Free Realms® Celebrates 3rd birthday

SAN DIEGO, April 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The fun and celebration continues in Free Realms® as Sony Online Entertainment's (SOE) family-friendly, free-to-play online game turns three years old. To celebrate its third birthday, Free Realms is inviting players across the PC, Macintosh® and PlayStation®Network to an array of exciting in-game activities including a number of birthday story quests, daily birthday rewards, and an epic in-game world event featuring the return of one of Sacred Grove's favorite villains, Cakenstein.

Through a truly customizable gameplay experience, Free Realms allows players in an online world to do whatever they want, whenever they want. Players can customize his or her own virtual home, adopt a pet, play fun minigames or even test his or her skills on the battlefield against the toughest enemies. Since its initial launch, Free Realms has surpassed 20 million registered users and continues to actively grow. While only a mere three years old, the game already has an arsenal of achievements; from having more than 59,000 in-game items such as customizable pets and unique clothing including the popular "Skeletal Hoodie," players have also started  more than 112.8 million collection quests.

"We are so very thankful for all of our Free Realms players," said John Smedley, President, Sony Online Entertainment. "We believe our players are our extended family and celebrating this birthday is a great testament to them. As the Free Realms community continues to grow, our goal will always be to find new ways to keep our players engaged and give them fun experiences to discover and enjoy. To further support this goal, in the next few weeks, we will be bringing players an opportunity to go even deeper into the world of Free Realms, and I can't wait to see and hear their reactions."

To complement Free Realms' three-year milestone, SOE will be rewarding all players with a special birthday hat, hosting a number of in-game community events, and offering birthday items for purchase in the in-game Marketplace including a party Pinata pet, birthday furniture, and more.

Free Realms is rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and up by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) with content descriptors of Crude Humor and Fantasy Violence.

To play Free Realms now, please visit: http://www.FreeRealms.com

For Free Realms updates and information, follow Free Realms on Facebook and Twitter.

Press assets: http://bhimpact.gamespress.com/product_page.asp?i=914

About Sony Online Entertainment

Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games. Best known for its blockbuster hits and franchises, including EverQuest®, EverQuest® II, Champions of Norrath®, PlanetSide®, Free Realms®, Clone Wars Adventures™, and DC Universe™ Online, SOE creates, develops and provides compelling online entertainment for a variety of platforms. SOE is building on its proven legacy and pioneering the future of online worlds through creative development and inspired gameplay design for audiences of all ages. To learn more, visit www.soe.com.

SOURCE Sony Online Entertainment