Aeria Games

Last updated
Aeria Games
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Founded2006
Defunct2023
Headquarters Berlin, Germany
Key people
Remco Westermann (CEO) [1]
Parent Gamigo
Website Aeria Games

Aeria Games, formerly known as Aeria Games and Entertainment, was an online game publisher. The corporate headquarters were in Berlin, Germany. [2]

Contents

Aeria Games was a privately-owned organization by Aeria Games & Entertainment Inc, later a subsidiary of ProSiebenSat.1 Media, [3] and later of Gamigo, which operated an Internet gaming portal for massively multiplayer online games. It focused on online games in multiple formats, client games, browser games, and mobile games. It published games for North America, South America and Europe.

History

Aeria Games was founded in Santa Clara, California, as Aeria Games & Entertainment. Two years later they opened their first international office in Berlin, Germany, which later became the company's headquarters. [4] On January 5, the company acquired ijji, 2012. [5]

The company also merged with Gamepot in late 2012. [6]

In February 2014, all its worldwide PC games business including its subsidiary Aeria Games Europe GmbH were sold to ProSiebenSat.1 Media. [7] In May 2016, Aeria Games merged with Gamigo and let go 100 of their formerly 260 employees in Berlin. [8]

In February 2023, the gaming portal was closed down after its remaining games were transferred to other publishing companies.

Its games were free-to-play and used a micropayment system to generate revenue (in-game item malls and advertising).

Portal Closure

On December 20, 2022, Aeria Games announced the transfer of all its current games (Aura Kingdom, Grand Fantasia and Shaiya) to other publishers. The publishing company additionally released information that the Aeria Games portal would be closing down in February of 2023. [9]

Gamigo, the parent company of Aeria Games, subsequently confirmed on February 22, 2023, that the Aeria Games portal would be closing down on February 28, 2023. [9]

Client Games published

Browser games published (Aeria Browser)

Mobile games published

Client games published via Aeria Ignite

Games no longer published by Aeria Games

Related Research Articles

Wizardry is a series of role-playing video games originally created by American publisher Sir-Tech. The series was influential in the evolution of modern role-playing video games alongside Ultima and Might and Magic. The original Wizardry was a significant influence on early console role-playing games such as Shin Megami Tensei, Dragon Slayer, The Shining, Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Originally made for the Apple II, the games were later ported to other platforms. The last game in the original series by Sir-Tech was Wizardry 8, released in 2001. There have since been various spin-off titles developed for the Japanese market.

A massively multiplayer online game is an online video game with a large number of players to interact in the same online game world. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are games that differ. These games can be found for most network-capable platforms, including the personal computer, video game console, or smartphones and other mobile devices.

In video games, a clan, community, guild, or faction is an organized group of video game players that regularly play together in one or more multiplayer games. Many clans take part in gaming competitions, but some clans are just small gaming squads consisting of friends.

<i>GunZ: The Duel</i> 2005 video game

GunZ: The Duel, or simply GunZ, was an online third-person shooting game, originally created by South Korean-based MAIET Entertainment and currently owned by MasangSoft.

<i>Fantasy Earth Zero</i> 2006 video game

Fantasy Earth Zero was a 2006 massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed for Microsoft Windows. Originally developed by Puraguru and Multiterm under the title Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion, it was released by Square Enix as a paid product through its PlayOnline service. It relaunched under Gamepot as a free game, and was later handled by developers SoftGear and Ocean Frontier and was transferred back to Square Enix. Under the premise of a world where rival kingdoms engage in frequent conflicts, players choose an allied kingdom and fight against each other in groups of up to fifty players. The game closed down in September 2022.

Dreamlords was a massively multiplayer online real-time strategy (MMORTS) game, developed by Swedish game developers Lockpick Entertainment. Dreamlords was online only, and was free to play with an option to pay for additional benefit. It included in-game currency called Tribute that was used to buy items like spells to aid the players. The game used both a browser game and a downloadable real-time strategy client. Dreamlords also includes elements of role-playing video games.

The history of massively multiplayer online games spans over thirty years and hundreds of massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) titles. The origin and influence on MMO games stems from MUDs, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and earlier social games.

Free Realms was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) set in a fantasy-themed world called Sacred Grove. The game was first released on April 28, 2009 for Microsoft Windows. Versions for Mac OS X and PlayStation 3 followed in subsequent years. The game was free-to-play with leveling restrictions, with access to additional content available through a membership fee. The game allowed the player to fight, interact with other players, take up jobs, and more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UserJoy Technology</span> Taiwanese video game company

UserJoy Technology Co., Ltd. is a Taiwanese video game development and publishing company. The company was founded in 1995 in Taipei, Taiwan, and publishes worldwide.

