tag:,2010:/4 2010-02-09T17:28:27Z Movable Type 3.34 tag:worldsinmotion.biz,2010://4.20720 2010-02-09T17:12:08Z 2010-02-09T17:28:27Z

A new virtual goods payment method avoids the need for credit cards by employing a different, and widely-available, form of plastic: prepaid calling cards. San Francisco-based Zeus Research, which says it specializes in "innovative prepaid card solutions," has partnered with...

Chris Remo A new virtual goods payment method avoids the need for credit cards by employing a different, and widely-available, form of plastic: prepaid calling cards. San Francisco-based Zeus Research, which says it specializes in "innovative prepaid card solutions," has partnered with New York-based STi Prepaid, a nationwide retail and online seller of calling cards. Zeus says STi's existing cards, of which the company sells some 200 million a year across 200,000 retail outlets, can be used to pay for virtual goods in games whose developers have implemented the Zeus API. The deal is likely aimed at two specific groups of consumers: those who are unwilling to use credit cards online out of security concerns, and those too young to have their own credit cards. Traditionally, the use of credit cards in online payments has served as a de facto enforcement of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which defines a "child" as an individual under the age of 13. "Having seen the issues and opportunities in virtual currency first hand, we spent the year building a service which would be simple for a player to use, quick for a publisher to integrate, and which would provide a massive and instant increase in retail outlets to complement the current payment options," said Zeus founder Sean Ryan in a statement. "By partnering with leading prepaid calling card company STi Prepaid, we open up an entirely new set of local retail outlets for virtual currency card purchases, which will drive this exciting sector even higher." Zeus plans to launch the service in March, with program partners to be announced then.]]> tag:worldsinmotion.biz,2010://4.20706 2010-02-08T20:36:46Z 2010-02-09T13:35:51Z

Casual game developer PlayFirst has hired Mitali Pattnaik, previously a social gaming executive at Electronic Arts, to serve as its general manager. The San Francisco-based studio, developer of games including Diner Dash and Chocolatier, says Pattnaik will drive PlayFirst's social...

Chris Remo Casual game developer PlayFirst has hired Mitali Pattnaik, previously a social gaming executive at Electronic Arts, to serve as its general manager. The San Francisco-based studio, developer of games including Diner Dash and Chocolatier, says Pattnaik will drive PlayFirst's social gaming efforts. Although PlayFirst has released games to social platforms like Facebook, it has traditionally operated mainly in the standard casual sphere of download- and portal-based games. Pattnaik's hire marks a clearer move into the emerging social gaming space. "Social platforms are a natural fit for PlayFirst," said PlayFirst CEO Mari Baker in a statement. "We have a history of publishing best-selling games for women, and can mine our catalog of great IP to bring well-known brands to the social platform. We are already seeing a large crossover factor between our traditional PC download customers and those playing on Facebook and we expect this trend to continue." As head of marketing for Electronic Arts' social games group, Pattnaik headed up the launch of The Sims 3's online virtual goods store. She has also served in marketing and management capacities at Yahoo! and Microsoft. Baker said Pattnaik's experience in online monetization will be of key importance in her new role. Information on professional networking site LinkedIn suggests Pattnaik has been working at PlayFirst since November of last year -- the same month Electronic Arts acquired social developer Playfish.]]> tag:worldsinmotion.biz,2010://4.20705 2010-02-08T18:07:45Z 2010-02-08T18:14:59Z

Free Realms, Sony Online Entertainment's youth-targeted free-to-play PC MMO, has reached a milestone of eight million unique user registrations, the publisher announced today. Developed by SOE's San Diego headquarters, Free Realms launched April 28 of last year, giving it an...

