GRAVITY Co., Ltd. (also known as Gravity Corporation) NASDAQ: GRVY (Korean) is a South Korean videogame corporation primarily known for the development of the MMORPG Ragnarok Online.
History
The corporation started as a small business in Shinsa-dong, Kangnam-ku, Seoul, South Korea and has expanded to an international corporate interest with a several subsidiary divisions. On 8 February 2005, Gravity Corporation made their IPO and traded ?108 million US dollars on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol GRVY.
The company has had a rather turbulent history initially involving internal political conflicts between CEO (Kim Hakkyu (who eventually left the company), and company president Jung Ryool Kim (who later assumed control as CEO), but has since stablised and expanded operations to all of north and south-east Asia through supervised partnerships with native corporate entities. However, while Gravity Corporation's flagship product Ragnarok Online is considered a success in Asia, operations are not as well developed in Europe and the United States in comparison to similar products marketed and developed there.
On August 30, 2005, Jung Ryool Kim, the controlling shareholder, sold his 52% stake and set plans to quit as a director. The buyers of his shares were Ezer and Techno Groove of Japan, a pair of technology ventures controlled by Il Young Ryu and Taizo and Masayoshi Son. After becoming the new majority shareholder, on September 13, 2005, Il Young Ryu was named by Gravity as its new chairman and joint chief executive. Il Young Ryu is also the founder of Area Network Limited and the CEO of Internet Japan. In December, 2006, Techno Groove merged into Asian Groove, and ceased to exist. EZER subsequently returned Techno Groove's investment of 9.9 billion yen to Asian Groove, which gave up any interest in Gravity. On October 19, 2007, EZER sold their interest in Gravity to Son Assets Management or SAM.
On May 22, 2006, Gravity announced it had invested ?9 Million in US game developer Perpetual Entertainment. Consequently, Gravity received a position on Perpetual's board of directors. Gravity also received "priority rights for future access to contents and other intellectual property rights of Perpetual Entertainment."[7] On November 21, 2007, Gravity announced they had lost their investment after Perpetual cancelled its development of the MMORPG Gods and Heroes. The loss would be reflected in their financial statement for 2007.
On December 5, 2007, Gravity announced they had formed a new US-based game developer, L5 Games. L5 is a subsidiary of Gravity Interactive, Inc. and is based in San Mateo, California. The company is composed of former Blizzard Entertainment employees.
On February 14, 2008, GungHo Online Entertainment Inc. obtained 52.4% stake of Gravity.
Diversion of Revenues Under Previous Management
From 2002 through 2004, Gravity's chairman Mr. Jung Ryool Kim diverted approximately ?6 Million in revenue from the company to himself. In 2005, Kim sold his shares of Gravity to EZER, Inc., a Japanese corporation. Kim paid the company back KRW 7.8 billion on October 17, 2005. After an investigation, Gravity and Kim reached a final settlement where Mr. Kim would additionally pay Gravity "in part to reimburse the Company for certain of the costs and expenses incurred by the Company in connection with the investigation of the former Chairman's diversion of revenues otherwise due to the Company." Both parties agreed to cease any civil and crimial litigation against one another. As a result of the investigation, Gravity was forced to restate its financial statements for the years 2002-2004.
Settlement, Conclusion Of Litigation
In 2006, two U.S. based hedge funds created a committee for "fair treatment of minority shareholders" which initiated litigation charging that the majority shareholders and officers have violated their fiduciary obligations.
The funds, Moon Capital Management and Ramius Capital Group, both headquartered in New York City, demanded that Gravity call an extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders to give them a chance to vote Il Young Ryu out of office. Their demands were in time successful, and a meeting was scheduled for December 26.
On June 11, 2007, Gravity announced that it and other defendants had reached an agreement in principle to settle the class action litigation brought on behalf of purchasers of the Company's American Depository Shares during the period from February 7, 2005 November 10, 2005, inclusive. ?10 Million was set aside to pay the plantiffs, ?5 Million of which came directly from Gravity, in exchange for being released from any liability. However, the company continued to deny any wrongdoing.
On January 7, 2008, Gravity announced that the federal judge presiding over the consolidated class action approved the settlement of the class action. In addition, no plaintiff has filed an appeal during the 30-day time appeal period which expired on December 21, 2007.
offical site
Publisher & Developer
Gravity's local partner Ini3 Digital will be responsible for the operation and management of Pucca Racing in Thailand. Pucca Racing is expected to move into open beta phase in Thailand on Feb. 18th, 2008. All the players will be allowed to participate in the open beta. And it is estimated that it will be commercially released in Thailand within the first half of 2008.
Pucca is very popular in Thailand. Many Pucca fans even have it painted on their motorcycles. And the Pucca culture will sure help the operation of Pucca Racing in Thailand. In addition, considering the hot weather in Thailand, Pucca Racing Thailand will have a blue background, which is expected to give players a cool feel, while the Korean version has a purple background. Many adjustments will be made to Pucca Racing in terms of game balance. And traditional Thai costume and Thai-style maps will be available to the gamers when the game is launched commercially.
offical site: http://www.puccaracing.co.kr/ (KR)
On January 14, 2008, the Company announced an exclusive seven year deal with 20th Century Fox Licensing and Merchandising to develop and publish "Ice Age Online", an online game based on FOX's Ice Age (film) motion picture franchise. "Ice Age Online" is expected to be released in the third quarter of 2009.
Ragnarok Online
Ragnarok Online, often referred to as RO, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game created by GRAVITY Co., Ltd. based on the manhwa Ragnarok by Lee Myung-Jin. It was first released in South Korea on 31 August 1998 for Microsoft Windows and has since been released in many other locales around the world. Much of the game's mythos is based on Norse mythology, but its style has been influenced by Christianity and various Asian cultures as well. The game has spawned an animated series, Ragnarok the Animation, and a sequel game, Ragnarok Online 2: The Gate of the World, is currently in development.
Ragnarok Online is divided into a series of maps, each of which has its own terrain and native monsters, though many monsters are native to multiple regions. Transportation between maps requires loading the new map and monsters cannot travel from one map to another.
ROSE
ROSE Online, or Rush On Seven Episodes Online is an MMORPG developed by Korean company Triggersoft and published by Gravity Corp. Gameplay is a free roaming typical level-up based MMORPG. You fight monsters, level up, obtain new skills and equipment to better yourself for upcoming battles. You can travel to different planets and explore new environments as well as battle other players and declare wars against other clans [guilds]. The game features its own in-game economy which is directly controlled by players.
