15:38 (BST), 27/03/2008
MU Online
Press Release PROVIDED BY GAMES PRESS
First Publisher-Sponsored Commerce Network for Digital Goods Goes Live
Santa Clara, CA - March 26, 2008 - PLAYSPAN Inc. and K2 Network ( www.k2network.net) announced today that players of Global MU Online, a globally popular MMORPG published by K2 Network through its game portal, GamersFirst (gamersfirst.com), can join the expanded open beta for PlaySpan’s innovative in-game commerce platform.
“We are committed to bring new and innovative ways to better serve our gamer community and integrating PlaySpan’s player-2-player commerce network is a great way to expand our overall service offerings.” said Joshua Hong, CEO of K2 Network. “PlaySpan is built from the ground-up to provide highly secured and scalable microtransactions and we believe that this is the next generation of solutions to improve fight against fraud and game-balance issues faced by game developers and publishers worldwide.”
PlaySpan allows gamers to connect with each other directly for in-game trades, thus reducing instances of fraud committed by gold farmers. The application, an in-game widget, is a secure and reliable way to buy and sell goods without leaving the game.
“PlaySpan is the first company to integrate a commerce network and exchange with 3rd party games and this is a major milestone for the entire game industry” said Chris Deering, former- CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. “Microtransactions is the next big revenue model for games and virtual worlds and PlaySpan is clearly the leader in technology and execution”
“We are seeing users making more in-game purchases with the peace of mind of buying from real gamers,” said Karl Mehta, CEO of PlaySpan Inc. “We’re continuing our lead with our pioneering ‘publisher-sponsored’ business model and first production-ready, integrated platform for mass-market deployment worldwide ”
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About K2 Network
K2 Network publishes and services highly engaging online games and cultivates dynamic player environments. The company puts GamersFirst™ by giving them free access to compelling titles, supporting their amazing communities, offering creative pricing models and updating games based on player feedback. K2 Network currently has over 16 million registered users and offers War Rock, Knight Online, Global MU Online, Red Stone and Sword of the New World: Granado Espada. K2 Network has an operational presence in the United States, Korea, and India. Read more about the company at www.k2network.net and find all of their games at www.GamersFirst.com.
About PLAYSPAN INC.
PlaySpan™ is game industry's first publisher-sponsored™ in-game commerce™ network. PlaySpan's patent-pending in-game search, commerce and micropayment technologies enable game publishers and developers to generate new revenues, acquire new users and extend the loyalty of existing users. Leading game providers and virtual world publishers have selected PlaySpan as their official marketplace for virtual goods commerce. PlaySpan is based in Silicon Valley with offices in Mumbai, Seoul and Shanghai. Investors include Easton Capital, Menlo Ventures, South Korea based STIC and Hong Kong based Novel TMT Ventures.
Interested Publishers or Developers can send enquiries to publisher@playspan.com; For participation in the beta, please send email to beta@playspan.com
PlaySpan, Gamer-Friendly and In-Game Commerce are registered trademarks of PlaySpan Inc.
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