World of Warcraft exclusive license goes to IP E-Game Ventures

Computer games publisher Blizzard Entertainment International gave the exclusive rights to market, sell and distribute Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo and its other “boxed license products" in the Philippines to listed firm IP E-Game Ventures Inc. Blizzard Entertainment International and IP E-Game Ventures executed the license and distribution agreement on Tuesday. The local gaming firm disclosed it to the investing public via the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday. World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Defense of the Ancients (DotA) are some of the world’s most popular massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG) in which many players interact with each other online through their respective characters or avatars. Blizzard said its World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is the fastest-selling PC game of all time because it “sold through more than 3.3 million copies as of its first 24 hours of release." IP E-Games Ventures operates other popular online games like RAN Online, CABAL, Audition and Runes of Magic. It also has a joint venture, X-Play Online Games Inc., with GMA New Media Inc. In 2010, it earned P117.6 million from RAN Online and P48 million from Cabal Online. IP E-Games Ventures has a network of 28 main distributors and 20,000 gaming outlets. It had 11.8 million registered gamers all over the country as of December last year and 4.5 million of them are active users, but "average concurrent users" plunged 61.82 percent to 14,706 from the December 2009 level of 38,516. — With Earl Victor Rosero/VS, GMA News