Russian publisher Nival announces plans to open a North American office in Los Angeles. If you're feeling deja vu, that's because they announced the same thing five years ago, but we're not sure whatever became of that. Here's the story this time around:

The new office will initially focus on managing operations for North America and contribute to growth opportunities in both Central and South America. Nival is expected to launch its first North American game in 2011 with an additional game available for beta testing later this year. The games will be free to play with revenue driven through in-game item sales via microtransactions. Nival plans to offer games across multiple platforms, including PC and Mac, as well as Android and iOS mobile operating systems with extensive social network tie-ins.

Nival will support its North American game services with customer service, marketing, communications, production and quality assurance teams. Industry veteran David D. Christensen, who has extensive global gaming background with prior roles at Sony Online Entertainment, Vivendi Universal and IGE, is the company’s North American general manager. The company’s U.S. office has expansive growth plans and is currently staffing up to create a dedicated North American team.