News

03/21/2013 09:00

GMO Cloud and Exit Games Partner to Release Popular SaaS Network Engine, Photon Cloud, in Japan

20130320074942


Tokyo, Japan – March 21, 2013

GMO Internet Group company, GMO Cloud K.K. (Japan) today announces that it is partnering with German game engine company Exit Games to bring the popular SaaS network engine Photon Cloud to Japan. Photon Cloud is used by over 21,000 developers to build scalable multi-player games and applications for PC/Mac, browser, mobile and cross-platform.. The localized service for the Japan market is set to be released on April 15, 2013.

GMO CLOUD has developed a strong track record hosting major game titles by leading Japanese game developers over the past two years, and was awarded an AAA rating by independent research firm, MMRI. Identifying Photon Cloud as a service that would greatly benefit Japanese game developers, GMO Cloud approached Exit Games to discuss bringing their service to Japan.

GMO Cloud assisted Exit Games as part of its Japan Market Entry Incubation Program, by providing IaaS public cloud hosting, Japanese localization of the Photon Cloud website, UI and user documentation, marketing to the Japanese game developer community and Japanese user support. The Incubation program, launched in the fall of last year aims to help technology ventures break into the Japan market.


About Photon Cloud

Photon Cloud is a real-time multiplayer game development framework produced by Exit Games that is known for being fast, lean and flexible. It consists of a fully managed back-end and several client SDKs for major gaming platforms including PC, Mac, Web Browser, Mobile and Consoles. Photon Cloud drastically reduces the time and cost of developing games and operating them for a global audience. Photon Cloud is a SaaS based service that lets developers start running their applications as soon as they finish signing up. No setup or ongoing server operation is required. Servers located in the USA, Europe and Asia minimize lag for players and client APIs offer simple but powerful options for real-time gameplay. Today, Photon Cloud runs over 21,800 applications globally.

One of the major features of Photon Cloud is that it also offers tight integration with Unity, a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies Inc. used to develop video games for web plugins, desktop platforms, consoles and mobile devices.

Christof Wegmann, Co-Founder, and CTO of Exit Games, Inc.: “Photon Cloud is the leading Realtime Network Engine as a Service used by more than 20,000 developers. We had noticed many leading Japanese game developers using Photon and so decided to partner with GMO Cloud to release a Japanese version. We chose GMO Cloud because of their independent AAA rating as a cloud hosting provider and their dedication to the game development community.”

Hiroki Ohmae, Japan General Manager at Unity Technologies Japan LLC also commented that “The Photon Cloud service had been receiving a very high level of interest from Japanese game developers even before the start of the Japanese service. One reason for this is its friendliness towards even small development teams who can quickly try it immediately for free. The advantage of Photon Cloud is that there is no need for upfront cost expenditure for server-side development infrastructure when creating a prototype of a network game, and it can be scaled up as needed in actual production. The Photon Japan service is operated by leading service vendor, GMO Cloud, which adds to the friendliness the support, high performance and reliability that is expected in Japan, thereby offering a great choice for developers.”

For further information about Photon Cloud, please visit:
https://cloud.exitgames.com/


About Exit Games GmbH

Exit Games is a German venture capital financed company founded in 2003. Headquarterd in Hamburg, Germany, and with an office in Portland, Oregon, the firm offers Photon, a Network Engine for building scalable MMOGs, FPS or any other multiplayer game and application for PC, Mac, Browser, Mobile, Console and Cross-Platform. Photon is available as SaaS, Photon Cloud, and as on-premise installation software, Photon Server. For more information, please visit:
http://www.exitgames.com/


About GMO Cloud K.K.

GMO Cloud K.K. is a full-service IT infrastructure provider focused on cloud solutions. Established as a hosting company in 1996, the company has managed servers for more than 130,000 businesses and now has 6,000 sales partners throughout Japan. In February of 2011, the company launched GMO Cloud to enhance its focus on cloud-based solutions. Since 2007, the company has also grown its subsidiary, GMO GlobalSign, an issuer of SSL security certificates through offices in Belgium, U.K., U.S., China and Singapore. GMO Cloud K.K. is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE Mothers: 3788). For more information please visit:
http://ir.gmocloud.com/english/


About GMO Internet Group

GMO Internet Group is a comprehensive provider of industry-leading Internet solutions including domain name registration, cloud-based and traditional hosting, ecommerce, security, and payment processing services that each hold the top share of their respective markets in Japan. Other key business areas for the Group include online securities/FX trading, Internet advertising, search engine marketing and online research. In 2011 a new Social Media and Smartphone Platform segment was established bringing together group initiatives in social apps development, daily deals and Android app distribution. GMO Internet, Inc. (TSE: 9449) is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. For more information please visit:
http://www.gmo.jp/en/


For inquiries, please contact:

Shadi Ammouri

Business Development
GMO Cloud America Inc.
4685 MacArthur Court Suite 150,
Newport Beach, CA 92660

Email: infous@gmocloud.com
Tel: 949-296-6260