Asia has its own gaming culture, and more and more developers are beginning to embrace that. Earlier this week we had news of Company of Heroes Online coming to China, and now I've received word that Valve and Nexon are joining the throng - working together to create Counter-Strike Online, a new online version of the #1 multiplayer first-person game - tailored specifically for the Asian market.

...and yes, that's Nexon from Korea, who developed MapleStory.

Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve, is excited:

"With its hit titles such as MapleStory and KartRider, Nexon has become a dominant force in Asia. By combining their proven development abilities and leadership position in Asia with Counter-Strike's award-winning core gameplay, we have the recipe for customizing an online phenomenon for each of the Asian markets."

First released in 1999, the original Counter-Strike is now the world's #1 first-person multiplayer game, having sold more than nine million retail copies worldwide, and players clocking up over seven billion player minutes per month.

This new agreement will see Nexon develop Counter-Strike Online, and have exclusive publishing rights for the game in South Korea and Japan (through their Korean and Japanese entities), as well as China and Taiwan (through collaborations with local publishers).

Now, we reported earlier this year that Nexon would be using Valve's Source Engine to power an upcoming PC title. Unless Counter-Strike Online will be a "fantasy-based, third-person action title" (or our sources back then were misleading), I don't think this is the only thing we'll see come out of this pairing.


One of these things is not like the others: MapleStory, Counter-Strike, KartRider
David K. Lee, CEO of Nexon Japan Co., Ltd. explains:

"It is our utmost pleasure to be able to develop Counter-Strike Online with Valve. We will be devoting our expertise in online game development and service know-how for Asian territories to Counter-Strike Online. Already a global phenomenon, we are confident we can grow the success of Counter-Strike with this new product by tailoring the gameplay for the millions of gamers in Asia, one of the gaming industries fastest growing territories."

...we have absolutely no idea what constitutes "Counter-Strike Online" at this stage. Personally, I'd like it to be a little chibi MMO version of the game, with a persistent world and characters you can grow and develop - but I'm prepared to put money on being perhaps the only person who's looking forward to that.