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Level Up!'s merge with E-Games

In February 2012, the live service gaming operations of IP E-Game Ventures, Inc. (IP E-Game) were merged with the operations of competing live service game publisher Level Up! Inc. (LUI).

This move resulted in the E-Games brand being merged with the Level Up! brand and made LUI the largest live service gaming company in the Philippines.

Background

From 2006 to 2011, Level Up! Inc. was majority-owned by ePLDT, Inc. until the latter sold its entire 57.51% stake on July 11, 2011.[doc 1] On September 1, 2011, Level Up! International Holdings Pte. Ltd. announced that it has re-acquired the ownership shares from ePLDT and that Level Up! Inc., effective that day, would sub-license all of its games to a newly-formed publishing company, PlayWeb Games Inc.[1]

About

Merger

On February 14, 2012, an agreement was signed between IP E-Game and LUI to merge both of their live service gaming businesses.

The agreement stated that most of IP E-Game's assets and games would be transferred to LUI and the publishing operations would be merged into PlayWeb Games. In exchange, IP E-Game would receive equity in LUI, a commercial interest in PlayWeb Games, and a cash consideration.[doc 2][2] The agreement was completed on March 30, 2012.[note 1]

Aftermath

IP E-Game, which had been publicly listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange, invoked a voluntary trading halt during the initial announcement of the merge.

LUI became jointly owned by IP E-Game and Level Up! International Holdings. When LUI was bought out by Asiasoft Corporation in 2014, it was reported that IP E-Game owned 30% of LUI.

The entire E-Games brand and roster was merged into Level Up!, making Level Up! the largest live service gaming portal in the Philippines. All of the E-Games titles were re-licensed to PlayWeb Games. By April 1, 2012, players were forced to accept a new End User License Agreement under PlayWeb Games.[3]

X-Play Online Games Inc., a subsidiary of IP E-Game that handled casual live service games, had all of its games, such as Audition Dance Battle and Band Master, be transferred to Level Up!. X-Play would focus on deals with NBA Philippines[4] and would eventually transition to become a retail video game distributor in the Philippines.[5]

E-Games no longer held its yearly Domination events, and instead celebrated its games with Level Up! Live.

The merge also resulted in two separate game account managers for users: The original Level Up! titles used the "My Level Up!" manager, while E-Games titles and future game releases used "Level Up! Play".

Note

  1. As reported on EG disclosure SEC FORM 17-C dated April 1, 2012. No archived copy is available.

References

  1. Level Up! Inc. Sub-licenses Games to Playweb Games Inc.. September 1, 2011 at 12:30AM. Cho. Level Up! news. Retrieved on 2023-12-05.
  2. Level Up and e-Games merger announced. February 14, 2012. Abe Olandres. YugaTech. Retrieved on 2024-03-06.
  3. Official Announcement on Change IN EULA. April 1, 2012. CABAL Philippines team. CABAL Philippines PlayPark. Retrieved on 2024-03-06.
  4. E-Games merges with Level Up! to create online gaming giant. February 15, 2012. Zinnia B. Dela Peña. Philstar.com. Retrieved on 2023-12-02.
  5. IP E-Games-Level UP! merger creates largest gaming publishing business in PH. April 02, 2012 at 3:01 PM. Doris C. Dumlao. INQUIRER.net. Retrieved on 2024-03-06.

Documents

  1. PLDT Financial Review 2011
  2. IP E-Game Ventures Inc. Voluntary Trading Halt disclosure