OGPlanet was a publisher of free-to-play, massively multiplayer online (MMO), downloadable PC games, based in Torrance, California, with offices in Vancouver, Berlin, London and Seoul. Although their games were free-to-play, OGPlanet offered "Astros", an in-game currency that players could purchase online through Xsolla using a variety of payment methods including credit and debit cards and PayPal; Astros were used for in-game enhancements. On 29 September 2017, the final game being published by OGPlanet, Uncharted Waters Online, was shut down for transfer to Papaya Play and the OGPlanet website taken offline.

<i>Project Torque</i> 2008 video game

Project Torque, also known as Level-R outside North America and HEAT Online for the 2010 North American version, is a multiplayer online racing game (MMORG) with partially chargeable content, or micro-transactions, originally developed by Invictus Games. It features gameplay elements such as tuning and customization.

Kunlun Group or their alternative name KoramGame, is a Hong Kong software developer and publisher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trion Worlds</span> American video game developer

Trion Worlds was an American video game developer. It focused primarily on MMOs, particularly of the MMORPG and MMORTS genres. The company was founded in 2006 by Lars Buttler and Jon Van Caneghem, who had each previously worked for NCSoft and left in 2009 to join Electronic Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikita Online</span> Russian video game publisher and developer

Nikita Online is a Russian publisher and developer of online games. Founded in 1991 and originally named NIKITA, it became the first Russian game company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gamepot</span>

GMO Gamepot, Inc. was one of Japan's leading game publishers of massively multiplayer online games and mobile games.

Datcroft Games is an international video game developer and publisher. The company was founded in 2004 with no involvement of external investors or institutional / VC funds. The Datcroft Games currently has more than 50 specialists working across 7 countries.

GameSamba is an American publisher of online games such as Star Trek: Alien Domain. Headquartered in Everett, Washington, GameSamba also operates offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo. In 2016, the company announced a strategic alliance with FUNimation, a content distributor specialized in bringing Japanese anime to North America.

<i>Skyforge</i> 2015 video game

Skyforge is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Allods Team in collaboration with Obsidian Entertainment, and published by My.com. Set on the planet Aelion, Skyforge fuses elements of Science fiction and fantasy in its visuals and storytelling, and sees players exploring the world as an immortal who must strive to become a god and defend the planet from alien invasion from other worlds. The project started development in 2010 and received an open release for Microsoft Windows in July 2015, with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One releases following in 2017. The latest major content update, "Ignition", was released on all platforms in September 2019. A Nintendo Switch version was released in February 2021.

Scarlet Blade and Queen's Blade was a sci-fi/fantasy adult massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) by Korean developer Liveplex, released in Asia in 2012. It was localized to English by Aeria Games and released to the West in March 2013. The game closed in March 2016 due to economical and technical reasons.

References

  1. "Aeria || Corporate Website". About.aeriagames.com. Archived from the original on 2015-11-08. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  2. "aeria games | Massively Overpowered". Archived from the original on 2023-05-04. Retrieved 2023-05-04.
  3. "ProSiebenSat.1 Group Acquires Aeria Games Europe". ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG. February 27, 2014. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  4. "Aeria Games entlässt die Hälfte der Berliner Belegschaft". www.gruenderszene.de. 2016-07-01. Archived from the original on 2016-07-23. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
  5. "Aeria Games Acquires ijji Games in Conjunction With Investment Funding From NHN Corporation". www.businesswire.com. 2012-01-05. Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
  6. "Aeria Games and Gamepot Merge to Create a Global Force in Multi-Platform, Free-to-Play Gaming". www.finance.yahoo.com. 2012-12-17. Archived from the original on 2013-04-13. Retrieved 2013-02-06.
  7. "Aeria Games Sells European Subsidiary to ProSiebenSat.1 Games". www.aeriagames.com. 2014-02-27. Archived from the original on 2014-03-06. Retrieved 2014-02-27.
  8. "Aeria Games entlässt die Hälfte der Berliner Belegschaft". www.gruenderszene.de. 2016-07-01. Archived from the original on 2016-07-23. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
  9. 1 2 "Closure of the Aeria Games Portal & latest updates about the Transfer". aurakingdom.aeriagames.com. Archived from the original on 2023-02-27. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  10. "Aeria Games List". WWGDB Games. Archived from the original on 4 May 2023. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Aeria Games & Entertainment, Inc". MobyGames. Archived from the original on 2023-05-04. Retrieved 2023-05-04.
  12. "EA and Aeria Games Team Up to Launch Battlefield Heroes on Aeria Games Network | Battlefield Heroes". Battlefieldheroes.aeriagames.com. 2011-09-21. Archived from the original on 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2012-12-07.
  13. "Turf Battles shutting down June 18 2010". 2 June 2010. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2018.