'Dream Team' Partnership Will Bring Top Sports Title to Giant Marketplace: a 'Monster Slam Dunk'
HONG KONG, July 17 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GigaMedia Limited
(Nasdaq: GIGM) announced today that it has secured an exclusive license to
offer in China the highly anticipated EA SPORTS(TM) title NBA STREET Online,
an exciting new sports game from Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq: ERTS), the
world's leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment.
In addition, GigaMedia and EA have entered into a strategic marketing
partnership with Tencent Holdings Limited ('Tencent'), a leading provider of
Internet, mobile and telecommunications value-added services in China.
'No one delivers sports action like EA and no one has a larger or more
active community than Tencent,' stated GigaMedia CEO Arthur Wang. 'The
partnership of Giga -- the leading online sports game provider -- with EA and
Tencent is truly the Dream Team of online games in China.'
NBA STREET Online is a real-time, multi-player online version of EA's
phenomenally popular NBA games series, featuring fast-paced street basketball
action with today's biggest NBA superstars, all in true-to-life detail.
NBA STREET Online addresses a huge fan base in China, which already
represents the largest NBA market outside the United States with an estimated
300 million Chinese playing basketball -- making it the favorite sports game
among China's youth, according to the NBA. NBA.com / China has rapidly become
one of the most popular sports sites in China and NBA is consistently the most
searched sports term on Baidu.com, the top search engine in the nation.
'We are honored to partner with EA, the NBA and Tencent to bring the
incomparable action, style, and excitement of NBA basketball to China in EA's
brilliant new game,' stated GigaMedia President Thomas Hui. 'For the 300
million basketball players and millions of gamers in China, EA's NBA STREET
Online is a monster slam dunk.'
'We are very pleased to have top game provider GigaMedia and top Internet
company Tencent as our partners for NBA STREET Online in China,' said Jon
Niermann, President of EA Asia. 'Basketball is one of the most popular sports
in China and with this powerful partnership, we are confident we have a
winning formula for NBA STREET Online in the market.'
GigaMedia's leadership in online sports games and entertainment and
Tencent's position as China's largest Internet service provider provide this
partnership with unprecedented market understanding and resources to launch
NBA STREET Online in China and drive strong growth. The partnership will enjoy
the unmatched reach of the Tencent community, with over 318 million active
user accounts on its QQ instant messaging platform as of March 31, 2008.
'We are pleased to join GigaMedia and EA to promote this exciting, world-
class product. We believe this game will provide a wonderful sports gaming
experience for our users, complementing the large collection of games we
already have on our gaming platform. This is a great example of our effort to
explore various partnership models with other successful online game companies
in providing the best gaming experience to users on our gaming platform,'
stated Tencent President Martin Lau.
GigaMedia has exclusive rights to offer NBA STREET Online in China for
three years.
The agreement follows GigaMedia's previously announced partnership with EA
to operate NBA STREET Online in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, and that of
GigaMedia's affiliate Infocomm Asia Holdings to operate EA SPORTS(TM) FIFA
Online 2 in Asia Pacific.
NBA STREET Online was co-developed by EA Canada and Neowiz Games. NBA
Street Online is expected to launch in China in the fall of 2008.
For further information on NBA STREET Online, visit http://info.ea.com and
http://www.ea.com.cn .
About GigaMedia
GigaMedia Limited (Singapore registration number: 199905474H) is a major
provider of online entertainment software and services. GigaMedia develops and
licenses software for online gaming. GigaMedia also operates online games
businesses including FunTown, a leading Asian casual games operator and the
world's largest online MahJong game site in terms of revenue, and T2CN, a
leading online sports game provider in China. More information on GigaMedia
can be obtained from http://www.gigamedia.com.tw .
About Tencent
Tencent aims to enrich the interactive experience of Internet users in
China by providing a comprehensive range of Internet and wireless value-added
services. Through its various online platforms, including Instant Messaging
QQ, web portal QQ.com, QQ Game portal, multi-media blog service Qzone and
wireless portal, Tencent services the largest online community in China and
fulfills the user's needs for communication, information, entertainment and e-
Commerce on the Internet.
Tencent has three main streams of revenues: Internet value-added services,
mobile and telecommunications value-added services and online advertising.
Shares of Tencent Holdings Limited are traded on the Main Board of the
Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, under stock code 00700. The company
became one of the 43 constituents of the Hang Seng Index (HSI) on June 10,
2008. For more information, please visit http://www.tencent.com/ir .
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is
the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in
1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software
worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and
the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA
SPORTS(TM), EA(TM), EA SPORTS Freestyle(TM) and POGO(TM). In fiscal 2008, EA
posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than
one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is http://www.ea.com .
More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be
found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com .
EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle, and POGO are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S and/or other countries.
NBA is a registered trademark of NBA Properties, Inc. EA SPORTS NBA Street
Online is manufactured under license by Electronic Arts. All other trademarks
are the property of their respective owners.
About Neowiz Games
Neowiz Games Co. Ltd, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, is the nation's
leading online game company. Neowiz Games is expected to post revenues of $160
million for fiscal 2007. The company develops and publishes online games:
Neowiz has over 50 online game titles in service including the most popular
online game in Korea called EA SPORTS FIFA Online, Ray City, etc. Neowiz
markets its products under its online game portal http://www.pmang.com .
More information about the company and press releases can be found on the
Internet at http://www.neowiz.com .
Safe Harbor Statement
The statements included above and elsewhere in this press release that are
not historical in nature are 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning
of the 'safe harbor' provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995. GigaMedia cautions readers that forward-looking statements are
based on the company's current expectations and involve a number of risks and
uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in
such forward-looking statements. Information as to certain factors that could
cause actual results to vary can be found in GigaMedia's Annual Report on Form
20-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in June
2008.
Contact:
GigaMedia Limited
Brad Miller
Investor Relations Director
Tel: +886-2-2656-8016
Email: brad.miller@gigamedia.com.tw
Tencent
Catherine Chan
General Manager, Investor Relations
Tel: +86-755-8601-3388 ext. 8369 or +86-755-8376-9533
Email: cchan@staff.tencent.com
Electronic Arts
Daphne Chua
Regional Corporate Communications, Asia Pacific
Tel: +65-8157-7635
Email: DChua@ea.com
SOURCE GigaMedia Limited