Sanrio Digital has announced that hey have partnered with Aeria Games & Entertainment to launch Hello Kitty Online in North America.

San Francisco, CA, USA – March 25, 2009: Sanrio Digital (www.sanriodigital.com) and Aeria Games & Entertainment Inc. (www.aeriagames.com), a US based online games publisher, today announced they are partnering to launch Hello Kitty Online in North America. The announcement was made at the 2009 Game Developer Conference®, held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center from March 23-27. Hello Kitty Online is the eagerly anticipated official massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) of the Hello Kitty universe. Aeria Games will manage North American online publishing and game service operations for Hello Kitty Online. Sanrio Digital will manage retail publishing of the game and operate SanrioTown (www.sanriotown.com), the Sanrio-themed portal and social networking site integrated with Hello Kitty Online.

“Sanrio Digital is very excited to partner with Aeria Games, who will be our online publisher and operator for Hello Kitty Online in North America. With Aeria Games’ leadership position in the free-to-play casual MMO sector and Hello Kitty brand awareness among the underserved female gaming audience, Hello Kitty Online will grow into a leading social gaming destination for teens and female adults,” said Robert Ferrari, Vice President of Publishing & Business Development of Sanrio Digital.

“Aeria Games is honored to partner with Sanrio Digital to introduce Hello Kitty Online to the North American audience. Given the global, well-loved brand and the advanced game design, we believe that Hello Kitty Online will propel the casual free-to-play MMO industry into the mainstream,” said JT Nguyen, Chief Marketing Officer of Aeria Games.

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