Frogster announced today that Runes of Magic has surpassed one million registered users in the United States and Europe. “We are convinced that with the upcoming offering of additional language versions we will achieve further strong growth in Europe," said Andreas Weidenhaupt, Chief Licensing Officer of Frogster Interactive Pictures AG and CEO of Frogster Online Gaming GmbH, in a press release. Korean and Russian versions of the game are planned.

In addition the this milestone, Frogster America also announced that it has partnered with BitRaider to stream Runes of Magic. According to a press release, "The Runes of Magic BitRaider client will allow players to begin playing the game within minutes rather than hours, by downloading only the portions of the game needed to begin. As the game is played, additional content is downloaded in the background."

Lars Koschin, CEO of Frogster America, said Runes of Magic will be the first free-to-play game to utilize this technology, and that the download and installation process should take less than 5 minutes on most systems. You can read the full press release below.

SAN FRANCISCO and SEATTLE – May 13, 2009 – Frogster America, Inc. today announced at LOGIN ‘09 that it has partnered to utilize BitRaider MMO, LLC’s streaming technology to Runes of Magic in North America. The Runes of Magic BitRaider client will allow players to begin playing the game within minutes rather than hours, by downloading only the portions of the game needed to begin. As the game is played, additional content is downloaded in the background.

“The biggest barrier to even wider adoption of free-to-play online games is the time it takes from when you start downloading the game, to when you get in and play,” said Lars Koschin, CEO of Frogster America, Inc. “We understand that people want to be able to get into a game as quickly as possible, and that is why we are working with BitRaider to make Runes of Magic the first free-to-play title to use the technology. We believe that by reducing the download and installation process to less than 5 minutes on most systems, we’ll see a rapid increase in players coming to the game”

“Our technology is focused on improving the game play experience and taking away the pain of online distribution,” comments Royal O’Brien Founder and CEO of BitRaider. “We assist publishers by increasing the adoption rate of their games and by getting the player in faster—while lowering bandwidth costs by reducing unused downloaded content.”

The BitRaider version of the Runes of Magic client will be available for download in the next few weeks, as the companies work together to shrink the initial download and optimize the technology for Runes of Magic.