Asian firm bags license to operate Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

I’m aware that Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning doesn’t exactly fall into the category “Asian-made MMORPGs,” but it’s entry into the Asian MMORPG market may excite most and upset some—or vice-versa. Me? I’m excited, being a big fan of the tabletop RPG and the PC games the Warhammer universe has spawned. Rumor has it that Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning can go toe-to-toe against World of Warcraft, which is undoubtedly the biggest—and most successful—MMORPG in the world today.

Let’s find out what’s in store for us Asians:

HONG KONG, Jan 31, 2008 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ — GigaMedia (Nasdaq: GIGM) announced today it has secured an exclusive license from Electronic Arts to offer and operate the highly anticipated game Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

Warhammer Online is a ground-breaking new massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in a fantasy world of war and constant combat. Based on Games Workshop’s 25-year tabletop fantasy war game series Warhammer, Warhammer Online creates a rich and immersive virtual world for hundreds of thousands of players to experience the epic nature of war and the glory of battle.

Created by the acclaimed studio EA Mythic, developers of the hit title Dark Age of Camelot, Warhammer Online is one of the most highly anticipated games of 2008, according to numerous industry publications. Over 500,000 gamers have registered for its closed beta test, one of the most successful closed betas for any MMORPG ever.

“We are very excited to work with EA to bring such a blockbuster title to Asia,” stated GigaMedia President Thomas Hui. “We expect Warhammer Online’s Realm vs Realm combat and Public Quests to be enormously popular with hard-core gamers.”

“We are thrilled to bring Warhammer Online to Asia and further strengthen our collaboration with GigaMedia as a strategic partner — bringing the hottest digital entertainment to millions,” stated EA Asia President Jon Niermann. “We are confident that, together with GigaMedia, Warhammer Online will be a tremendous success.”

Warhammer Online thrusts players into a grim world of perpetual conflict to fight for the Realms of Order (Dwarfs, High Elves, and Empire) or Destruction (Greenskins, Dark Elves, and Chaos). Next-generation Realm vs. Realm game play ensures that players are never fighting alone. With an army of allies at their back, players will defend their homeland, invade enemy realms, and ultimately lead the siege of their enemy’s capital city. Every aspect of the game — every player, every quest, every encounter, and every battle — can turn the tide of the ongoing war and mean victory for a player’s realm!

In Warhammer Online, for the first time ever, players can engage in Public Quests—multi-stage, communal quests to be completed by allied players fighting together against overwhelming odds. They can also embark on an epic quest to complete the Tome of Knowledge and unlock Warhammer lore, detailed monster information, new abilities, rewards, and major story plotlines. Drawing from a quarter century of highly detailed source material, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will bring Games Workshop’s fantasy world to life in a way that will allow players to create characters destined for great deeds on the field of battle.