FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mythic Contact: Craig Sinel, Kaboom PR craig@kaboompr.com
CTO Contact: Benoit Faure Intl Business Development. Benoit.faure@ctonet.it
Mythic EntertainmentTM Announces Dark Age of CamelotTM Partnership with C.T.O. for Italy
CTO, THE LEADING ITALIAN INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER AND PC SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTOR TO ESTABLISH LOCALIZED GAME SERVERS IN ITALY
FAIRFAX, VA -NOVEMBER 6, 2001 - Mythic Entertainment (www.mythicentertainment.com), creator of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Dark Age of CamelotÔ, has announced a publishing and online partnership with C.T.O. to distribute the game and establish localized servers and support in Italy. Dark Age of Camelot is developed by Mythic Entertainment and co-published with Abandon Entertainment (www.abandonent.com). For the two weeks following its launch on October 9th 2001, Dark Age of Camelot has been the number one selling PC game in the U.S. and is the fastest growing MMORPG ever with over 120,000 players to date.
C.T.O S.p.a. is Italy's leading video games and accessories distributor and also the major online gaming provider in Italy. For more than twelve years C.T.O. has built a solid quality brand among the 4th European video game market. Thanks to a strong presence in a fragmented retail market and its skills localizing games into Italian, CTO has become the strongest distributor and co-publisher in Italy. Since October 2000, CTO has also established itself as the specialist of MMORPG, leveraging its own gaming zone and a large online gamers community, through its online spin off CTOnet. This experience has prepared the company for successful launch of Dark Age of Camelot in Italy.
Dark Age of Camelot will be beta tested and released in Italy in Q1 '02 with a monthly subscription fee. Online hosting and community management will be handled by C.T.O. Dark Age of Camelot will be translated, and customer support as well as community management will be handled in Italian to ensure the best support and quality of service.
"I'm thrilled to be working with C.T.O. as our partner in Italy," announced Mark Jacobs, President of Mythic Entertainment. "With C.T.O.'s expertise and experience in the Italian market we continue our plan to roll-out the game world-wide with strong partners in territories across the globe providing the best possible gaming experience for our players."
Benoit Faure, President of C.T.Onet, declared, "Mythic Entertainment has created an incredibly successful online game that combines a rich and renowned fiction, excellent graphics, and above all an addictive gameplay. We are pleased to be able to bring this record-breaking U.S. release to Italian players."
Dark Age of Camelot is a next generation MMORPG and features 3D-accelerated graphics with multiple class and race combinations, Player vs. Player and Player vs. Environment action, a robust trade skill system, and the most comprehensive player Guild system in any MMORPG. Dark Age of Camelot takes place after the death of King Arthur, and breaks new ground for online play with three realms in conflict - realms that used to be peaceful and united under Arthur's rule. The players assume a character from one of the three realms: Midgard, Hibernia, or Albion. Each realm is based on the mythologies of Viking-era Scandinavia, ancient Ireland, and Arthurian Britain, respectively. Since its release it has received a number of great reviews including; 9.1 out of a possible 10 from Gamespot who said "As an online role-playing game, Dark Age of Camelot surpasses any such game to date and promises to remain the finest in its class for a long time." ComputerGames.com gave it 93 out of 100, their coveted Gold Award and said, "[Camelot] looks capable of unseating EverQuest as the MMORPG king!"
About Mythic Entertainment
Mythic Entertainment is one of the most successful online gaming developers in the industry today. With eleven online games to its credit, Mythic has been a major part of all of its distribution and publishing partners pay-for-play games including AOL, the Centropolis Gaming Center, Gamestorm, and ENGAGE. Their titles include some of the most popular online-only games of all time including Spellbinder: The Nexus Conflict, Aliens Online, Starship Troopers: Battlespace, Silent Death Online, Rolemaster: Magestorm, Darkness Falls, Darkness Falls: The Crusade, Splatterball, Godzilla Online, and Dragon's Gate.
About CTO S.p.A.
CTO S.p.A, founded in Bologna in 1983, is one of Italy's leading co-publishers and distributors of interactive entertainment software and accessories for PC and console. The company is listed on the Italian "Nuovo Mercato" since August 2000. CTO has exclusive deals in place with a selection of world-renowned developers and publishers including Electronic Arts and LucasArts. Through these important partnerships, CTO has distributed many software titles in the Italian market including the successful FIFA series, The Monkey Island and Star Wars series, adapting them linguistically as well as culturally. The success of the interactive entertainment software distributed by CTO lies in its quality localisation services and its profound know-how of the Italian market. In April 2001, via the acquisition of ARXEL GUILD, CTO becomes a full-fledged game developer and international publisher. CTOnet, is an extremely significant component in the group's overall strategy. CTOnet has launched its interactive entertainment portal, www.ctonet.it, for online gaming and general Internet services.
About Abandon Entertainment
Abandon Entertainment is a New York City-based diversified entertainment company, dedicated to creating unique entertainment products across all distribution platforms utilizing both traditional and emerging media. Underneath the Abandon umbrella of companies exists Abandon Pictures, Abandon Television, Abandon Internet Group, Abandon Ventures and Collision Entertainment. Abandon Entertainment can be found online at www.abandonent.com.
Mythic Entertainment and Dark Age of Camelot is a trademark of Mythic Entertainment. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.