Chris Remo Free Realms, Sony Online Entertainment's youth-targeted free-to-play PC MMO, has reached a milestone of eight million unique user registrations, the publisher announced today. Developed by SOE's San Diego headquarters, Free Realms launched April 28 of last year, giving it an average monthly registration rate of nearly 900,000. The game is free to download and play, with an optional paid subscription conferring various bonuses, as well as in-game microtransactions. Registrations seem to have slowed somewhat since their peak growth: the game had accrued two million registrations a month after launch and five million three months after launch, meaning its average monthly registration count since last August is approximately 500,000. Sony did not indicate the size of the game's current active player base. "Free Realms is more than just a virtual world for our players; it is a portal for imagination," said SOE president John Smedley in a statement. "Our job as developers is to listen to and predict what they want and give them the tools that inspire and compel them to share their experiences with eight million others." Free Realms was nominated for this year's Best New Social/Online Game award at the Game Developers Choice Awards, to be held on March 11 during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.]]> tag:worldsinmotion.biz,2010://4.20704 2010-02-08T17:31:24Z 2010-02-08T17:32:35Z

World of Warcraft operations in China have apparently hit yet another roadblock as operator NetEase has suspended new user registrations while it applies for a license to operate the Burning Crusade expansion pack. In the midst of its transition from...

Chris Remo World of Warcraft operations in China have apparently hit yet another roadblock as operator NetEase has suspended new user registrations while it applies for a license to operate the Burning Crusade expansion pack. In the midst of its transition from operator The9 -- a switch made by Activision Blizzard in order to obtain a more favorable royalty rate -- WoW operations in China have become tangled in a power struggle between two different government groups that differ on how to regulate online game content. As a result, the game saw a long closed beta and two months of downtime in the region last year before it was at last allowed to re-launch. Now, according to Reuters, NetEase has decided to re-apply to the General Administration of Press and Publication for a license to operate The Burning Crusade, and will disallow new registrations for a week from Monday, ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. China's Ministry of Culture first approved WoW's relaunch in September 2009, having taken over some of the relevant regulatory responsibilities. However, many of those responsibilities remain the province of GAPP, which demanded the first suspension after claiming the relaunch was greenlit without its input. NetEase has always maintained it never violated any regulations. Chinese regulators have become increasingly concerned over "undesirable content" in online games. Among the edits made to WoW to allow its launch in China were the replacement of bone piles with sandbags and a color change of enemy blood from red to a vague black mist. The Chinese government is also cracking down in particular on foreign investments in its burgeoning online game industry, which is expected to grow 30 to 40 percent to $4 billion this year. GAPP has stipulated foreign companies "cannot control or participate in domestic game-operating businesses indirectly through another investment company, signed agreements or by supplying technical support."]]> tag:worldsinmotion.biz,2010://4.20680 2010-02-07T04:43:11Z 2010-02-07T04:43:50Z

In our latest employment-specific round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from Black Rock Studio, Blizzard and more. Each position posted by employers will appear...

Simon Carless In our latest employment-specific round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from Black Rock Studio, Blizzard and more. Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly. It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more. Some of the notable jobs posted this week include: Black Rock Studio: Lead Vehicle Artist "When a company the size of Disney steps into European development, it's pretty big news. Disney employs over 100,000 staff. It’s one of the biggest Entertainment companies in the world and it's getting serious about original games. We're a strong studio of just over a hundred people, based at the heart of beautiful and cosmopolitan Brighton, UK. Just a quick train ride away from London in an office where pretty much everyone gets a sea view. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly but focussed and our role is to create original racing game franchises." CCP China: Senior Programmer "CCP, makers of the largest game universe in existence, is looking for a Senior Engineer to be a part of the creative team that brought the world the groundbreaking MMO title, EVE Online. Successful applicants will join a seasoned team based in Shanghai, China where they will work on original games for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3."]]> Ubisoft San Francisco: Lead Artist "Ubisoft Entertainment, a global leader in the video games and entertainment software industry, is currently seeking a full-time Lead Artist. We are looking for a talented, motivated and experienced person to create and manage art development on an exciting next-generation cross platform project. Qualified individuals are expected to be organized, with excellent communication skills, and have a proven track record in management and art direction for both internal and external outsourcing studios." Blizzard: Senior Exterior Level Designer "Blizzard Entertainment is looking for a senior exterior level designer with experience building outdoor levels similar to those of World of Warcraft. The ideal candidate has industry experience on a shipping game or has created and distributed levels in the fan/mod community. Level designers need to be able to create fun and interesting environments that look and play great. Game design experience and skills in general 3D modeling/texturing are preferred. The senior level designer must have experience leading a team but also works well in an environment of peers who are passionate about making great games." Monolith: Staff Software Engineer, Engine "Over the past 10 years, Monolith has risen to critical acclaim with products such as the FEAR franchise, the Condemned series, the No One Lives Forever franchise, Aliens vs. Predator 2; and Shogo: Mobile Armor Division. Monolith has focused primarily on first person action games with a strong emphasis on storytelling and atmosphere. In addition, Monolith has extensive internal expertise creating cutting edge tools and technology to support our products. The company’s number one goal is to create fun, compelling games to excite the imaginations of gamers everywhere." Sony Computer Entertainment America: Senior Developer Support Engineer, Audio "Be a part of the most exciting and innovating computer entertainment in North America. Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) markets the PlayStation® family of products and develops, publishes, markets, and distributes software for the PS one™ console, the PlayStation®2 and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems and the PlayStation Portable (PSP™)." To browse hundreds of similar jobs, and for more information on searching, responding to, or posting game industry-relevant jobs to the top source for jobs in the business, please visit Gamasutra's job board now. ]]> tag:worldsinmotion.biz,2010://4.20670 2010-02-05T19:00:03Z 2010-02-05T19:14:07Z

