gPotato

GPotato

Type	Video game portal
Owner	Gala Inc.
Website	http://www.gPotato.com http://www.es.gPotato.com http://www.gPotato.eu http://www.gPotato.com.br http://www.gPotato.kr http://www.gPotato.jp
Registration	Required
Users	20 million [2]
Available in	10 languages
Screenshot Screenshot of gPotato.com's 2011 homepage

gPotato, is a free multiplayer game portal website operated regionally by subsidiaries of Japan based Gala Inc. gPotato game portals are in South Korea, Japan, North America, Europe and Brazil. Games hosted at gPotato range from traditional MMORPGs to more accessible casual flash games/browser-based games, all of which are free-to-play so no annual/monthly payment is required; revenue is generated from a micropayment system. Games and their premium item shops can be accessed by the Group's regional gPotato portal sites.

gPotato games are aimed at a broad range of players. Gala Inc.'s corporate philosophy is to "connect people all over the world and by doing that, contribute to global peace."^[3] With this in mind, the games published on gPotato portals have no blood in them and are appropriate for a wide age group of players.

Contents 1 Serviced Languages 1.1 gPotato Portals 2 Community 3 Portal Features 4 gPotato Currency 5 Games 5.1 Games Developed 5.2 Games Licensed 6 References

Serviced Languages

Portal	Languages	Company	Established
gPotato.com es.gPotato.com	English Spanish	Gala-Net Inc.	2005 2010
gPotato.eu	English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Turkish	Gala Networks Europe Ltd.	2006
gPotato.jp	Japanese	Gala Japan Inc.	2006
gPotato.kr	Korean	Gala Lab Corp.	2010
gPotato.com.br	Portuguese	Gala-Net Brazil Ltd.	2010

gPotato Portals

The gPotato portal sites are serviced by Group companies of Gala Inc.

• gPotato.com and es.gPotato.com launched when Gala-Net Inc. (Sunnyvale, U.S.A.) opened as the North American Group company and online games publisher and launched gPotato.com. The company services the English and Spanish language markets.

• gPotato.eu launched when Gala Networks Europe Ltd. (Dublin, Ireland) was founded by Gala-Net as a wholly owned Group company and online games publisher for the European market after launching gPotato.eu.

• gPotato.com.br launched when Gala-Net Brazil Ltd. (São Paulo, Brazil) was founded by Gala-Net as a wholly owned Group company to publishes games for the Portuguese language market.

• gPotato.jp launched when Gala Japan Inc. ガーラジャパン (Tokyo, Japan) was created to publish games in the Japanese market.

• gPotato.kr launched when Gala Lab Corp. (Seoul, South Korea) was created by the 2010 merger of former GALA Group companies Aeonsoft Inc. and nFlavor Corp.^[4]

Community

As of September 2011, the global gPotato community has over 20 million registered members^[5][6] playing on 18 games globally. As with all free-to-play games or gaming communities, the number of registered users has to be differentiated from:

• Unique users; i.e. the number of persons actually registered as differentiated from the number of accounts (a same user can make several accounts, all counted as a "registered user").
• Active users (users returning regularly).
• Paying users (since all of gPotato's games are F2P, it's possible to play without paying anything).

There are no public numbers for unique, active, or paying users.

Portal Features

gPotato portals have a variety of features. Each gPotato portal is designed and maintained based on the cultural trends where that gPotato portal is serviced so the features vary on each gPotato portal site. In general, the portals offer:

• Profile page
• Achievements
• gPotato balance and fill-up

gPotato Currency

The virtual currency is called gPotatoes. The gPotatoes can be used to obtain virtual game items via a premium item shop. Other users normally would not have access to these items or would have to spend more time in-game to obtain them. gPotatoes can be purchased using credit cards, PayPal, charging through the mobile phone, through gPotato pre-paid cards or through earning free gPotatoes by taking online surveys. Payment methods differ from each gPotato portal based on the regional payment options available.

Games

Games Developed

Title	Developer	Genre	First Released	Portal
Flyff	Gala Lab	Client-based MMO	2002	gPotato.com es.gPotato.com gPotato.eu gPotato.kr gPotato.com.br gPotato.jp
Street Gears	Gala Lab	Client-based MMO	2002	gPotato.eu
Rappelz	Gala Lab	Client-based MMO	2006	gPotato.com es.gPotato.com gPotato.eu gPotato.kr gPotato.com.br gPotato.jp
IL: Soulbringer	Gala Lab	Client-based MMO	2010	gPotato.jp gPotato.kr

Games Licensed

Title	Developer	Genre	First Released	Portal
ROSE Online	Triggersoft	Client-based MMO	2005	gPotato.jp
Canaan Online	XPEC Entertainment	Browser-based MMO	2008	gPotato.eu
Prius Online	CJ Corporation	Client-based MMO	2008	gPotato.com
TalesRunner	Rhaon Entertainment	Client-based MMO	2008	gPotato.com
Castle of Heroes	Snail Game	Browser-based MMO	2009	gPotato.eu gPotato.kr gPotato.jp
Dragonica	Gravity Games	Side-scrolling MMO	2009	gPotato.eu
Luna Online	Eya Soft	Client-based MMO	2009	gPotato.com
AIKA Online	JoyImpact	Client-based MMO	2010	gPotato.com
Vandia Breaker	Namco Bandai	Browser-based MMO	2010	gPotato.jp
Allods Online	Nival	Client-based MMO	2010	gPotato.com gPotato.eu
Iris Online	Eya Soft	Client-based MMO	2010	gPotato.com gPotato.jp
KungFu Hero	9wee	Browser-based MMO	2010	gPotato.kr
Terra Militaris	Snail Game	Browser-based MMO	2010	gPotato.eu
Age of Wulin	Snail Game	Client-based MMO	2011	gPotato.eu

References