The global leader in e-commerce solutions, Digital River, recently announced their multi-year deal with Seattle based En Masse Entertainment. Digital River will deliver its powerful e-commerce solutions to En Masse Entertainment’s upcoming title The Exiled Realm of Aborea, or TERA for short.
Digital River and En Masse Entertainment struck a deal that will see in-game commerce and an online store launch in 2011, and will run through to 2014. Services provided by Digital River, parent company of fatfoogoo, will include global payments, subscriptions, fraud protection, and virtual currencies.
“We looked at a variety of e-commerce scenarios and quickly determined that Digital River had the most scalable solution,” said Patrick Wyatt, En Masse Entertainment’s chief operating officer. “Digital River has the global e-commerce experience, and powerful online and in-game features that we demand for our flagship product.”
Seoul based developer Bluehole Studio created TERA, and is now preparing for not only a North American launch, but also bringing the title to Europe. And while produced in Asia, TERA has been targeted at Western Audiences since it’s inception. En Masse Entertainment has spent hours and hours of research studying Western gamers’ preferences and adjusting their development accordingly. Appropriately, the MMO is the same, and yet different from a number of RPGMMO’s on the market today, in so much as combat involves moving and dodging attacks, similar to console style action titles.
“We are excited to be working with En Masse and their experienced leadership team. There is a lot of anticipation in the industry as they prepare for the official launch of TERA,” said Jeff Hemenway, Digital River’s group vice president of games. “We have been investing heavily in our game technology, which we believe is unmatched in the industry when it comes to global scalability, and the power and flexibility of our merchandising, marketing and fraud protection tools. Signing En Masse is a testament to the breadth and depth of our global e-commerce capabilities.”
“The sale of virtual goods through micro transactions continues to grow in popularity with consumers and is establishing new revenue models for the games industry,” said Joel Ronning, CEO of Digital River. “With the addition of fatfoogoo, we’ve strengthened our commitment to the gaming marketplace. We believe the combination of our in-game and in-store commerce solution along with our subscription management capabilities will be unmatched in the industry. This partnership continues our promise to provide existing and future clients with the leading e-commerce technology and expertise they expect from Digital River.”
“We are excited to partner with Digital River to deliver an industry leading commerce solution that best services online stores and in-game marketplaces for the gaming community,” remarks Martin Herdina, fatfoogoo CEO. “Our on-demand service models drive global revenue opportunities and operational efficiencies while reducing risk – all value propositions that are increasingly attractive to companies in these uncertain economic times. We intend to leverage these natural synergies between our business to the full advantage of our clients.”
“This partnership is another indicator of Digital River’s deep commitment to the game industry,” said Jeff Hemenway, Digital River’s group vice president of games. “In-game commerce in addition to digital downloads and subscriptions are quickly emerging as key strategies for driving game revenue. Our acquisition of THINK subscriptions last year and our integrated partnership with fatfoogoo now give us best-of-breed solutions to help our gaming client maximize revenue opportunities.”