Portable avatar service and virtual world WeeWorld has launched WeeMee Avatar Creator, a new application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that allows users to create and display customized WeeMee avatars on their handset. More than 33 million users have...

Eric Caoili Portable avatar service and virtual world WeeWorld has launched WeeMee Avatar Creator, a new application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that allows users to create and display customized WeeMee avatars on their handset. More than 33 million users have registered to create WeeMees since the service launched in 2002. Those members can customize different clothes, accessories, hobbies and more for their avatars, and then bring those characters into social networks, blogging sites, instant messaging platforms, email signatures, mobile phones, and more due to WeeWorld's open platform. Developed in conjunction with Toronto studio Smallmedium, the iPhone app features a built in WeeMee editor to create, edit, and save avatars. They can use then assign those WeeMees as visual caller ID images for their friends through the embedded address book. They can also save WeeMees to the Photos app and use as wallpapers, send through email, or use on services like Facebook and Twitter. "Now Apple iPhone and iPod touch users have the opportunity to be creative and have fun making digital identities for themselves and their friends," says WeeWorld COO Lauren Bigelow. "We already have 33 million people around the globe who are passionate about their WeeMees, and we are thrilled to welcome the iPhone and iPod touch users to that community." You can see screenshots from the WeeMee Avatar Creator iPhone application below:]]> ]]> tag:worldsinmotion.biz,2010://4.20669 2010-02-05T17:00:49Z 2010-02-05T17:50:25Z

Paris-headquartered microtransaction company Hi-Media Payments announced the opening of a new San Francisco office, as well as plans to bring its Allopass micropayments platform to the North Aemrican market. The new branch, Hi-media USA, will be headed by CEO Pooj...

Eric Caoili Paris-headquartered microtransaction company Hi-Media Payments announced the opening of a new San Francisco office, as well as plans to bring its Allopass micropayments platform to the North Aemrican market. The new branch, Hi-media USA, will be headed by CEO Pooj and will service U.S. customers and their clients. Its initial U.S. customers include Artix Entertainment, Gambit, gWallet, and Sometrics. Hi-Media works with a variety of companies that sell virtual goods or digital content such as social networks, dating sites, streaming media firms, and developers of social games, MMOs, and virtual worlds. Its Allopass platform currently processes over eight million transactions per month. It supports nine different payment methods like credit cards, mobile payments, home phone billing, and third-party prepaid cards. The company offers localized payment methods, which it says reduces or avoids friction in the checkout process, leading to higher completion rates and generating more paying customers than credit cards alone. Hi-Media also claims that Allopass is the only micropayment platform that offers merchant settlement in less than ten days, which it says is "a significant advantage" for companies that can't afford to wait up to 60 days to get paid. "We know micropayments," says Preena, "and after almost a decade working with thousands of online merchants around the world, we have a firm understanding of what it takes to make payments friction-free while offering merchants more options along with fast and efficient payback."]]> tag:worldsinmotion.biz,2010://4.20662 2010-02-05T15:00:39Z 2010-02-05T15:54:34Z

Along with announcing new alternative payment partners, indie game portal Kongregate revealed that Playmage's Dream World, the first social game to use its Konduit Application Platform for community/monetization features, attracted over one million gameplays. The Konduit Application Platform enables developer...

