BURDA Interactive Communities

BURDA Interactive Communities
Info
Type	Private company
Industry	Software
Founded	2004
Headquarters	Germany
Products	MMORPG and Mobile video games
Parent	Hubert Burda Media
Website	BURDA Interactive

BURDA Interactive Communities, or simply BURDA, was a subsidiary for Hubert Burda Media and the original publisher of the Europe server (euRO) for Ragnarok Online. Server operations began in 2004 up to 2010. When BURDA Interactive Communities was unable to extend their RO contract with GRAVITY, hosting services for the rest of the European regions were transferred to Gravity Europe SASU in 2010.

History

BIC's contract negotiations with Gravity proved difficult, with BIC unable to secure a long-term contract to the game license. In July 2010, BIC announced that due to the inability of the two parties to come to an agreement, it would be withdrawing its latest offer and would thus lose its rights to host the game. A closing date of 2010 September 30 was announced on September 8, and free access to the game was made available from September 15 until the shutdown of the game. Players were given the option to transfer their characters to fRO a few months later. The last update euRO received prior to shutting down was Episode 13.1: Ash Vacuum. The euRO server was notable in the fact that it never opened a true Kafra Shop item mall, instead releasing a series of Headgear Bundles. The euRO server was also only one of two servers at the time of its shutdown to not have a Free to Play option.

External links

• BURDA Interactive Official Website
• BURDA's GameSpy page