PARTNER PRESS RELEASE: GMO CLOUD Becomes Exclusive APAC Partner for Photon Game Network Engine
Partnership kicks off with Game Developer Events in Japan, Malaysia and Thailand.
Tokyo, Japan – December 16, 2013
GMO Internet Group company, GMO CLOUD K.K. today announces that it has concluded an exclusive partnership agreement with a German company, Exit Games GmbH. Under the new partnership effective October 2013, GMO CLOUD will provide the Photon network engine, developed by Exit Games, in the Asia Pacific region. To mark the start of this new business, GMO CLOUD is working with a number of partners and sponsors to hold Game Jam developer events in Japan, Malaysia and Thailand.
Photon is a real-time multiplayer game development framework that is fast, lean, and flexible. Photon consists of a server and several client SDKs for major platforms. Photon Cloud is a fully-managed Photon Server service. Exit Games is running servers in several regions, ready to use anytime. With Photon Cloud, no server installation or hosting operations are required. Photon can also be used for turn-based games, such as card games, and chat functionality, such as is used by popular social chat apps.
Throughout the world, the number of games requiring networking functionality continues to grow along with user demand. However, until recently, only large game companies had the resources to build network engines that could handle real-time play, support multiple-platforms and scale to accommodate any number of players simultaneously. Now with Photon, even a solo developer can build a game with such functionality, and many already have.
Photon supports multiple platforms and has SDKs for Android, Blackberry, Corona, DotNet, Flash, iOS, Javascript, MacOSX, Marmalade, Photon Unity Networking (PUN), PSMobile, Silverlight, Unity3D, Win8Phone, Win8RT, Win32, WindowsPhone and Xamarin.
The Photon Cloud service for the Japanese market was launched in April 2013. GMO CLOUD not only localized the entire service into Japanese language, but also now provides technical customer support in Japanese and is very active in the Japanese game developer community through various online mediums and offline events. The service was well received by the Japanese game community and many said they had been waiting for it to become available in their language. Based on this experience, the decision was made to bring the benefits of Photon to game developers throughout the Asia Pacific region.
About Photon Game Jam
To kick off this new business, GMO CLOUD is working with a number of partners and sponsors to hold “Photon Game Jam.” events. The first event was held in Thailand at the end of November 2013, and the next is planned for Japan. Photon Game Jam is open to entrants with skills in programming, game design, animation and artwork. The participants will work together as teams, make the most of their abilities and have fun for 36 hours straight to develop games with Photon to enable real-time, multi-player and multi-platform network operation. In addition to introducing game developers in the region to the many benefits of using Photon, the event also aims to deepen friendships and collaboration between game developers in Japan and the Asia Pacific region.
About Exit Games GmbH
Exit Games is a German venture capital financed company founded in 2003. Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, and with an office in Portland, Oregon, the firm offers Photon, a Network Engine for building scalable MMOGs, FPS or any other multiplayer game and application for PC, Mac, Browser, Mobile, Console and Cross-Platform. Photon is available as SaaS, Photon Cloud, and as on-premise installation software, Photon Server. For more information, please visit: http://www.exitgames.com/.
About GMO Cloud K.K.
GMO Cloud K.K. is a full-service IT infrastructure provider focused on cloud solutions. Established as a hosting company in 1996, the company has managed servers for more than 130,000 businesses and now has 6,000 sales partners throughout Japan. In February of 2011, the company launched GMO Cloud to enhance its focus on cloud-based solutions. Since 2007, the company has also grown its subsidiary, GMO GlobalSign, an issuer of SSL security certificates through offices in Belgium, U.K., U.S., China and Singapore. GMO Cloud K.K. is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE Mothers: 3788). For more information please visit: http://ir.gmocloud.com/english/.
About GMO Internet Group
GMO Internet Group is a comprehensive provider of industry-leading Internet solutions including domain name registration, cloud-based and traditional hosting, ecommerce, security, and payment processing services that each holds the top share of their respective markets in Japan. Other key business areas for the Group include online securities/FX trading, Internet advertising, search engine marketing and online research, and smartphone game development and publishing. GMO Internet, Inc. (TSE: 9449) is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. For more information please visit: http://www.gmo.jp/en/.