Eric Caoili Along with announcing new alternative payment partners, indie game portal Kongregate revealed that Playmage's Dream World, the first social game to use its Konduit Application Platform for community/monetization features, attracted over one million gameplays. The Konduit Application Platform enables developer to tap into Kongregate features like leaderboards, virtual goods, profiles, and chat from their own backend using Javascript, Actionscript, or REST APIs. It's a similar setup to what social game developers have used on other platforms like Facebook; Kongregate believes that offering the same architecture helps establish itself as an alternative to casual titles on social networks, or as a social site for core gamers. Just two weeks after Playmage ported Dream World from Facebook to Kongregate -- the developer integrated Konduit into the title in less than one week -- the social RPG received more than one million gameplays with a CPM (cost per thousand) of $20 and an ARPPU (average revenue per paying user) of $26. Kongregate attributed the game's success to its integration of the platform's achievements system to pull in hundreds of thousands of players looking to earn badges. They company also revealed several new payment method partners from the social gaming market: mobile payments provider Zong, offer-based ad network Offerpal, and PlaySpan's prepaid card Ultimate Game Card. Kongregate also plans to to add European partners later this month like prepaid card PaySafe and other payment options through PayByCash. Based in San Francisco and founded in 2006, Kongregate receives more than one million game plays a day and adds around one thousand new titles to its portal each month. The site enjoys an audience of more than eight million unique users worldwide, 85 percent of which are young males. While its games are free to play, many premium titles allow players to purchase virtual goods with real world money through its microtransaction platform Kongregate Kreds. "Free-to-play web MMOs and strategy games are a rapidly growing $500 million market, and yet the largest, most popular social networks are unable to address the needs of this large and important demographic of hardcore players – 13 to 34," says Kongregate CEO and co-founder Jim Greer. "These games tend to be more complex and require a higher level of skill to play them, and existing social platforms are simply unsuitable for the more sophisticated, hardcore gaming experiences," he continues. "Konduit brings together our community of millions of players with the architecture necessary to deliver the robust social features that benefit both the developer and player – Dream World exemplifies this."]]> tag:worldsinmotion.biz,2010://4.20656 2010-02-04T19:00:15Z 2010-02-04T20:14:38Z

Just a couple months after migrating launching a standalone site for mega-hit FarmVille, social game developer Zynga has further expanded the popular farming sim beyond Facebook to Microsoft's MSN Games portal. As with the FarmVille.com version of the casual title,...

Eric Caoili Just a couple months after migrating launching a standalone site for mega-hit FarmVille, social game developer Zynga has further expanded the popular farming sim beyond Facebook to Microsoft's MSN Games portal. As with the FarmVille.com version of the casual title, the MSN Games edition uses Facebook Connect so that players can still interact with the 76+ million FarmVille players on the social network. The version on the portal will still pull from users' information from Facebook even though it's no longer hosted on a separate site. Though Zynga plans to bring more of its Facebook titles to MSN Games and Windows Live Messenger later this year, the San Francisco-headquartered developer did not specify which games it has in mind. The studio's popular social games include Cafe World (30.2 million users on Facebook), FishVille (25.3 million), Texas HoldEm Poker (25.3 million), and Mafia Wars (24.7 million). "Social gaming has gone mainstream," says Zynga's Games SVP Mike Verdu. "People love to connect with their friends through our games, which are broadly accessible and have universal themes. Bringing FarmVille to a major site like MSN Games is a great way to expand the reach of social games and is a logical next step in how we deliver them to consumers." “As hundreds of millions of customers continue to enjoy social gaming, we’re excited to partner with Zynga to add FarmVille to our broad portfolio of games on MSN Games," adds Microsoft's Windows Gaming general manager Mike Ybarra, according to a report from Social Times.]]> tag:worldsinmotion.biz,2010://4.20655 2010-02-04T17:00:59Z 2010-02-07T04:41:56Z

Independent developer 3G Studios announced that it's working on Brave Arms (not to be confused with the PS3 project from Namco/Project Aces), a "social shooter" that will release exclusively on Facebook. The shooter will allow players to create and customize...

