NCSoft Announces Opening Of Chinese Office

Major MMO publisher and developer NCsoft, the creator or publisher of titles including Lineage, City Of Heroes, and Richard Garriott's upcoming Tabula Rasa, has announced the opening of NCsoft China, its wholly owned subsidiary in Shanghai, China, as the Chinese market continues to grow in importance for MMO creators. According to NCSoft, the new company is a result of NCsoft's acquisition of a 51 percent equity stake in NC Sina, a joint venture formed by NCsoft and Sina.com in 2003. NCsoft China now becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of NCsoft and will strengthen the company's content development and publishing power in the ever-growing Chinese game market. NCsoft China will not only provide services for existing games created by NCsoft's global network to the Chinese market, but also will develop and publish new games that will appeal to Chinese gamers' interests, particularly important since the Chinese government continues to push for 'culturally appropriate' titles in a relatively hands-on manner. NCsoft currently has branch offices in the United States, Europe, Japan, China, Taiwan and Thailand for overseas services. It also has established NCRC (NCsoft Research and Development Center) in Beijing, China and NCsoft Japan in Osaka, Japan to reinforce the company's global network for content development under its commitment to "global infrastructure, local content."