CHINESE SOFTWARE DEVELOPER ACQUIRED BY WORLD MAHJONG TOUR

22 February 2008

Watch out for a whole slew of new Asian-centric online games


The Asian-facing gaming company World Mahjong Tour, Inc. has taken over 945i.com, a Chinese gaming software development company based in Chengdu, China and established in 2005. The financial consideration in the deal was not disclosed.

945i is respected for its works on a range of games Chinese Mahjong, Sichuan Mahjong, Dou Di Zhu (Fight the Landlord), Tuo La Ji/Shengji (Traktor Poker), Chinese Chess, Go/Weiqi, and Junqi. More games are in the development stage and will soon to be released.

"This acquisition allows WMT to immediately offer both play for free games directly to the consumer markets throughout Asia and also a white label software offering for companies throughout the world who want to enter this ever growing market," said Pierre Wuu and David Wang, World Mahjong Tour founders.

"The Asian online gaming market is the fastest growing in the world and WMT intends to reach consumers directly via its own branded websites and via licensing deals from operators looking to have Asian game offerings."

Garret Lin, founder of 945i.com, has been appointed the Director of Technology for World Mahjong Tour. Lin led server infrastructure development at Valicert (now part of Tumbleweed Communications, NASDAQ: TMWD). He was also instrumental in completing security server related products for the United States Department of Defence, Visa, and Netscape.

Lin also worked at PowerTV (now part of Cisco Systems, NASDAQ: CSCO) and holds a BS in Computer Science and Math from Carnegie Mellon University along with an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management.

"Adding Garret and his team will enable WMT to execute key elements of the business in a much shorter timeframe," said Pierre Wuu and David Wang. "His years of Asian online gaming experience and knowledge of local and regional gaming trends are invaluable to the future of WMT."

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