-minute mark. We'll post a higher quality embed as soon as one becomes available. [Update: We've embedded a subtitled 720p version of the video behind the cut. Thanks to ArcheAge-Online.com for sharing the upload!]
Razer, Intel, Tencent to bring Switchblade gaming device to China
Just in case you were worried, it looks like Razer's Switchblade ultra-portable PC "concept" is totally, really real -- in China at the very least. Razer, Intel and Tencent have announced "a strategic partnership aimed at expanding the entertainment possibilities for Chinese gamers" based around the Switchblade. Several of Tencent's titles, including League of Legends and Dungeon Fighter Online, will be optimized for the Switchblade and its magical keyboard. There's still no release date for device, with the three companies only promising that there will be updates in "the months to come." That's probably for the best, as we're fairly certain that the ability to play League of Legends at any time will bring civilization to a screeching halt.
Riot Games' Marc Merrill on the Tencent acquisition and the future of League of Legends
Last year's "focus," if you can assign such a thing to the Game Developers' Conference, was probably Zynga and its Facebook games, but for 2011, there was one company that kept getting brought up in the hallways and various panels in San Francisco: Riot Games. Not only did the makers of free-to-play MOBA League of Legends clean up at last year's GDC Online awards, but last week, the Riot booth was constantly surrounded with developers, all wanting to get in on one of the quickest-growing companies around. Riot President Marc Merrill kindly sat down to chat with Joystiq about the game and the company, and we talked about the recent acqusition by Chinese giant Tencent, why Riot is growing so fast, and what's next for the game affectionately dubbed LoL. And yes, LoL players, we asked about Magma Chamber and the Mac client.
Riot Games confirms Tencent majority buyout
Riot Games has confirmed that a majority of the company was bought by China's Tencent, putting its stamp of approval on rumors of the deal last week. Brandon Beck, Riot's CEO, is quoted as saying that "Tencent's investment will provide our talented team of designers, developers and community staff with additional resources to focus on innovating around League of Legends and launching new projects that push the boundaries in the gaming space." Financial Times has a nice analysis of the deal -- it sounds like this agreement will help both sides, as Riot will not only get that nice cash infusion of a rumored $350 million, but also invaluable assistance and insight for what it was already hoping would be a nice overseas adoption. And Tencent, of course, gets to lay claim to League of Legends and any other titles that Riot developers, along with the huge microtransaction-based revenues that go along with them, both here and eventually overseas. Plus, this is a sign of the growing trend of Eastern publishers picking up Western companies to develop content for the large audiences over there. Chinese publisher The9 recently bought another Blizzard spinoff, Red 5 Studios, for $15 million, and Japanese firm DeNA picked up iOS developer ngmoco for $400 million as well. Western audiences are big, but Eastern audiences are bigger and, as a result, there's high demand for well-developed games in that market.
Reports: Chinese online giant Tencent acquires majority stake in Riot Games
China's biggest Internet company, Tencent, has reportedly acquired a majority stake in Los Angeles-based Riot Games for the sum of $350 million. Tencent has already acquired a number of other Western properties, including Crytek's free-to-play FPS and Take-Two's NBA 2K Online, and also runs the QQ messaging service, boasting over 600 million-plus users. Riot makes League of Legends, the free-to-play DotA-style multiplayer title, and has said it will stay in Los Angeles and continue to "aggressively" hire through 2011. This deal likely won't affect the day-to-day of League of Legends (or any other titles Riot has under development), but given Tencent's contacts and assets in China, Riot will likely get a lot of help in spreading its games to players overseas. The transaction is still subject to regulatory measures, but is expected to close within 30 days.
Warface secures Chinese publishing rights, deploys gameplay footage
Late last month, Crytek revealed its free-to-play FPS for Asian markets, Warface. Today, the developer announced that Tencent has purchased the publishing rights for China and plans to rename the title for that territory. The new Chinese title has yet to be presented. The game runs on CryEngine 3 and offers several different classes, gameplay modes, as well as co-op missions. Hit the jump for some gameplay footage. %Gallery-108299%
Take-Two announces push into Asia with NBA 2K Online
Did you know that at 1.3 billion people, the mainland Chinese population encompasses around 1/6th of the world's population? It's true! This might help to explain why Take-Two Interactive announced today not just the launch of NBA 2K Online -- an online basketball game for the Asian market -- but also the creation of Take-Two Asia, a new satellite office for the BioShock publisher. The game is being co-developed by Take-Two and Chinese game company Tencent Holdings Limited for distribution in China and "other key markets" (notably Taiwan, South Korea and Southeast Asia). Information on the game's pricing structure or what it looks like or, well, anything really is rather scant, though we do know that it will include "all of the NBA teams, as well as current and retired NBA players." Will the game be free-to-play with microtransactions? Will it ever be offered on this side of the Pacific? Will we be able to showboat our jersey in a raucous celebration of happiness a la Kobe Bryant when we dunk on fools? We just don't know.
