Arr mateys! Today we announced a slew of milestones for Puzzle Pirates.
San Francisco, CA - ( 28, 2004) Three Rings, developer and operator of Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates, the massively multi-player game of Puzzles and Piracy for the casual gamer, today announced a number of milestones for their hit online game.
Hot on the heels of over 5,000 paying subscribers signing up for the game, Three Rings has signed partnerships with Gamigo AG in Germany and Pulse Asia in Greater China. Gamigo and Pulse will localize Puzzle Pirates, operate the game servers and market the game in their respective territories.
"Harr! We be shivering our timbers to bring Yohoho! to the gaming fanatics of Germany and the exploding audiences of the China Seas!" said Daniel James, Three Rings' CEO, known 'pon the high seas as Captain Cleaver. "Puzzle Pirates has shown that a downloadable persistent world can appeal to the casual gaming audience, and we are confident that great swathes of German and Chinese Pirates will soon be sailing the Oceans in search of rum and booty!"
"With respect to the Chinese market, most folks there play in web cafes, and we know Puzzle Pirates is a lot o' fun to play in a crew with yer mates, not least as it be appealing to the ladies as much as the gents," continued Daniel. "In Germany, the popularity of games and board games in particular bode well for Puzzle Pirates, which has been greatly inspired by the German board gaming aesthetic."
Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates continue to receive critical acclaim, winning the awards for Audience Choice and Technical Excellence at this year's Independent Game Festival at the Game Developers Conference, and nomination for Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' "Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year." Most recently, Puzzle Pirates has been nominated for the 2004 Webby award for Games.
About Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates
Players of Puzzle Pirates create a cute Pirate character and sail the seas with a crew of fellow players, pillaging up booty by playing fun puzzle games. Swordfighting, sailing, bilge pumping and more each have a unique puzzle game in which the player's own skill determines their contribution to the group effort. Tournaments, trading, shopkeeping and politics round out a complex persistent world for casual gamers.
Puzzle Pirates launched in December 2003 after a year of public testing, and can be played on Windows, Linux and Mac OSX Panther. Players can download a free trial at www.puzzlepirates.com
Chinese players can visit www.puzzlepirates.com.cn and German players www.puzzle-piraten.de for information on the forthcoming beta tests.
About Three Rings
Three Rings Design, Inc. www.threerings.net is an independent developer of persistent online games based in San Francisco, California. Three Rings is focused on creating unique, fun worlds that appeal to a wide subscriber audience.
About Gamigo AG
Gamigo AG www.gamigo.de is the leading German online games portal, providing massively multi-player games and game servers. Investors in Gamigo include T-Online Venture Fund and Axel Springer Venture.
About Pulse Asia
Pulse Asia Limited www.pulseasia.com is a leading publisher of massively multi-player games throughout Greater China. Based in Beijing, Pulse Asia works closely with web cafes and ISPs and has developed a proprietary distribution and billing platform for online games.