AUG. 11, 2008 • Top South Korean MMO publisher Yedang Online enters into a strategic partnership with Toronto-based start-up Wicked Interactive for the latter to publish Yedang’s primary properties in North America. Games expected to be released by Wicked include Priston Tale, Priston Tale II, and Ace Online.
Impact: Yedang has been publishing online games in South Korea since 1999. Like most Korean publishers a high priority goal is expanding into international markets. In almost all cases this has required finding a local partner in each territory. Most Korean products have struggled to find a worldwide audience. In North America, Ace Online was actually available from Gala-Net as Space Cowboy Online. In December 2007, Yedang announced they were no longer allowing Gala-Net to operate the game. Priston Tale has been around since 2002, and an English version has been available for several years. Priston Tale started as a pay-to-play game, but last year went to a free game with virtual item sales business model.
