Level Up! Games
Level Up! is a trademark of Level Up Inc. under license to Playweb Games Inc. Playweb Games Inc. is the publisher and operator of all game titles and services under the Level Up! brand in the Philippines. Established in 2011, Playweb Games Inc. is the publisher and operator of Level Up!, the leading portal and brand name for locally published online games in the Philippines. With a vast portfolio of hugely popular Massively Mutli-player Online Games which includes Ragnarok Online – the game that started the online gaming craze in 2003. Playweb Games Inc. is the leading game publisher in the online gaming industry in the country today.
History In the Philippines
Level Up! Inc is part of Level Up! International and has pioneered the online gaming business in the Philippines.
On 2002, Level Up! introduced Oz World, the very first massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) in the Philippines. After a year, Level Up! launched the first Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) Ragnarok Online, which became a major hit. It was so successful that a team from the Philippines did compete in the 2004 Ragnarok World Championships held in Seoul, South Korea. Level Up! introduced two games: ROSE Online that was created for female gamer, and RF Online, a science-fiction game on the next year. On the same year, the Ragnarok Philippine Championships offered a 1 Million PHP cash prize to the winning team.
On 2006, PLDT acquired Level Up! Philippines through its digital entertainment division ePLDT, merging their respective portfolios of successful online games. On the same year, the first Level Up! Live event took place, with championships competitions held for four games: Ragnarok Online, Rose Online, RF Online, and Freestyle. Level Up! continued to launch new games, including Perfect World and Silkroad Online. They also had their first Level Up! School Tour, going from Baguio City all the way to Davao City and the Philippines was selected to be the host for the annual Ragnarok World Championship games on 2008.
On October 2012, Level Up! Games merged with E-Game Ventures Inc, which created the largest online game publishing operation in the country. The merger was announced as early as February 2012.
In Brazil
After starting and consolidating its activities abroad, the company formed a partnership with Tectoy and thus arrived in Brazil in September 2004. Level Up! Games Brazil (sometimes abbreviated as LUG! Brazil) has around 150 employees and over 1.6 million active users.
On February 2005, the LUG! Brazil officially entered the Brazilian market, launching its first MMORPG in the country: the franchise Ragnarok Online, translated into Portuguese and free.
In August 2006, the company brought its second game: Chase, a action game, for free and translated in Portuguese. In the same month, the company released the Brazilians' access to international servers of three games: City of Villains, City of Heroes, and Lineage II. In September, the franchise Guild Wars also had their servers opened to the Brazilian public. In late 2006, LUG launched The Duel. The following games were released after a year: Rising Force Online, Silkroad, Dungeon Runners, Trickster Online, Tabula Rasa, 9Dragons, Bots!, and Dance! Online. were released in 2008: Dofus (discontinued in 2012), followed by Perfect World. Later that year, the list grew with the addition of Maplestory (discontinued in November 2011) and Lunia Z. Releases in 2009 included Pangya, RuneScape, Aion, and Warrior Epic.
After releasing Dark Eden and Deco Online on 2010, the company expanded its partnership with Korean developer NEXON and brought to Brazil the first person shooter Combat Arms. In the same year, a Level Up! Store was launched, featuring products related to games distributed by LUG! Brazil, which was to cease its activities in June 2011. At the end of the year, the company launched the title Allods.
The following year, the company released Sudden Attack for Brazil, which was developed by the South Korean company GameHi,.
On March 2012, during Level Up! Live 2012, the first game developed for a social networking site, Turma do Chico Bento, was announced for Facebook. The titles Forsaken and Eligium were announced as well.
Games distributed by the company
Brazil
- 9Dragons
- Aion: The Tower of Eternity
- Allods Online
- City of Heroes
- Combat Arms
- Dance! Online
- DarkEden
- DECO Online
- Dofus
- FunOrb
- Chase
- Khan Wars
- Guild Wars
- Lineage II
- Lunia
- Pangya
- Perfect World
- Ragnarok Online
- RuneScape
- Silkroad Online
- Sudden Attack
- Trickster Online
- Turma do Chico Bento
- Warrior Epic
- Forsaken
- Eligium
- M.A.R.S.
- Elsword (Announced by KOG Studios this coming 2013)
- Assault Fire (as 'Ni Zhan' in China)
- Warface
Among the games offered by the company, the following titles feature national servers and have been translated into Portuguese: Allods Online, Dofus, Ragnarok Online, Grand Chase, Perfect World, Lunia, RuneScape, Combat Arms, FunOrb, Sudden Attack, Forsaken, and MARS Eligium. For other games, Level Up! provides only credit or access to international servers.
Discontinued games in Brazil
On September 5, 2011, the game The Duel was terminated by the company. Soon after, on November 22 of the same year, Maple Story was also discontinued followed by RF Online on November 24, 2011.
India
- Freestyle
- World OZ
- Ragnarok Online (with partnership with Indiatimes)
- Gunz Online
Philippines
- Flyff
- Freestyle Online (Has Been Closed Down Since 2010 for their Global Servers)
- Grand Chase
- ' 'Oz World
- Perfect World
- Ragnarok Battle Offline
- Ragnarok Online
- RF Online
- ROSE Online (Formerly)
- Silkroad Online
- Ran Online
- Point Blank
- Dance Battle Audition
- Bandmaster
- CABAL Online
- Eligium PH
- K.O.S. Special Operations
- Bounty Hounds
- Crazy Kart
- Crazy Kart 2: Race Battle Online[11]
- Allods Online (Closed Down)
- Pangya (Formerly)
- Rohan
- Level Up! Global Games
- Assault Fire PH (as Ni Zhan in China)
References
- Zinnia B., Dela Pena (2 April 2012). "E-Games merges with Level Up! to create online gaming giant". PhilStar.com. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
- "Level Up! mad about ‘Oz World’". Philstar.com. 21 March 2003. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
- Dumlao, Doris C. (2 April 2012). "IP E-Games-Level UP! merger creates largest gaming publishing business in PH". Inquirer.net. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
- Montecillo, Paolo G. (15 February 2012). "Local online gaming firms to merge". Inquirer.net. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
- quote closing of Level Up! Store, 29 July 2012
- http://levelupgames.uol.com.br/combat-arms/notas/splash_110805_theduel.html
- [Ragnatales.com quote Brazilian Maple Story quits]
- [Ragnatales.com Brazilian RF Online is closed]
- "Level Up India Partners with Indiatimes to Launch Ragnarok, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game". TechShout. 9 June 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
Sallan, Edwin P. (6 February 2010). "Level Up! launches new online racing game and tournament". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 24 October 2012.