PRESS RELEASE July 28, 2005 Paynova expands globally in the gaming industry with world famous Ninjas in Pyjamas Paynova is signing a partnership agreement with the world champions in the popular computer network game Counterstrike (CS) - Ninjas in Pyjamas AB (NiP). NiP is now leveraging its strong position as the world leading and most successful CS team ever, into a commercial success. Paynova’s payment services are integrated in NiP’s global and newly re-launched site for online gamers. All members and fans signing up will get a Paynova Wallet to be used for payments, fund transfers and payouts. The world’s most popular network game, Counterstrike, currently has around 60 million active players. Swedish Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP) are triple world champions, and were Olympic champions in 2003. The five players, travels around the world playing major tournaments and make a living from playing computer games full time. Out of around 200 teams, NiP has dominated the scene for over four years and been the most successful team ever. Based on the enormous popularity and the number of fans, especially in Asia, the number of members is estimated to grow to around 200,000 just within the first 6 months of operation. The website provides membership for various CS activities, merchandising, hardware products vital for gamers, e.g. keyboards and headsets. NiP jointly develops the hardware with some of the world’s most well-known hardware manufacturers. “We have investigated the market and concluded that Paynova has the best and simplest payment services for our current needs, as well as for our future business development. Our gamers want the ultimate gaming experience and for that the payment solution must be as secure, convenient and simple as possible. Paynova also has the capacity and desire to grow in our prioritised markets, as well as within our different business areas,” comments Peter Hedlund, CEO of NiP. The global market for multiplayer action games is estimated to an annual USD 5 billion, split by US 1.7 bn, Europe 2.1 and the rest in Asia, with an annual growth rate of around 90%. In year 2008 with approx. 110 million gamers, e-sport is estimated to be the fastest growing entertainment industry in the world. ”We are delighted to conclude that this agreement with NiP marks a substantial proof of concept in our efforts to service the gaming industry with the best possible designed payment services. We experience a great response in the market from current clients as well as gaming developers and publishers. This can also be attributed to the fantastic growth phase of the gaming industry as well as the new security programs from Visa and MasterCard that raises the quality requirements on any vendor handling card information. This is now pushing more Gaming vendors to use a certified supplier of electronic payments”, says Johan Waxberg, CEO of Paynova. For more information, please contact: Johan Waxberg, VD Paynova AB Peter Hedlund, CEO NiP AB Mobile: +46(0) 70 688 02 47 Mobile: +46(0) 708 61 95 95 Email: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Facts about Paynova’s payment services Paynovas payment services has been adopted and customized to the online gaming industry in close co-operation with some twenty well established brands like Mindark/Project Entropia, Midas Player, Nintendo, Habbo, Dreamhack, Fragzone, Jadestone and NiP, together representing millions of gamers. The result is payment services optimized for online Gaming. Today Paynova delivers an account based payment service handling monthly subscriptions, in-game payments, micro-payments, and a payment guarantee for all local payment types all according to Visa AIS and MasterCard SDP standards. These services are all packed in a cost effective solution to meet all of the most important gaming requirements. For more information please visit www.paynova.com/eng/docs/gaming.pdf About Ninjas in Pyjamas NiP AB is the world’s most famous and successful Counterstrike Company. Millions of fans across the world follow the team captain HeatoN (Emil Christensen) and his team mates. In addition to NiP successfully participating in the professional tour across the world, NiP also generates income through membership fees for playing computer games, sales of hardware products, merchandise, etc. NiP is leading the rapidly-growing game development towards becoming a more professional industry. Most recently, NiP won the Swedish Dreamhack tournament (June 2005), also known as the world’s largest collection of LAN connected computers. The CEO of NiP is Peter Hedlund. For more information: www.nip-gaming.com About Paynova Paynova AB offers modern payment services on the Internet, for large and small sums alike. E- retailers gain access to a number of European payment methods and currencies in a total solution with a payment guarantee. Consumers can open a Paynova wallet free of charge on the Internet to make purchases more secure and simpler, as well as handling transfers between family members, friends and acquaintances. More than 20,000 banks worldwide accept VISA and MasterCard payments via Paynova. More than 800 e-retailers have agreements with Paynova, most being within the following focused segments: travel, retailing and also media and network games, e.g. CD WOW, SJ, Fujifilm Sverige, Swebus Express and TV4. The company has been listed on NGM since February 2004. For more information and images, visit: www.paynova.se.