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Grandia Online is the latest in a series of best selling games dating as far back as the 1997 release of the original Grandia RPG for the Sega Saturn console. The game itself is set within the world presented in the Grandia series, in the "Age of Genesis", before the original Grandia story takes place.

The Grandia Online announcement comes hot on the heels of the recent upgrades to Hokuto no Ken Online Heroes (“Fist of the North Star” Online Heroes), which was also built on BigWorld Technology by GameArts Co., Ltd.

Yoshitada Iwata, Producer at GungHo Online Entertainment, commented that “The BigWorld Technology provides a robust, cost effective way for us to bring GameArts’ online visions to life.  Both the technology and the support we receive from the BigWorld team are second to none, and I cannot recommend the BigWorld platform more highly to teams considering creating any kind of massively multiplayer online game.”

“We are very pleased that GameArts’ experience with the BigWorld Technology Suite during the development of Hokuto-no-Ken led them to acquire a subsequent license for the development of Grandia Online. We look forward to continuing to support them on this title and on future projects, and to growing BigWorld’s presence in Japan more widely”, said James Hursthouse, BigWorld’s Director of Business Development for Japan and Korea.

Grandia Online is expected to enter open beta in July 2009, with a full commercial release in Summer 2009.