Eric Caoili Independent developer 3G Studios announced that it's working on Brave Arms (not to be confused with the PS3 project from Namco/Project Aces), a "social shooter" that will release exclusively on Facebook. The shooter will allow players to create and customize avatars, then play against friends in 3D environments. They will also be able to earn points while playing, which they can spend at an in-game store. The developer invites gamers to visit its Facebook page and reserve their name for an upcoming public beta. Based in Reno, NV and founded in 2006, 3G studios has released several titles on home consoles, handhelds, and iPhone. Some of its games include Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 for Wii, SWAT: Target Liberty for the PSP, and Zombeat and The Deep for iPhone. "Our new title, Brave Arms, will bring First-Person Shooter games to the masses," says 3G Studios CEO James Kosta. "It's about fast-paced action and either competing against or forming teams with your friends. We want people to feel empowered and to share in a real video game experience." You can see several screenshots for Brave Arms after the break.]]> ]]> tag:worldsinmotion.biz,2010://4.20653 2010-02-04T15:54:27Z 2010-02-07T04:42:17Z

Organizers of GDC 2010 are reminding that today is the last day to register for up to 35% off pass prices for the March 9th-13th event, with the free Android phone offer also expiring today. The Moscone Center, San Francisco-based...

Simon Carless Organizers of GDC 2010 are reminding that today is the last day to register for up to 35% off pass prices for the March 9th-13th event, with the free Android phone offer also expiring today. The Moscone Center, San Francisco-based event has just announced a raft of new lectures, including highlighted talks from Pixar notables, Lionhead's Peter Molyneux, Double Fine's Tim Schafer, and Final Fantasy XIII's director Motomu Toriyama, and a surprise lecture from Metroid co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto. However, Thursday, February 4th is the final day that GDC is accepting registrations at the early rate, which includes up to 35% discount from final pass prices. The early reg rate will be open until 11.50pm ET this evening. In addition, today is the final day to register for free Nexus One and Verizon Droid by Motorola phones with GDC 2010 attendance, as part of a promotion between Google and Game Developers Conference. Select All-Access Pass and Summits & Tutorials Pass attendees will receive the phone, and more information is available on a GDC website page. As well as the nine major Summits, from iPhone to indie and social games -- and notable tutorials on the first two days of the show, there are six main Tracks - programming, art, production, business, audio, and design - for GDC 2010. These include lectures from the creators of Assassin's Creed II, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Uncharted 2, Braid, God Of War III, Dante's Inferno, APB, and a host of other acclaimed games. Game Developers Conference 2010 -- part of Think Services, as is this website -- will also play host to the GDC Expo Floor, including a host of notable tool companies, the recruitment-specific GDC Career Pavilion, the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival plus Awards and the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, open to all pass holders. More information on many of the highlighted areas of GDC 2010 is available on the official Game Developers Conference weblog, and the GDC 2010 website has a full list of lectures, passes, and opportunities at this year's event, as well as specific on registration pricing and options. Attendees are also reminded that they can email GDC 2010's registration staff -- or call them at 866-535-8997 or +1 (415) 947-6926 from 9am to 4pm PT each weekday -- if they have any issues registering. (All GDC 2010 registrations commenced before the 11.50pm ET deadline will be honored, even if any technical issues occur.)]]> tag:worldsinmotion.biz,2010://4.20647 2010-02-04T15:00:29Z 2010-02-04T15:18:35Z

Kwedit Inc. has partnered with retailers and publishers to launch Kwedit Promise and Kwedit Direct, two alternative payment systems allowing consumers to receive virtual goods in exchange for promises to "play now, pay later." With Kwedit Promise, consumers without credit...