The big business of selling virtual goods
It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that the entire concept of people spending real money on virtual items and currency was just bizarre. The first mentions of such a thing this writer ever came across were back in 2003, when Julian Dibbell told the story of Black Snow Interactive, rumored to have been operating virtual sweatshops operating in Mexico. Fast forward to 2009 and the notion of shelling out real world cash for the ephemeral has become commonplace. Moreover, these formerly arcane business models centering around virtual trading have ballooned into a huge business, much to the chagrin of many game companies and their players. However, not all companies attempt to fight this ever-increasing gravity of real money trading (RMT) that now permeates the MMO and virtual worlds industry, and some seek to make it an aspect of their business that they control rather than something they need to curb. Indeed, the profits of many (legitimate) businesses are largely derived from sales of virtual goods, as Rory Maher explains at paidContent.org in his article titled "From Pet Penguins to Flame Throwers: The Biggest Sellers In The Virtual World".Maher looks at three companies doing well for themselves in the virtual goods game, and what they're selling that's proven so popular. He points out Tencent, a Chinese IM provider that incorporates microtransactions into the service, allowing users to spend their "QQ" currency to enhance and customize their IM interactions, even buying virtual pets that exist on their desktop and run around inside their instant messages.
Chinese online games market saw 63% growth in 2008
Business is booming for online game operators in China. The market grew by 63% in 2008 according to analyst group Pearl Research. They also predict that online gaming in China will be a $5.5 billion market by 2012, as reported by Gamasutra's David Jenkins. In a country where broadband speeds are continually improving coupled with the widespread adoption of the web, China's netizens have embraced the relatively low-cost entertainment that online gaming offers. This is good news for gaming companies, particularly in these lean economic times. Jenkins writes, "Online operators in China have apparently seen little downturn in their business during the world economic crisis, with six companies now making revenues greater than $200 million (Tencent, Changyou, The9, Netease, Shanda and Giant)." You can see the full story on China's online games growth over at Gamasutra.
China's virtual goods taxation sparks price increases and controversy
China's State Administration of Taxation recently imposed a 20 percent income tax rate on profits made from virtual currency and virtual items, sparking price increases for virtual goods. While this tax rate (if actually enforced) clearly impacts the virtual space, it also affects transactions happening outside of MMO servers and virtual world grids. The taxation policy could ultimately extend to the virtual currencies linked to the largest IM providers in China such as Tencent, drastically increasing the percentage of the population affected by the new laws. Despite this, the positive benefits of eliminating gray and black markets for virtual items and currency may outweigh the drawbacks for gamers and users of the various digital services in China. Questions remain about what will and will not be taxed in the virtual space, but it's clear that individuals who gain virtual income are expected to declare their profits and pay taxes on this, and do so within seven days of having earned the profit, according to Shanghai Daily.Taxpayers who can provide proof of the value of this property or the value of the transaction are taxed at 20 percent on their profits, while those who cannot provide sufficient verification are taxed at three percent of the total transaction value. But how many people are affected by this new system?
The face of MMO gaming in China's heartland
Gamasutra's "China Angle" column has a new look at the changing face of gaming in China's heartland. While most of us in the West think of China's biggest cities - Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai - the vast majority of its people live in less-developed and semi-rural areas. In the biggest cities, the net cafes are facing extinction as laws tighten and people purchase the means to enjoy internet connectivity at home. In these more rural areas, though, the internet cafes remain the primary means of accessing the web. The article goes on to say that wealthy young people in these areas are particularly drawn to MMOs - sometimes the only form of amusement in particularly remote areas.Giant Interactive, the Chinese gaming powerhouse headed by Shi Yuzhu, has tapped into this by connecting the social aspects of MMOs with more traditional social networking. The company has apparently invested in the site 51.com, with the hopes of getting some of their players together offline as well as on-. China Angle author Frank Yu notes that the company is a likely to have a lot of success in this endeavor, as it has proven especially cunning at promoting online services in the past. In-cafe representatives will touch base with future customers, and (they hope) continue to improve the online lifestyle of China's heartland.
