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WeMade Entertainment

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Wemade
Native name
위메이드
Company typePrivate company
IndustryVideo games
Founded2000
FoundersKwan Ho Park
Headquarters
Seongnam
,
South Korea
Key people
Henry Chang (CEO)
ProductsThe Legend of Mir series
Total assetsIncrease KRW₩ 1,429,831M (2022)[1]
Number of employees
1600 (4Q 2022)
Websitewww.wemade.com

Wemade Co., Ltd (formerly Wemade Entertainment Co., Ltd[2]) is a South Korean video game developer, based in Seongnam. They are the creators of the Legend of Mir series of MMORPGs, the two most successful being The Legend of Mir 2, and its sequel The Legend of Mir 3. Legend of Mir has attracted over 120 million users in Asia, and generated over $65 million a month in revenue during its height. Even today, in its ninth year of operation, Legend of Mir 2 still generates well over $20 million a month in China alone.

According to Forbes, Wemade's founder, Kwan Ho Park, has a net worth of $1.2 billion, as of October 19.[3]

History

Wemade was founded on February 10, 2000, by the original Legend of Mir developers. They chose the name WeMade Entertainment to acknowledge a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by their South Korean publishing partner Actoz against the Chinese game operator Shanda. Shanda had copied Legend of Mir under the name The World of Legend, prompting the lawsuit. In choosing their company name, the developers were making the point that “We made Legend of Mir”. Shanda settled the lawsuit by acquiring Actoz and operating it as Shanda Korea.

In 2007, WeMade Entertainment's CEO and founder Kwan-Ho Park hired Kevin “Sookiel” Seo as co-CEO to turn the development company into a publisher and operator of online games in South Korea. Mr. Seo was formerly the CEO of Actoz/Shanda Korea. The company grew from 300 to close to 600 employees as it expanded to provide full hosting services in South Korea.

Today, WeMade Entertainment Co. Ltd. hosts and operates several games in South Korea. This includes games developed by Wemade such as Legend of Mir 2, Legend of Mir 3, Master of Fantasy and Chang Chun (aka Three Kingdom Chronicles). In addition, Wemade also hosts games from other developers including Chaps Online, Tartaros and Avalon. Wemade continues to license these games to other operators in other global territories. Shanda operates Legend of Mir 2 and Chang Chun in Greater China, while Softworld operates Mir 2 in Taiwan. GameFactory operates Rumble Fighter in the US and Europe.

In the summer of 2008, Wemade established its U.S. headquarters in the Seattle, Washington area. WeMade Entertainment USA, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the South Korean entity. Headed up by CEO Kisung Kim, the US company is responsible for the Western Games market including Europe and the Americas.

WeMade Entertainment USA, Inc. is currently hosting the North American servers of Lost Saga, a game developed by I.O. Entertainment. It initially planned to transfer accounts from OGPlanet Lost Saga to the new servers (although the accounts were never made available to them to do so) and the game was fully released on May 2, 2013.

On November 20, 2013, WeMade Entertainment USA announced from the North America Lost Saga homepage, that they will be ending Lost Saga's service in North America on December 8, 2013. No answer or reason was given as to why WeMade USA is ending its service of Lost Saga, though there have been rumors. Currently, the company Z8Games will be resuming Lost Saga's services in the North America region on December 18, 2013. With the change of services, all the content obtained while under WeMade USA's service will transfer over when Z8Games resumes when the Lost Saga servers come online, with the transfer period being from December 9 through December 17, 2013. Further information regarding how the transfer will work is currently unknown.

In November 2020, Wemade released Mir 4 in South Korea. The game was made available globally, across 170 countries in 12 languages, on August 26.[4]

In May 2022, Wemade made a strategic investment in Froyo Games - a Singapore-based GameFi platform that is co-developing play-to-earn titles with iCandy Interactive.[5]

In November 2022, Wemade has announced that its investment round raised $46 million from a number of companies, including Microsoft. Microsoft has invested $14.8 million in Wemade by purchasing convertible bonds.[6]

In January 2023, Wemade launched its MMORPG MIR M: Vanguard & Vagabond (MIR M) in more than 170 countries.[7]

'Night Crows', an MMORPG developed by Madngine and published by Wemade, began servicing in South Korea in April 2023. An immediate hit, it topped the sales charts both in Apple App Store and Google Play. The international version will follow in the same year, the company official said.[8]

WeMade FOX

From 2007 to 2011, WeMade Entertainment operated a professional gaming team called WeMade FOX that maintained high-ranking Counter-Strike, StarCraft: Brood War and Warcraft III players. Sponsored by Pepsi, Skechers, GomTV and Mizuno, WeMade FOX possessed several high-earning players including NaDa and Jang Jae "Moon" Ho. On August 31, 2011, the team was officially shut down, with the former players placed in the care of KeSPA, until new sponsors were to be found.[9]

References

  1. ^ "2022 Financial Information". Wemade. March 31, 2023.
  2. ^ Wemade Co Ltd (112040.KQ). Reuters
  3. ^ Kang, John. "Blockchain-Based Game Boost Shares Of Korean Game Maker, Founder Becomes Billionaire". Forbes. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
  4. ^ "Wemade Co., Ltd. Announces Global Grand Opening of MIR 4". www.businesswire.com. August 12, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
  5. ^ "Mir4 developer Wemade backs SG play-to-earn platform". Tech In Asia. May 31, 2022. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
  6. ^ "Microsoft has invested in a Korean blockchain game company". VGC. November 2, 2022. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  7. ^ "Wemade's New MMORPG 'MIR M: Vanguard & Vagabond' Launches Worldwide". www.businesswire.com. January 31, 2023. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  8. ^ "S.Korea's popular MMORPGs go abroad for profitability". www.kedglobal.com. May 4, 2023. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  9. ^ Marius "LML" Zächer (August 23, 2011). "WeMade drops FOX". GosuGamers.
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