Shanda Announces Multi-Game Deal With Emergent

Major Chinese game publisher and developer Shanda Interactive Entertainment has announced that it has licensed Emergent game engine technology for a deal covering multi-game, multi-platform development, one of the biggest deals yet for Emergent, which merged in 2005 with Gamebryo engine firm NDL. Emergent's current-gen game engine has been used in games such as Sid Meier's Civilization 4 and Playboy: The Mansion, and its next-gen engine has already been deployed in at least one title, since it is powering Bethesda's Xbox 360 game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which is being released for both Microsoft's next-gen console and PC in the near future. As for Shanda, the company operates MMOs such as The Legend of Mir II, Magical Land and The World of Legend, and recently licensed titles including casual music online game DJ Max. But the switching of its business model for its major MMOs to 'free to play, pay for item' has recently affected its financials, leading to decreases for its NASDAQ-traded shares. Nonetheless, as of June 30, 2005, Shanda had approximately 460 million registered accounts, 18.5 million active paying accounts and more than 2.5 million total peak concurrent users for all of its games in commercial service. "This is an exciting period in the evolution of the Chinese interactive entertainment market," observed Emergent CEO Geoffrey Selzer. "There is an impressive pool of local talent responsible for making China one of the most dynamic, creative and thriving game markets in the world. We are proud to support this amazing growth with Emergent's evolving suite of technology and look forward to expanding our partnership with Shanda and becoming an integral part of China's game industry."