SEOUL – May 19, 2008 – Global online entertainment company WEBZEN Inc. (www.webzen.com) announced today that it has executed a licensing agreement for North America and Europe with NHN USA (www.nhnusainc.com) for Huxley™, the next-generation MMOFPS game.
In a landmark deal worth a total of $3 million with an advance and a minimum guarantee, NHN USA will be bringing Webzen’s highly-anticipated Huxley to North American and western European markets in 16 countries, including U.S., Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom and France.
The companies plan on leveraging Webzen’s outstanding development capabilities and NHN USA’s significant game publishing experience to create synergy in providing the optimal Huxley experience in the overseas markets.
“We are extremely excited about working with NHN USA, a company that has had phenomenal successes with publishing numerous games, as we enter the North American and European markets,” said Nam-Ju Kim, chief executive officer of Webzen, Inc. “And we’ll continue to refine Huxley even further to exceed the high expectation of gamers in North America and Europe.”
“By ensuring great playability and a systematic localization process, we’re expecting a highly successful launch of Huxley in the Americas and western Europe, both of which are considered the ‘home’ of FPS games,” said Koongwhon Nam, chief executive officer of NHN USA. “Huxley is an integral part of our unwavering commitment to bring Korea’s very best online games to the world through ijji.com.”
Their enthusiasm for Huxley echoes the nonstop North American game industry buzz of anticipation for the game – an honorable mention in Game Informer’s list of Top 10 Games for 2008, the most searched FPS game in April on North America’s premier online game magazine IGN, and sharing the top 2 spots on the same site with Starcraft 2 for all game genres.
