Garena

Garena is a global online games developer and publisher headquartered in Singapore. Garena was founded in 2009 by Forrest Li, and is the Digital Entertainment Business under the parent company Sea Group,[1] which was formerly called Garena.[2]

Garena
  • Garena
Private Limited
IndustryVideo games
Founded2009 (2009)
FounderForrest Li
HeadquartersSingapore,
Singapore
Key people
Terry Zhao (President)
Revenue US$ 2.18 billion (2019)
US$ -218.1 million (2020 Q2)
OwnerSea Group
Websitewww.garena.sg

Garena distributes game titles on Garena+ in various countries across Southeast Asia and Taiwan. They include the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth, the online football (soccer) game FIFA Online 3, and the mobile MOBA game Arena of Valor and the mobile racing game Speed Drifters.

In 2017, it developed Garena Free Fire which has over 450 million registered users,[3] and over 80 million daily active users globally as of May 2020.[4]

History

Garena was founded in Singapore in 2009.

In 2012, it launched its first product, Garena+, which is an online game and social platform for people to discover, download and play online games.

In November 2011, Garena announced that it had publishing rights for the team-based shooter game, Firefall, in Southeast Asia and Taiwan.[5]

In December 2011, Garena announced their collaboration[6] with online games developer, Changyou, to publish and operate the popular 3D martial arts game, Duke of Mount Deer, in Taiwan. The game is the first MMORPG game available through Garena+. The game combines a classic Chinese story with the latest 3D rendering technology and cinematic quality graphics. Duke of Mount Deer[7] was created by several top online-gaming experts from China and South Korea and has gained much popularity in China.

Also in December 2011, Garena CEO Forrest Li released the "Dominion" game mode for Garena's League of Legends players in Singapore and Malaysia.[8]

In 2014, the World Startup Report valued Garena as a US$1 billion internet company[9] and ranked it as the largest internet company in Singapore.[10]

In March 2015, the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP), one of the largest pension funds in the world, invested in Garena, valuing the company at over US$2.5 billion.[11]

In August 2015, Garena announced that BlackShot Online would be shut down at midnight on 1 September, not having been able to renew the distribution license. As a result, all game distribution rights were returned to Vertigo Games, which set up PlayOne Asia to handle the game distribution. Later, Garena published another FPS called Alliance of Valiant Arms.

In May 2017, Garena was renamed to Sea.[12][13] However, Garena was retained as a brand name.[14]

In January 2020, Garena acquired Vancouver-based Phoenix Labs, the developers of Dauntless.[15] The acquisition did not affect the operations of Phoenix Labs or Dauntless but helped Garena expand its international presence.[16]

Products

Garena+ is an online game and social platform that has an interface similar to instant messaging platforms. Garena+ allows gamers to develop buddy lists, chat with friends online and check on game progress and achievements. Gamers can create their own unique identity by customizing their avatar or changing their names. Gamers are also able to form groups or clans, and chat with multiple gamers simultaneously through public or private channels through Garena+. Garena+ users use a virtual currency, Shells.

Other products include BeeTalk[17] and TalkTalk.[18]

Events and tournaments

In May 2012, Garena launched the Garena Premier League (GPL), a six-month-long online professional gaming league with more than 100 matches to be played. The first season of GPL is a League of Legends competition which comprises six professional teams. The teams are: the Bangkok Titans, KL Hunters, Manila Eagles, Saigon Jokers, Taipei Assassins and Singapore Sentinels, which represent top players from respective countries. GPL matches are captured and broadcast online along with commentaries, which are available for viewers to watch on the GPL official website.[19]

In January 2013, Garena announced the second season of the Garena Premier League, which would start on 4 January 2013. Garena Premier League 2013 includes two new teams from Taiwan and Vietnam, bringing the total number of teams to eight. The teams are: AHQ, Saigon Fantastic Five (SF5), Bangkok Titans, KL Hunters, Manila Eagles, Saigon Jokers, Taipei Assassins and Singapore Sentinels.[20]

In November 2014, the Garena e-Sports Stadium, a dedicated venue for esports, opened in Neihu District, Taipei.[21] The studio was built partially to accommodate the beginning of the League of Legends Masters Series, the top-level Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau LoL league that was spin-off of the GPL.

In January 2015, Garena launched Iron Solari League, a women's League of Legends tournament in the Philippines.[22] It is a monthly event organized in the second half of each month. It aims to encourage participation by under-represented groups and is open to all those who self-identify as female.

Besides competitive tournaments, Garena also organizes events to cater to users to meet and connect offline. This includes the annual Garena Carnival held in Singapore and Malaysia.[23]

Controversies

On February 3, 2015, Garena eSports announced limitations on the number of gay and transgender people participating in a women-only League of Legends tournament, due to concerns that LGBT participants might have an "unfair advantage". This led to gamers questioning the decision, while League of Legends developer Riot Games responded that "LGBT players are welcome at official LoL tourneys". On February 4, 2015, Garena apologized and subsequently removed the restrictions.[24]

List of published games

Garena provides a platform for game titles such as Defense of the Ancients and Age of Empires, and also publishes games, like multiplayer online battle arena games League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth and Black Shot for players in the region.

