VIDFEST 2008
Wired Magazine's Chris Anderson to speak at Vancouver event courtesy of Nexon.
For Immediate Release
April 16, 2008
Vancouver, BC – Leading gaming company Nexon North America announced today it is bringing Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine, to Vancouver on May 23rd to deliver the keynote speech at VIDFEST 2008.
Chris Anderson, considered one of the most insightful thinkers on the new economy of “free”, will address the audience on the model of “giving it away” as a key business strategy for generating revenue. His thoughts on this business model align closely with the new concept of “free-to-play” currently being pioneered in the online game world by Nexon.
“We have been following Chris Anderson’s work on the economics of ‘free’ because we see it as the future of online business across the board,” said Alex Garden, CEO of Nexon Publishing North America and the Vancouver development studio, Humanature. “Anderson is a technology thought leader in North America, and we are pleased to be able to bring him to Vancouver to share his thoughts with the larger international digital community at VIDFEST.”
As Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine and author of The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, Chris Anderson is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable voices at the centre of the new economy. His article, Free: Why $0.00 is the Future of Business, published in the March 2008 edition of Wired is also the title of his new book to be published in 2009.
“Free has emerged as a full-fledged economy driven by the underlying technologies that power the Web,” said Chris Anderson. “A decade and a half into the great online experiment, the last debates over free versus pay online are ending. Free has proven to be a successful business model that works across digital sectors.”
Following his presentation, Anderson will participate in an exclusive roundtable discussion with business leaders from across the digital media industries, hosted by Nexon.
“We’re eager to hear what other digital business leaders are doing with ‘free,’ and discuss the economics behind free-to-play games with Mr. Anderson,” said Alex Garden. “For Nexon, giving away games for free has proven to be very successful from both a community building and revenue generating perspective.”
With 250 million consumers worldwide, Nexon games have more players than any other massively multiplayer online games in the world. Nexon’s revenue model is based on “microtransactions,” a business model pioneered by Nexon in 2001.
Players can download and play Nexon games for free, and purchase in-game items with either real cash or earn in-game cash by playing. Online microtransactions are challenging the traditional game industry model of selling individual games and consoles to consumers.
Nexon North America is a pioneer of interactive entertainment software in North America and the world’s leader in massively multiplayer online games. Nexon North America has offices in Los Angeles and Vancouver, with founding offices in Korea and Japan. Nexon Publishing North America is currently developing a new free-to-play online game slated for release in 2008. It will be the first game title developed specifically for a North America audience out of its development studio in Canada, Humanature.
- 30 -
Tickets are available at www.vidfest.com <http://www.vidfest.com/> .
For media information and interviews, please contact:
Sara Bearchell
Tel: 604-623-3007 x. 240
E: sara.bearchell@karyo-edelman.com
or
Bob Holtzman
Nexon America Inc.
PR Associate
Main 213.858.5930
Direct 213.858.5988
rholtzman@nexon.net
www.nexon.net