| Level Up! Games | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Info | |
| Type | Private company |
| Industry | Software |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Headquarters | Phillipines |
| Products | MMORPG and Mobile video games |
| Parent | AsiaSoft |
| Website | Level Up! Games English |
Level Up! Games and Level Up! are trademarks of Level Up Inc., which is owned by Tencent, China's leading internet service provider.[1] According to their website, they currently have operations in the Philippines, Brazil and Latin America.
History[]
Level Up! Games pioneered the online gaming business in the Philippines.[2] In 2002, Level Up! introduced Oz World, the very first massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) in the Philippines.[3] The following year, Level Up! launched the first Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), Ragnarok Online. They followed up by introducing ROSE Online (for female gamers) and RF Online (a futuristic MMORPG).
Also in 2004, Level Up! partnered with Tectoy to expand into Brazil. In February 2005, Level Up! Games Brazil launched its first MMORPG in the country: a free version of the company's franchise Ragnarok Online, translated into Portuguese.[4] This game was followed by numerous other releases in Brazil over the next few years.
ePLDT, the digital entertainment division of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), acquired Level Up! Philippines in 2006, and merged their portfolios of online games.[5] That same year, the first Level Up! Live event took place, with championship competitions held for four games: Ragnarok Online, ROSE Online, RF Online, and Freestyle. Level Up! continued to launch new games, including Perfect World and Silkroad Online. They also had their first Level Up! School Tour, going as far north as Baguio and south to Davao City.
The company expanded into India in 2006, partnering with Indiatimes to Launch Ragnarok.[6]
In 2008, the Philippines was selected to be the host for the annual Ragnarok World Championship.
In 2010, the Level Up! Games Brazil expanded its partnership with Korean developer NEXON and brought to Brazil the first person shooter Combat Arms. Also in 2010, a Level Up! Store was launched, featuring products related to games distributed by Level Up! Games Brazil. The Store was closed in June 2011.[7] At the end of the year, the company launched the title Allods Online.
In October 2012, Level Up! Games merged with E-Games, creating the largest online game publishing operation in the Philippines.[8] Also in 2012, Level Up! Brazil released Turma do Chico Bento, their first game developed for social networking site, Facebook, at Level Up! Live 2012. Level Up! Games expanded into Latin American the same year.
In February of 2015, Level Up! Games shut down their Philippines (pRO) servers for Ragnarok Online. Server data was transferred over to Gravity Interactive with Electronics Extreme reopening a new pRO under their services.[9][10][11]
In 2018, Gravity Interactive opened a Brazil branch of their WarpPortal network to take over operation of the Brazil (bRO) servers of Ragnarok Online from Level Up! Games. Known as WarpPortal BR, the current bRO staff was transferred over to the new network branch, acting on Gravity Interactive's behalf in Brazil.[12] This effectively ends Level Up!'s RO contract with pRO and bRO no longer managed under them.
Games distributed by the company[]
Brazil[]
- 9Dragons
- Aion: The Tower of Eternity
- Allods Online
- Assault Fire ('Ni Zhan' in China)
- City of Heroes
- Combat Arms
- Dance! Online
- DarkEden
- DECO Online
- Dofus
- Eligium
- Elsword
- Forsaken
- FunOrb
- Grand Chase
- Guild Wars
- Khan Wars
- Lineage II
- Lunia: Record of Lunia War
- M.A.R.S.
- Pangya
- Perfect World
- [[Ragnarok Online
- RuneScape
- Silkroad Online
- SMITE
- Sudden Attack
- Trickster Online
- Turma do Chico Bento
- Warface
- Warrior Epic
India[]
- FreeStyle Street Basketball
- Gunz Online
- Oz World
- Ragnarok Online
Philippines[]
Current[]
- Assault Fire ('Ni Zhan' in China)
- Audition Dance Battle (Audition Online)
- Cabal Online
- Level Up! Global Games
- Perfect World
- Ragnarok Battle Offline
- Ran Online
Former[]
- Allods Online
- Band Master
- Bounty Hounds Online
- Crazy Kart
- Crazy Kart 2: Race Battle Online[13]
- FreeStyle Street Basketball (Global Servers were closed in 2010)
- Grand Chase (Getting Close by Nov. 2014)
- Eligium
- Flyff (Getting Close by Sept. 2014)
- K.O.S. Secret Operations (Sting: The Secret Operations)
- Oz World
- Pangya
- Point Blank (Transferred To Garena (2014))
- Ragnarok Online (Transferred to Electronics Extreme (2015) and Gravity Interactive (2018))
- RF Online
- Rohan (Getting Close by Oct. 2014)
- ROSE Online
- Silkroad Online
Southeast Asia (Philippines Only)[]
- AVA
- Chaos Online
- DC Universe Online (Now on Open Beta)
- Football Club Manager
- Heroes of the Storm
- Maple Story
- Phantasy Star Online 2
- Strife
- Sudden Attack
Level Up! Play[]
The Level Up! Play logo.
In 2014, Level Up! Games launched the Level Up! Play account platform, which allows players to manage and pay for different game accounts under one umbrella account.
References[]
- ↑ IP E-Games Eyes 2-3 New Businesses
- ↑ E-Games merges with Level Up! to create online gaming giant 2012 Oct. 24
- ↑ Level Up! mad about ‘Oz World’ 2012 Oct. 24
- ↑ Timeline Telligent 2012 Jul. 23
- ↑ PLDT, Online Games Publisher Team Up
- ↑ Level Up India Partners with Indiatimes to Launch Ragnarok, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game 2012 Oct. 24
- ↑ quote closing of Level Up! Store, 29 July 2012
- ↑ IP E-Games-Level UP! merger creates largest gaming publishing business in PH 2012 October 24
- ↑ old pRO Website 2015 Feb. 15
- ↑ YugaTech 2017 April 6
- ↑ Electronics Extreme Facebook 2017 April 6
- ↑ bRO Website 2018 Oct. 02
- ↑ Level Up! launches new online racing game and tournament 2012 Oct. 24