Garena-published games:

TitleGenreDeveloperYear of launchCountriesRemarks
Black ShotMMOFPSVertigo Games2009Singapore, Malaysia, PhilippinesClosed 31 August 2015
MstarMMODanceNurien

Netmarble

 2009Taiwan, Malaysia and SingaporeClosed 26 August 2019
League of LegendsMOBARiot Games2010Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, Philippines, Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau, Thailand, VietnamClosed (Indonesia only)
Heroes of NewerthMOBAFrostburn Studios2010Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, CIS
Duke of Mount DeerMMORPGChangyou.com2011TaiwanClosed 24 March 2014
Point BlankMMOFPSZepetto2012Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, IndonesiaClosed 28 June 2017
Path of ExileARPGGrinding Gear Games2013Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, CIS, ThailandClosed 14 November 2016
Elsword MMORPGKOG Studios2013PhilippinesClosed 2 December 2015
FirefallTeam Shooter/ FPSRed 52014Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines
Lost SagaCasualIO Entertainment2015Thailand, TaiwanClosed 3 December 2017
Thunder StrikeVertical Scrollersunmosh2015Thailand, Taiwan, VietnamClosed 6 October 2017
Alliance of Valiant ArmsTeam Shooter/ FPSRed Duck Inc.

Neowiz

 2015Singapore, MalaysiaClosed 3 July 2018
VindictusMMORPGdevCAT2015ThailandClosed 31 August 2018
Headshot FPS Lightspeed Studios 2016 Thailand Closed
Garena Free FireBattle Royale111dots Studio (Vietnam)

Omens Studios

 2017Global
Blade & SoulMMORPGTeam Bloodlust2017Thailand, Vietnam
FIFA Online 4Sports/SoccerElectronic Arts2018Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam
Ring of ElysiumBattle RoyaleTencent

Aurora Studio

 2018Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau,

Thailand, Indonesia
FIFA Online 3 Sports/Soccer Electronic Arts 2018 Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam Closed
Contra: Return Run and gun Tencent

Konami

 2018 Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia
TalesRunner Sports Rhaon 2018 Indonesia Closed
Onmyoji Visual Novel/ Action Netease Games 2018 Thailand Closed 3 April 2019
DD tank Artillery MMOG.asia

Changyou.com

 2018 Thailand
Rising Force OnlineMMORPGsCCR InternationalThailand
SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy Fighting SNK 2018 Japan, China, Korea, Thailand
Player's Unknown BattleGround Mobile (PUBGM) Battle Royale Tencent

(China)

 2018 Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brazil, India, China
Call of Duty : Mobile Battle Royale Activision 2019
gollark: Now to make PotatOS copy itself onto tapes.
gollark: It has been done.
gollark: If you know of a serialization library which *does* and which emits compact output, please tell me.
gollark: I'm just using a boring old JSON library, okay? I don't see why I'd want to serialize that to tapes.
gollark: It has four functions: `write(tape_drive, data, ignore_out_of_space)`, `write_string(tape_drive, string, ignore_out_of_space)`, `read(tape_drive)`, `read_string(tape_drive)`.

See also

References
  1. "Sea Limited Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Results". sec.gov. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 3 March 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  2. "TechCrunch". Tech company Garena raises US$550m, rebrands as Sea. Archived from the original on 2017-05-16. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  3. "Popular battle royale game Free Fire now delivers premium perience to Indian gamers".
  4. Takahashi, Dean (18 May 2020). "Free Fire sets record with 80 million daily players for free-to-play mobile battle royale". VentureBeat. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  5. "Yahoo! News". Garena snags exclusive Firefall distribution rights for US$23 million. Archived from the original on 2011-12-03. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
  6. "Gamer.com.tw". Duke of Mount Deer. Archived from the original on 2012-01-08. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  7. "PC Home". Duke of Mount Deer.
  8. "GameAxis". Dominion Officially Launched on Garena. Archived from the original on 2012-01-04.
  9. "Singapore's Tech Company Garena Valued At USD1 Billion". Archived from the original on 8 August 2014.
  10. "Start me up". Archived from the original on 2017-06-30. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
  11. "Subscribe to read". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2018-06-27. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  12. Chia Yan Min (9 May 2017). "Tech firm Garena gets renamed as Sea". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  13. Lee, Yoolim (8 May 2017). "Garena Rebrands as Sea After Raising $550 Million in New Funding". Bloomberg. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  14. "Garena rebrands to Sea and raises $550 million more to focus on Indonesian e-commerce". Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  15. "Sea Announces Garena's Acquisition of Phoenix Labs". www.businesswire.com. 2020-01-29. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  16. McAloon, Alissa (January 28, 2020). "Dauntless dev Phoenix Labs acquired by Singaporean game company Garena". Gamasutra. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  17. "With 10M users in just four months, Tinder-esque app BeeTalk is buzzing throughout Asia". Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  18. "TalkTalk". intl.garena.com. Archived from the original on 2015-02-12. Retrieved 2015-02-12.
  19. "Watch the Opening of Garena Premier League 2012 Season". League Craft. Archived from the original on 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2013-01-02.
  20. "Garena Premier League". Garena. Archived from the original on 2012-12-22.
  21. "【活動】台灣史上第一座『Garena 電子競技館』隆重登場！". Garena. 2014-10-29. Archived from the original on 2015-11-17. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
  22. Mitchell, Ferguson (February 3, 2015). "All-female League of Legends tournament in the Philippines to limit LGBT participation". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  23. Putra, Ade (May 12, 2015). "Garena Carnival 2015 Will Be at Suntec on 13–14 June [Updated]". GameAxis. Archived from the original on 2015-11-17. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  24. Stuart, Keith (2015-02-04). "Pro-gaming tournament attempts to limit gay and transgender players". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2016-04-16. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
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