Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited, or Shanda, a leading interactive entertainment media company in China, announced today that it has entered into an exclusive agreement with TECMO, LTD., or TECMO, a veteran Japanese developer with over 40 years of video game development experience, to operate the online version of its flagship video game Dead or Alive, or DOA ONLINE, in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao. Under the terms of the agreement, DOA ONLINE will be developed by TECMO's online game development studio "Lievo Studio", and Shanda will provide its online game-related experiences and technologies to assist development. Both TECMO and Shanda will profit from these technologies when applied globally. The game is expected to enter commercialization in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Dead or Alive is a 3D fighting game developed by TECMO's Team NINJA Studio and is considered one of the best fighting games in the worldwide video game industry, with the series' cumulative worldwide sales of over seven and a half million copies. The game features richly-detailed environments where players can select from a large cast of game characters and engage in fast-paced martial arts combat. The game's stunning graphics and exhilarating feeling of control will ensure that gameplay is visually appealing, action-packed and easy-to-pickup. As the first PC online game adapted from DOA series, DOA ONLINE will be globally published and initially released in China.
"The Dead or Alive series from TECMO is one of the most popular fighting franchises created, and it is a great honor for Shanda to partner with TECMO on the game's online version. DOA ONLINE will be developed on both PC and Shanda's EZ Platform. Its gamepad support will deliver to users a fantastic console gaming experience," said Tianqiao Chen, Chairman and CEO of Shanda. "By leveraging our strong operating platform and advanced come-stay-pay revenue model, we are confident that DOA ONLINE has the potential to achieve great success in China. In the future, the two parties will continue to actively seek cooperative opportunities in online entertainment-related fields."
"DOA ONLINE is not a simple replant from the console platform to the PC platform. It is a completely new game featuring the characteristics of a PC online game. We are confident that the game will become one of the most successful online games in China," said Mr. Yoshimi Yasuda, president and CEO of TECMO. "As China's largest online game company, we believe Shanda is the best partner of TECMO's global game platform "Lievo" in China. Additionally, we have the technical capability and actual achievement to implement worldwide online fighting matches in our competitive fighting game for the console platform. Combining TECMO's strong video game development and designing experience, and Shanda's expertise in online game operation, we are confident that our future cooperation will be a highly successful one."
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