Ragnarok Online

Ragnarok Online is a free-to-play fantasy MMORPG developed by South Korean developer GRAVITY Co., Ltd for Microsoft Windows. It is loosely based on the Korean manhwa Ragnarok: Into the Abyss. A SEA server is currently being published by Gravity Game Hub on its GNJoy portal since 2022. It is best known in the Philippines as the first officially licensed published MMORPG in the country.

The game was first published by Level Up! in the Philippines from 2003 until 2015. Players from the Level Up! community were migrated to the International Ragnarok Online management under the "Thor" server. A new server for the Philippines was published by Electronics Extreme from 2017 until 2021.

About

Philippine Ragnarok Online, under Level Up!

Philippine Ragnarok Online, abbreviated as pRO, is the first officially licensed MMORPG to be published in the Philippines. The game began open beta on June 2, 2003 with the launch of its first server, "Chaos". It was followed by its commercial release in September of the same year. It launched the "Lydia" server on November 3, 2004.

On February 13, 2015, Level Up! announced that it would be closing the game on March 31, 2015. In cooperation with GRAVITY's Warp Portal, a new server in International Ragnarok Online (iRO) will be established in April 2015 to accommodate players who wish to continue playing the game. A migration program was started to help players move their assets to the new server.[1] The new iRO server was named "Thor".

In an interview with Jake San Diego, General Manager of PlayPark and Level Up!, he stated that the company never intended to close the game. He claimed that "the performance of [the game] was deteriorating through the years". Because of its decline, the developers of the game chose to service the Philippine players through the international servers based in North America instead. San Diego also denied rumors that Level Up! was unable to pay the necessary royalties for the game.[2]

The game managed to attract 10 million active subscribers. Gary Escobar, Product Director for Level Up!, stated that at its peak, the game had over 57,000 concurrent users. In regards to server popularity, "Chaos, being the first server, was the most populated followed by Loki. The third was a toss-up between Iris and Fenrir. Urdr, being a PK (PvP) server, was the least populated".[3]

ROExtreme, under Electronics Extreme

In 2017, a new Thailand-based publisher Electronics Extreme entered the Philippine gaming industry after it became the new official publisher of Ragnarok Online in the country. It held the Ragna Festival event to celebrate its arrival. The new Philippine server was launched on June 20, 2017. The company also launched a separate Malaysian/Singaporean server on November 30, 2017.

The Philippine servers suffered a dwindling player count after its initial launch. A potential contribution to its population problem is the release of Ragnarok M: Eternal Love, a mobile game that was launched in the SEA region on November 28, 2018.

Two years after it was founded, the Philippine server was merged with the Malaysian/Singaporean server on July 10, 2019.[4] It was rebranded as "Ragnarok Online MSP" (which stands for Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines) and "ROExtreme" (in reference to the publisher's name).

On November 28, 2021, the Ragnarok Online MSP was shut down.[5] While no reason was stated, it was rumored that GRAVITY did not want to renew the contract so that it could manage a SEA server directly.

Ragnarok Online GGH

On February 23, 2022, Gravity Game Hub, a new Singaporean subsidiary of GRAVITY that was established in 2021, launched its own Ragnarok Online SEA server, then-named Ragnarok Online Ascendance.[6]

References

  1. Philippine Ragnarok Online Moves To A New Home. February 15, 2015. Philippine Ragnarok Online news author. Philippine Ragnarok Online (Level Up!) website. Retrieved on 2023-08-02.
  2. Level Up General Manager Reveals Reasons for Ragnarok Online’s Closure. March 06, 2015 at 08:58 AM. Esports by INQUIRER.net author. Esports by INQUIRER.net. Retrieved on 2023-08-02.
  3. Leaving a Legacy: Philippine Ragnarok Online as Told by the Level Up! Team. March 02, 2015. Esports by INQUIRER.net author. Esports by INQUIRER.net. Retrieved on 2023-08-02.
  4. SERVER MERGE ANNOUNCEMENT. June 4, 2019 at 3:56AM. ROExtreme news author. ROExtreme website. Retrieved on 2021-01-05.
  5. Ragnarok Online MSP Facebook post on November 28, 2021. November 28, 2021. Ragnarok Online MSP Facebook page author. Ragnarok Online MSP Facebook page. Retrieved on 2023-08-02.
  6. GRAVITY GAME HUB ANNOUNCES THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF RAGNAROK ONLINE ASCENDANCE. February 23, 2022. Gravity Game Hub. PR Newswire APAC. Retrieved on 2023-08-02.