Asiasoft Philippines has confirmed a buyout of Level Up! Games, a publisher of online games in the Philippines. The company also has operations in Latin America and Brazil, and was originally owned by Chinese conglomerate Tencent.
Level Up! Games pioneered online gaming in the Philippines, but in a different flavor than the West. Unlike Western online PC games like World of Warcraft or Planetside 2, these games are not dependent on monthly subscriptions, or microtransactions. Instead, players can buy prepaid cards for game time, making it affordable for anyone to get into the hobby. Thanks to games like Ragnarok Online, ROSE Online and RF Online, online PC gaming overtook consoles in the country.
Level Up! Games has been through other mergers before, with ePLDT in 2006, and E-Games just last 2012. This time, Asiasoft is buying out all the shares, possibly to make a new company. Asiasoft’s parent company is itself based in Thailand.
Asiasoft marketing manager Rio Encarnado has stated the buyout will be completed by Q1 2014, and an official announcement will be made when the transaction is finalized.
