According to a Reuters report, a minority investor group of South Korean company Gravity has demanded that the publisher find a way to get more money for the Japanese license to massively multiplayer online title
Ragnarok.
The Japanese license is currently held by GungHo Online Entertainment, which owns a 52 percent share of Gravity, and is in turn a wholly owned broadband unit of Softbank Corp. At the time of the original deal last August, both companies indicted that they expected an ongoing licensing agreement, but an activist group of investors has demanded that the license for the game be auctioned to other publishers, or that a spin-off company be created to handle the title in Japan.
The activist group includes Moon Capital Management and Ramius Capital Group, which together own 14 percent of Gravity. They have called for the company to form a special committee of independent directors to examine alternatives for maximizing the value of the game when the initial license with GungHo runs out this August.
In contrast to much of the rest of Asia, massively multiplayer online PC games have not proven spectacularly popular in Japan thus far, although
Ragnarok has become one of the most popular after Square Enix’s
Final Fantasy XI. Gravity, though not having made a dent in the North American or European markets with its titles such as
Ragnarok Online, has achieved more significant success with its titles outside of North America and Europe, including a recent launch in South America.