Eric Caoili Kwedit Inc. has partnered with retailers and publishers to launch Kwedit Promise and Kwedit Direct, two alternative payment systems allowing consumers to receive virtual goods in exchange for promises to "play now, pay later." With Kwedit Promise, consumers without credit cards can still obtain virtual goods immediately by making a Promise to pay for it later. Players can make Promises up to a Kwedit Limit, a spending limit established by publishers and the user's Kwedit Score (determined by previous and timely payoffs of Promises, similar to real-world FICO scores). Kwedit Direct allows players to pay off Promises by making Kwedit Slip payments at participating stores (including 5,800 7-11 stores across the U.S.), send a cash Kwedit Mailer payment, or asking a friend or family to member to pay on their behalf through a social payment network called Pass the Duck (Kwedit uses a duck as a mascot and theme for its service). Kwedit Slip payments use a barcode that gamers can print out and retailers can scan at the register. The Pass the Duck network allows players's friends/family pay with a Kwedit Slip, Kwedit Mailer, credit card, and debit card. They can even Pass the Duck to someone else. The company says that failing to make payments or having a low Kwedit Score will not have any real-world implications, and as a result, its service provides "a safe environment in which consumers can learn about and develop financial literacy." It also notes that parents can monitor their children's spending through the Pass the Duck network. Kwedit is currently available through over 100 online games and other destinations such as FooPets and PuzzlePirates thanks to partnerships the startup has made with publishers and payment aggregators. It plans to add more publishers to its list of partners in the coming months, too. Kwedit Direct is also a featured payment methord through virtual economy platform Social Gold. "Most teenagers and the 25 percent of American households that do not have a credit or debit card - or who would prefer not to use them online because of concerns over privacy, security, or financial responsibility - have been locked out of the exploding virtual goods markets," says Kwedit CEO Danny Shader. "With Kwedit, those consumers can safely participate in the digital content revolution, growing the market for publishers and retailers such as 7-Eleven."]]> tag:worldsinmotion.biz,2010://4.20635 2010-02-03T21:00:25Z 2010-02-03T21:14:49Z

Jon "Neverdie" Jacobs says he set a new world record for "the most profit made on a single looted treasure in a video game" after selling a virtual egg for $69,696 Entropia Universe/Planet Calypso. He originally purchased the egg in...

Eric Caoili Jon "Neverdie" Jacobs says he set a new world record for "the most profit made on a single looted treasure in a video game" after selling a virtual egg for $69,696 Entropia Universe/Planet Calypso. He originally purchased the egg in 2006 from Romanian gamer "Tzest0s" for $10,000. Entropia Universe features a real cash economy in which users can purchase (Project Entropia Dollars), in-game currency, and buy clothes and accessories for their avatar, equipment for killing creatures and crafting items, and virtual real estate. They can also withdraw their PED as real world cash -- the game's exchange rate is $.10 for 1 PED. Tzest0s discovered the unique Atrox Egg after killing an in-game creature. According to the Entropia Universe Directory, the egg's description reads, "A rare heavy egg with a thick shell. It is slowly vibrating, like it is in waiting..." After purchasing the item, Neverdie transported it to his virtual nightclub, Club Neverdie, where he kept it under armed guard but made it available for public viewings. After buying the egg in 2006, Neverdie commented, "The absurdity of paying $10,000 USD for a virtual egg is not lost on me, but in fact I'm confident it will prove to be a great investment. Club Neverdie is already the #1 privately owned entertainment venue in virtual reality, whatever hatches out of this thing is sure to prove a big draw to the Club."]]> Entropia Universe for $100,000, which was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most expensive virtual world object then. He says the property is now valued at over $1 million based on profits from the virtual nightclub, mining/hunting rights, and property sales. Late last year, another Entropia Universe player broke that record after buying a virtual space station for $330,000. The Atrox Egg's buyer, David “Deathifier” Storey, also owns an expensive space in the virtual world, Treasure Island, which he acquired for $26,500 in 2004. According to Neverdie, Deathifier considers his purchase off the egg a "sound investment." "People thought I was crazy when I bought the egg for $10,000 in 2006," says Neverdie. "Well, now they really have something to talk about over dinner... However, even though it's a mystery egg, I think that if indeed a monster hatches from it, it will most likely be something truly spectacular that will attract gamers from all over the world to hunt it and it could produce a lot of revenue for its new owner." He continues, "A new monster is a major event in an online community. A typical MMO game might build a multimillion dollar expansion around new creatures and storylines, in a virtual world that is free to play. The storyline evolves without quite the same marketing hoopla, but the virtual Economy can see a huge surge during events, so the egg is truly valuable."]]> tag:worldsinmotion.biz,2010://4.20633 2010-02-03T19:00:48Z 2010-02-04T17:10:37Z

