The major event for online gamers worldwide hits the road!
SEOUL, Korea, June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The Korea SW Industry Promotion
Agency (KIPA) is holding the 3rd Game and Game World Championship (GNGWC) from
June 28th to November 15th of this year.
-- Four Korean online games have been chosen as the official games of
'GNGWC 2008'
-- Local final contests will be held in Brazil, the U.S., Japan, Germany,
and Singapore
GNGWC, the annual worldwide championship for online gamers, hits the road
on its worldwide tour on June 28th.
KIPA director Youngmin Yoo announced today that the GNGWC 2008 will host
the first local final contests in Leipzig, Germany in August.
The international game contest, GNGWC, sponsored by KIPA, has been held
for three years running in an effort to globalize online games produced in
Korea.
This year, four Korean games, OnNet's ShotOnline, NDoors' Atlantica,
JoyMax's SilkroadOnline, and SDEnternet's Navy Field, have been selected as
the official games of the championship. The preliminary online contests will
commence in July, followed by local final contests in six countries, and
culminating in the final match to take place in Korea this November.
GNGWC is the venue for finding out about the state-of-the-art online games
developed by small and medium sized Korean game developers, and where
developers can efficiently set up distribution channels for their products
around the world.
The Korean online game industry is a world leader in terms of world class
IT infrastructures and game development. However other countries such as
China have recently entered the market and are rapidly improving their
products, limiting Korea's growth in the sector and causing Korea's market
share for the licensing of games through local publishers to decrease. These
competitive pressures have made KIPA's GNGWC a critical venue for Korean game
companies to prove the superiority of their products on the international
stage.
KIPA and its official sponsor KT Corporation (CEO: Jungsu NAM) have set up
base servers with full installations of their online infrastructures in six
countries across the globe in order to support localization and marketing of
the games for the GNGWC. This year's GNGWC, using its expertise in
administering international game contests, expanded the number of local
contests to six countries, from five countries last year.
At last year's GNGWC 2007, approximately 120 gamers from around the world
competed in the preliminary and local final contests. Last year's official
games including Allm's Lunia, Innodis' BombNDash, and SDEnternet's Navy Field
were signed to international distribution arrangements thanks to GNGWC 2007.
These arrangements have led to vastly increased market reach and user bases.
GNGWC 2008 will start with online preliminary contests in July, with
subsequent local finalist contests in Europe (Leipzig, Germany), Southeast
Asia (Singapore), North America (San Francisco, U.S.A.), Korea (Yongin), South
America (Sang Paulo, Brazil), and Japan (Tokyo), with the final contest in
Korea in November.
Taekmin Kwon from KIPA's Digital Contents Business Group said, "the Korean
online game industry is currently depressed, and we need an entree into the
global market as soon as possible. And GNGWC will be the suitable marketing
means." He further added, "We will try to foster the domestic e-sports
contests using foreign games for professional gamers and will encourage users
to try out Korean online games through the GNGWC."
About The Game And Game World Championship (GNGWC)
GNGWC is a series of international online game contests meant to globalize
Korean games. The first GNGWC took place in 2006.
At "GNGWC 2007," six Korean games, Silkroad Online, Lunia, BombNDash,
WarRock, Navy Field, and Shot Online were unveiled in five locations
worldwide: North America (Los Angeles), Europe (Germany), Southeast Asia
(Vietnam), Japan and Korea.
KIPA has been using a Global Service Platform to support overseas
marketing for Korean online games since 2004, and GNGWC is promoted through
this platform.
GNGWC 2008 schedule
Country Local Local final contests (Off-line)
preliminary
contests
(On-line)
Date Place
Local Germany 7.28 (Mon) 8.21 (Thu) Leipzig
finalist - 8.14 (Thu)
contests
Singapore 9.8 (Mon) 9.6 (Sat) Singapore
- 10.2 (Thu) Polytech
University
U.S.A. 8.18 (Mon) 9.20 (Sat) San Jose
- 9.10 (Wed) (KIICA
Center)
Korea 9.1 (Mon) 9.27 (Sat) Yongin
- 9.17 (Wed) (Yongin
Youth
Hostel)
Brazil 8.25 (Mon) 10.4 (Sat) Sao Paulo
- 9.17 (Wed) (Event
hall)
Japan 9.15 (Mon) 10.25 (Sat) Tokyo
- 10.9 (Thu) (Quest
Hall event
hall)
The final - 11.14 (Fri) Welcome
contest reception
Korea (planned)
- 11.15 (Sat) The final
contest
(planned)
"GNGWC 2008" Official Games
Game Company Genre
Shot Online OnNet Sports
Atlantica Ndoors MMORPG
Silkroad Online Joymax MMORPG
Navy Field SDEnternet Strategic simulations
For more information about the GNGWC, please visit the official KIPA
website at http://www.software.or.kr or contact Suyeon Park at +82-2-2141-
5437.
SOURCE Korea SW Industry Promotion Agency
Suyeon Park, Contents Marketing Team, Digital, Korea SW Industry Promotion
Agency, +82-2-2141-5437
