Astrum Online Entertainment is a Russian holding company which operates in the online entertainment market of Eastern Europe. Founded in the beginning of December 2007, it incorporated four companies, which specialize in development, publishing and operating online games: Nival Online, IT Territory, Time Zero, and Nikita Online. In summer 2008 the fifth company, the developer of online games called "DJ Games", joined in. The move will allow the participants to formalize a united strategy in regards to their activities and also utilize their combined experience and infrastructure in order to perfect their businesses. According to the experts, the 2008 revenues of Astrum Online were estimated at US$50 million. Astrum Online currently operates more than 30 MMO games, including such popular titles as "Legend: Legacy of the Dragons", "Sphere", "Territory", "Three Kingdoms", and "Perfect World".
History
Astrum Online was founded in December 2007. Joint forces of the companies let to launch several major gaming projects in Russia and abroad and to support dynamic domestic growth of existing titles in 2008. In the early spring of 2008 two companies of the holding – Nival Online and IT Territory – brought into life localized Russian versions of the MMORPG"Tales of Pirates" and online MMO game "Love City" accordingly. The second one is an online social game with some role-playing elements, top-notch graphics and animation. Love City appeared to be so original that it was subsequently localized in Japan. During spring 2008 the Astrum Online Europe GmbH was founded in Hamburg. The games consultant Robert Johnsson was appointed CEO to head this task. The current CEO is Alexander Goldybin. May 2008 – Nival Online started open beta testing for the localized Russian versions of the Korean fantasy online game"Granado Espada: Scions of Fate" and "Perfect World" developed by Beijing Perfect World. IT Territory launched its new online game "Heroes: Resurrection" in June 2008. That month Ukrainian company DJ Games joined in Astrum Online. In August 2008 Nikita. Online began open beta test for the localized Russian version of a very popular Korean online game "Rappelz". At the same month TimeZero officially launched its new online game "Destiny". The fall 2008 was full of new Astrum Online projects. Three official launches were announced: localized Russian version of the world hit "", localized MMO title "Monato. World of Dreams" and MMO game "Desolation: Raiders of Merion". The end of 2008 and the very beginning of 2009 were marked with official launches of MMO game "Legend: Legacy of the Dragons" in Germany and Turkey by Astrum GmbH and in China in partnership with Snail Game. Previously MMORPG TimeZero was launched in Germany. Long-awaited by Russian online gamers closed beta test for the online game "Allods Online" by Nival Online began in February 2009. Earlier that month the first dance online game on Russia’s game market, "ParaPa: City of Dance", was officially launched by Astrum Online. In spring 2010 Astrum Nival created negative publicity worldwide when it abruptly ceased access to "Perfect World" for players from North and Latin America, Asia and Australia. It motivated the decision by supposedly frequent hack attacks from the mentioned regions. However, the game remains open to players from Europe. The blocked-out users are suggested to register for paid proxy services, essentially turning the free-to-play MMORPG into a subscription service. The company refuses to comment on its future plans with regard to the customers of the other online games.