Still recovering from the loss of its operations contract for World of Warcraft in China, Shanghai-based MMO company The9 Ltd. has reportedly invested in two online gaming companies, recently troubled U.S. developer Red 5 Studios and Chinese firm Fire Rain....

Eric Caoili Still recovering from the loss of its operations contract for World of Warcraft in China, Shanghai-based MMO company The9 Ltd. has reportedly invested in two online gaming companies, recently troubled U.S. developer Red 5 Studios and Chinese firm Fire Rain. Though local media sources say the operator has invested nearly RMB 100 million ($14.67 million) into Hangzhou-based Fire Rain and might have acquired the developer outright, The9 decline to comment on the investment/purchase, according to Reuters. Red 5, which was founded in 2005 by former members of Blizzard's World of Warcraft team and has been working on an unannounced MMO project since, recently laid off an undisclosed number of workers as it underwent a reorganization and a change in direction. Consumer website Kotaku reported that the company was even close to shutting down before an unnamed backer stepped in. Existing Red 5 backer Benchmark capital denied that the studio was near bankruptcy, but today's revelation from The 9 reveals, at least, that the studio indeed has a new investor. "Recently, the team formed around a new direction and took on additional investment from a strategic partner in the online games industry," the developer said in a statement last week. "Red 5 remains committed to releasing a AAA quality, online title targeted for a worldwide release." The Irvine-headquartered company did not explicitly state whether it's continuing its original project, which was rumored to be a massively multiplayer online first-person shooter, or if it's now focused on another title for its new backer. It did, however, admit that it needed to restructure its team in order for it to meet current goals. The9 has struggled since Activision Blizzard chose not to renew its contract with the company to operate World of Warcraft in China last June, handing those rights to rival operator NetEase. Losing that deal resulted in the firm's third quarter revenue dropping 94 percent to RMB 25.5 million ($3.7 million) compared to RMB 408.4 million ($59.8 million) during the same three-month period last year In its third quarter earnings call last November, The9 revealed it had several titles under development, including MMORPGs Road Fighter and Miracles Ultimate X, casual action game Tiny Tribe, and an online 3D casual RTS called Monster of War. The company currently operates several MMOs such as Soul of the Ultimate Nation, Granado Espada, and FIFA Online 2.]]> tag:worldsinmotion.biz,2010://4.20630 2010-02-03T17:00:58Z 2010-02-03T16:10:03Z

Gravity's Ragnarok Online is one of the first Asian MMOs to become popular in the West, but the PC online game did even better in Korea and Japan. The title was first released in Korea in 2002, but the company...

