At the Dutch Game Awards 2009, the Volvo Ocean Race Game has won the award for best Advergame. The browserbased massive multiplayer online game has been played by more than 220.000 players from around the globe, and has been an astonishing succes. The entire team is very proud to have won this award.

Marijn Harinck, CEO: “Winning this Dutch Game Award is solid proof of the succes of the game and fantastic for Volvo, our players and ofcourse UnitedGames. We’ve proven that a game can actually create ‘brand value’ for a brand. It also shows that traditonal marketeers will have to adapt to new forms of marketing, in which online games will have a very important role.”

For more information about the game: www.unitedgames.info/games/volvo-ocean-race-game/

Hopefully the Volvo Ocean Race Game will win the award, which will be a a good compliment to everyone who has worked on the game.

For more information (in Dutch): http://www.gameinthecity.nl/2009/dutch-game-awards/nominaties-2009/

Just one year after the start of the partnership between Jagex Games Studio and UnitedGames, more than 200.000 Dutch players have joined RuneScape, the world largest free2play MMO Game.

One year ago, Jagex, one of the world’s leading developers of high quality browser-based games, started a strategic partnership for  with UnitedGames, a leading European publisher of massive multiplayer online games. Together they launched RuneScape.nl, the Dutch landingpage for the game, along with player and community support and a marketing campaign.

Now over 200.000 new Dutch players have joined RuneScape.nl and have started their adventure in the world’s largest free2play browser-based MMO game.

“UnitedGames is a key strategic partner for RuneScape and it is fantastic to see that 200,000 players have joined RuneScape.nl since our partnership began. Many of our high level players live in the Netherlands so we are always excited to see more Dutch players join the game and we hope that they continue to enjoy RuneScape as much as we enjoy developing it” said Mark Gerhard, Jagex CEO.

Jagex recently improved the way new players find their way around in the fantasy world of RuneScape. They have redesigned the tutorial and also introduced an advisor and objective system to help players begin their ingame journey.

Runes of Magic hits million mark again
Now more than 2 million registrations

Frogster announces today that the online role play game, Runes of Magic has now recorded over 2 million registrations in Europe and the USA. Doing so the Berlin publisher reaches a further milestone in the marketing of its multi-award-winning MMORPG, just six months on from the release of the first chapter ‘Rise of the Demon Lord’’ in its German and English language versions. The second chapter ‘The Elven Prophecy’, launched recently in September, also saw the launch of additional French and Spanish language versions. The Russian language version is already in the starting blocks and preparations are on-going for further localised versions.

‘Runes of Magic has become a mega-seller in the few months since we launched. The 2 million registrations milestone we have now hit is yet further proof of the quality of our game and our communication strategy’, commented Rolf Klöppel, Director of Marketing & PR for Frogster Online Gaming.

UnitedGames proudly presents Arcanists. Remember the old Worms game? Play online together with your friends in a 2D landscape, customise your own unique Arcanist and engage in magical duels against thousands of other players. Tailor your spellbook to your own playing style from a vast selection of spells. Summon minions to do your bidding and ride atop powerful familiars.

• Free-for-all and team games for up to 6 players
• Control minions and summon familiars
• Extensive avatar customisation
• Over 100 spells to choose from
• 9 different battle arenas
• In-built Achievements system

Want to try it for yourself? www.arcanists.nl

Berlin, 16 September 2009: Frogster today announced that yesterday’s launch of ‘The Elven Prophecy’, the second chapter of Runes of Magic, was a huge success.  More than 1.9 million players are now registered in the rapidly growing online game world. The launch of the new content was free of all technical problems as the servers came back online at 12 PM CET on 15 September, following one day of preparation for the European and US re-launch.

In order to adequately handle the flood of players, the Runes of Magic server farm in Frankfurt Germany was expanded with an additional European server. This brings the total number of game worlds to 19, running in German, English (US and EU), French and Spanish language versions. Frogster has additional capacity on hand, to handle additional players and to ensure fans can easily access the game.

“We are excited that the launch of the second chapter has been such a success”, Daniel Ullrich, Director Product Management, says, “The detailed internal testing phase we underwent in cooperation with our community, finally has paid off.”

As a part of the launch, the publisher also distributed more than 1.7 million Euros worth of diamonds, Runes of Magic’s in-game currency, to its player base. The diamonds are part of a week packed with promotional activity surrounding the launch of the second chapter on 15 September. Whether it’s an Elven marathon, a guild costume competition, or a treasure hunt – there company has a promotion going on for every player. Additional event information can be found on the official home page: www.runesofmagic.com

The acquisition allows bwin to open new lines of business and strengthens the leadership of UnitedGames in online game publishing and development. This unique partnership enables bwin and UnitedGames to deliver the next level of online entertainment in the world.

“UnitedGames brings a lot of interesting technology and know-how to the relationship and we look forward to taking online gaming to the next stage of evolution” says Manfred Bodner, Co-CEO of bwin.

Founded in 2007, UnitedGames publishes high quality massive multiplayer online games (MMO Games). UnitedGames develops online games for a wide range of players and provides full localisation, including marketing, translations and community support. One of the fastest-growing online gaming companies on the Internet, UnitedGames has 17 million players in over 178 countries and has published over 20 MMOG titles.

Marijn Harinck, CEO of UnitedGames:  “bwin and UnitedGames are extraordinary partners and this combination will have a huge impact on the online gaming market. We are excited about bwin expanding into the MMO Games market, together we feel we can really take the online game experience to the next level”

The acquisition opens up opportunities for bwin to expand its audience to a wider public. In addition, UnitedGames expands the market opportunities for bwin in several countries. The acquisition provides synergy on infrastructure, payment systems, internet communications and portal management. Paul de Groot, co-founder of UnitedGames will leave the company. Camiel Kraan will enter the board of directors and will focus on UnitedGames’ commercial strategy.

About UnitedGames

UnitedGames was founded in 2007 and is a leading European publisher of massive multiplayer online games (MMO Games). The company is based in the Amsterdam area in the Netherlands. UnitedGames consists of a team of people with a passion for gaming and creating superb online entertainment. The company brings the online gaming experience to a new level for both developer and gamer, with full marketing, localisation and support across Europe. In addition, UnitedGames develops and publishes its own online games for a wide online audience. The company’s portfolio currently holds over 20 MMO  Games. These games are played by 17 million players from 178 different countries.
Further information about the company can be found on www.unitedgames.com.
About bwin

The bwin Group has over 20 million registered customers in more than 25 core markets. Under various licenses (e.g. in Germany, Italy and Gibraltar), it operates platforms for sports betting, poker, casino games and games through subsidiaries and associated companies. With the world’s widest selection of online sports betting supplemented by audio and video streaming of major sporting events such as matches of the German Soccer League, as well as one of Europe’s largest poker networks, bwin offers incomparable online gaming entertainment. The parent company bwin Interactive Entertainment AG has been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since March 2000 (ID code BWIN, Reuters ID code BWIN.VI). Further information about the Company can be found on its investor relations website at www.bwin.org.