LADYDRAGON.COM - WARNER BROS. STUDIOS AND UBI SOFT PARTNER TO LAUNCH THE MATRIX ONLINE IN 2004

Wednesday May 14, 2003

WARNER BROS. STUDIOS AND UBI SOFT PARTNER TO LAUNCH THE MATRIX ONLINE IN 2004

Warner Bros. Studios and Ubi Soft® Entertainment, one of the world's largest video game publishers, will co-publish The Matrix Online, the first massively multiplayer online game based on Warner Bros. Pictures' vastly influential Matrix property.

Under the terms of the worldwide exclusive deal, Ubi Soft will distribute and manage the live game operations of The Matrix Online, while Warner Bros. Studios will oversee all story and content development. Both companies will supervise ongoing game development and marketing activities for the game. Following the beta test in 2003, The Matrix Online is expected to launch in 2004.

Set in a virtual, persistent online universe in which millions of players around the globe can participate, The Matrix Online will feature cutting-edge graphics, real-time martial arts combat and a rich storyline that picks up where The Matrix Revolutions, the third chapter in The Matrix film trilogy, leaves off.

The game is currently being developed for the PC by Monolith Productions, an award-winning independent game developer, and EON Entertainment, the company owned by the Wachowski Brothers, creators of The Matrix trilogy.

"The Wachowski Brothers' vision for The Matrix is one that extends far beyond the theatrical trilogy, and the world they have created is so rich that we've chosen to tell inter-connected Matrix-related stories in multiple mediums," said Joel Silver, producer of the Matrix films. "Our goal in collaborating with Ubi Soft is to create a multiplayer online game that reflects the trilogy's highly stylized storytelling and innovative action, taking fans beyond the boundaries of the movie screen and into a 'persistent world' where they can fully explore the vast realm of the Matrix."

The Matrix Online partnership between Ubi Soft and Warner Bros. Studios provides both companies with a unique opportunity to tap into the enormous worldwide potential of online games, particularly in North America and the growing Asian and European markets.

"The Matrix Online is the perfect property to showcase Warner Bros. Studios' steadily increasing involvement in interactive entertainment, especially in the online space," said Kevin Tsujihara, Executive Vice President, Corporate Business Development and Strategy, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. "Drawing on our Studio's expertise as one of the world's premiere content providers, The Matrix Online will offer gamers an experience simply not available anywhere else."

"Imagine if the Matrix existed today, if millions of people could enter a simulation so convincing, so real, that they believed it to be an actual place," said Yves Guillemot, President of Ubi Soft Entertainment. "Ubi Soft and Warner Bros. Studios will bring the Matrix universe to life - enabling gamers throughout the world to participate in the continuously evolving world of The Matrix Online."

Released by Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures in 1999, the acclaimed action thriller The Matrix won four Academy Awards, broke Studio records by accumulating over $475 million in worldwide theatrical receipts, and was the first DVD title to sell one million units. To date, The Matrix has accumulated worldwide DVD/VHS sales of $325 million.

Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures will release the highly anticipated second and third chapters in The Matrix trilogy this year: The Matrix Reloaded opens theatrically on May 15, to be followed by The Matrix Revolutions in November. In addition, Warner Home Video will release The Animatrix, a collection of of stunningly visual animated stories that delve further into the mind-bending world of The Matrix and the characters who inhabit it, on DVD and VHS on June 3.

Already one of the top ten online gaming portals worldwide, ubi.com supports all of Ubi Soft's CD-ROM and subscription-based games, including EverQuest(tm), the recently-released Shadowbane and the latest game in the Myst series, Uru: Ages Beyond MYST.

Fans can find the latest information about The Matrix Online at www.TheMatrixOnline.com