Eric Caoili Gravity's Ragnarok Online is one of the first Asian MMOs to become popular in the West, but the PC online game did even better in Korea and Japan. The title was first released in Korea in 2002, but the company is still pushing its flagship series, even as it creates Ragnarok II, a game that was announced in 2004, but has still yet to have a proper public release (the game had a brief open beta in 2007). This year, South Korea-based developer Gravity plans to release a number of new titles, from Ragnarok DS in the West to Ragnarok II, and even social network games. We spoke with global business manager Yunghun Lee about the suite of games, and the company's future. I'll start with the most difficult question, which is... What happened with Ragnarok II? Yunghun Lee: Ragnarok II? It’s a difficult question to answer. We launched Ragnarok II’s beta in 2007. That version wasn’t really enough for the market, so we tried to revise all the systems, but it takes time. We changed the engine and everything -- it’s like a totally new game. The engine changed several times, but now we’re using Gamebryo. Still, we’re confident that we’re going to release the game this year. Are there many MMOs using Gamebryo? YL: That engine? Very popular in Korea right now. Unreal is really good, as everybody knows. I'm not a technician guy, you know, but every engineer says it’s very complex. It’s very difficult to control. So Gamebryo is kind of easy. So, I think a lot of companies think that.]]> Also, I think Gamebryo was one of the first companies to try to sell in Korea. And what’s this other Ragnarok I see here? YL: Well as you can see, the logo has changed, right? It's not a big change, but it's kind of a change. We’re calling this Pink Ragnarok. So, we added some upgrades. The Swordsman class got an upgrade, for instance. It's a class update for the original Ragnarok? YL: Yeah. How did the DS version of Ragnarok sell? YL: It's kind of doing good, right now. You know, in the Asian market, one of the problems is copies… Piracy, right. YL: Right. But in Japan... We started from Japan. It sold a lot. I don't remember the exact number, but over 100 thousand copies. In Korea, it's not even selling right now. In Korea and Japan, we already released the NDS version, but the piracy in Korea.... How many did it sell then? YL: Actually, I don't have the number. Sorry about that. I don't have the number right now. [laughs] Okay, that's fine. I'm sure it's also a sensitive issue. So, let's see... What's next for Gravity? YL: Well you know our CEO and everything changed, right? It was 2008. So, after that, a lot of things changed. Before that, the former CEO was trying to diversify the games. Like Pucca Racing is one of them. And like a Baseball game. But right now, we are more focused on using the IP of Ragnarok, the brand name. So, we are now developing Ragnarok web game, the NDS, and the mobile game. So, it's going to be like a kind of portfolio building from Ragnarok. That makes sense. It's kind of a similar strategy to what Square Enix does with Final Fantasy VII. And how has Requiem been doing? YL: Oh, Requiem? We are servicing the game in Russia and United States right now. You know the United States is doing pretty well. So, it's okay. It's not a really big hit, but it's stable. Russia, you know... It's on the middle side. But ARPU is somewhat high. So, in both countries, we are getting stable revenue. Ragnarok was one of the first MMOs that really appealed to the Western market. But nowadays, I think that its popularity has gone down because there's WoW and other stuff. Are you thinking of attacking the Western market with Ragnarok again? Maybe with Ragnarok II? YL: This is going to be my very personal opinion. So, Ragnarok itself is... For example, in the Asian market, it's really doing good. Europe is a little bit of a problem, but still, though, in Japan and Thailand, it's a top game right now. We get much more revenue. In terms of lifecycle, it was slowly going down, but after we launched that update (Pink Ragnarok), it's going up again right now. So, I think it's going to be hard work in the United States or other markets. I don't know... The graph is moving up slowly, but it's still going up right now. At the same time... So, for covering the kind of revenue structure, so I expected Ragnarok the second version will be next year coming to the market. And did you know that (Ragnarok creator) Hakkyu Kim is making a Ragnarok-style game, too? YL: Yeah. I heard that. How do you think they will clash? YL: (Laughs) It’s not just Hakkyu Kim! A lot of companies are trying to adapt some of the better elements of Ragnarok. So, 3D cartoons and the kiddie games, like Emil Chronicle. We have Emil Chronicle Online. It's similar to Ragnarok. Another company, they put out their game titles and I look at that. It's very similar. They are all the competitors! Yeah. It feels like the Ragnarok market is very competitive. Yunghun Lee: Yeah. [laughs] Do you ever have any plan to bring something like Ragnarok to home console aside from DS? Like 360 or like Xbox Live for instance? YL: It's going to be a long-term project. We don't have the details about it, but our company is trying to do like a multi-system multi-user situation. We are doing games for IPTV (Internet Protocol Television). Maybe we can adapt Ragnarok to anIPTV game. And a web game. The web game is right what we are working on. So, I think it's very open right now. But probably not like PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360? YL: Currently, not Ragnarok, but we are working on other kinds of video games. We are trying to do that, but it's not decided yet, so I cannot say anything. But it's going to be possible, I think. Ragnarok, the web game, it's going to be released this year. Have you considered taking it to the Facebook market? YL: Facebook market. Sure. We are planning to do that right now. SNGs (social network games) are a big focus right now. That means it's going to be directly linked to Facebook or, you know, maybe some social networking platform.]]>