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Archive for the ‘Europe’ category

TERA Is Already AAA Game in Europe

September 14th, 2011

“Making <TERA> AAA game in Europe is our goal,” said Christian Szymanski the director of marketing of Frogster.

We interviewed him over <TERA> in Europe. It is summarized from the full story at here.

How is <TERA> going in Europe?

Very positive. People heard about that we are publishing it to Europe keep asking us when its official launch is. It is almost proud to be its local publisher in Europe.

What features of <TERA> do you promote for marketing?

Briefly 4 features. First of all is obviously battle. Its non targetting battle system is an unique characteristic of <TERA>.

Second is stunning graphics powered by Unreal engine 3. From a broad plain to a boiling volcanic region, there are so many fields and dungeons with great musics and elements to Western gamers’ taste.

Third is politics system. The opportunity to become a lord of a region is a very attractive motivation, and this will be eventually connected with PvP.

Lastly, as it is a MMORPG, beating down giant monsters.

Which of them do you think will be the most popular in Europe?

I guess the first one, action. European gamers like console games. <TERA>’s awesome action will attract console gamers to MMORPG.

Is there any difference between Korean version and European version?

No much since we are very satisfied with the current version. Maybe we can modify or add some quests.

How are MMORPGs doing in Europe?

It is a hard question since Europe market consists of multiple markets. For Germany, PC games and RPGs are leading the market but console games are leading English market. So far, marketing MMORPG in Europe is not so easy.

However the MMORPG market is gradually growing. More gamers subscribe the monthly accounts. There are also some gamers moving over to PC games and online games since no new console platforms are introduced yet. I believe it is a good time for <TERA>.

What is your rival games?

<Guild Wars 2> and <Star Wars Online> will likely be out at the similar time. But we have faith in <TERA>. As <TERA> features many unique systems, we will focus on them.

384 comments »

Posted in Europe

Tags: action battle En Masse europe Frogster graphics MMORPG politics raid Tera unreal engine 3

Peeking over Rappelz’s Success in Global Market

September 8th, 2011

SeYoung Park the global PM of Gala Lab

Gala Lab’s MMORPG <Rappelz>is quite successfully settled in global markets like MEA, Russia, and Europe.

According to an interview with SeYoung Park PM of Gala Lab, <Rappelz> is being serviced in 13 different langauges in 59 countries including the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and MEA. It has 4.8 million total users and 50,000+ new players are registering every month.

Especailly in MEA, it is ranked first place in the most popular game since last 2009. Moreover, it is also one of the most downloaded games in the first half of 2010 in Russia. Its CBT in emerging markets including South America and Indonesia are set in this September.

Park said trust between the developer and the local publisher was the most essential for the success. He exemplified that Gala Lab suggested to change <Rappelz>’s payment policy from subscription to F2P service. F2P in MEA then was unfamiliar to the gamer and even payment systems were not set enough for it. So it was quite risky to deal with. But the local publisher accepted Gala Lab’s offer and built a new payment system in order for their customers to purchase virtual items easily. As a result, <Rappelz> has gotton grown even more than ever.

Rappelz's growth rate in MEA.

About the localization, he said revising backgrounds and outwears was the priority. They minimized nudity of female characters and removed such religous elements as cross.

For Russia, national quests are being developed. He said if this Russian quests work out, then other countries would have their own quests too.

In addition, the weather in Russia was an unexpected variable. Since Russia is a very cold country, people like to play outside on sunny days and it casuses CCU of <Rappelz> plummet by nearly 30%. So Park said he is seriously considering how to take care of the issue.

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Posted in Asia, Korean Games Industry, Russia

Tags: gala lab global market MMORPG Rappelz

Knight Online Mounts EU market

August 24th, 2011

Massive RvR warfare featured MMORPG <Knight Online>, co-developed by Noah System and Mgame, is exported to 30 European countries including France, Germany, England, and Italy.

Mgame announced it has signed a Europe publishing agreement with Game Cafe Service, the number 1 internet cafe payment gateway in Europe, today.

It is a MMORPG launched since 2002 in Korea and North America, Japan, Taiwan, and Turkey in order.

“European gaming market has grown by more than 400% in the last 5 years and we are expecting more growth in the market in the future as well,” said SeungHoon Choi a director of Mgame Overseas Business Development. “With our decade of experience in servicing the game at home and abroad stably, we will coorperate with our local partner for successful launch in Europe.”

He added “MEA market is our next market after the Europe market. We are considering not only publishing agreement but also other various stretagic cooperations such as channeling service expansion.”

<Knight Online> will be available in English in Q4 this year followed by German, French, and Italian language services in order.

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Posted in Europe, Korean Games Industry

Tags: europe game cafe service knight online launch mea MGame MMORPG noah system payment gateway rvr warfare

Divine Soul Launches OBT in Russia

May 9th, 2011

GamePrix’s MORPG <Divine Soul> launched OBT in Russia with Russian publisher Nikita Online.

<Divine Soul> has been signed in January and has begun CBT in April. ?Then it started the OBT right after the end of the CBT.

“Russia was different. Both gamers and publisher showed more attitude toward the game. The quality feedback from players would be a great help to make the game better,” said SungWan Hong the CEO of GamePrix. “Launching in overseas market for the first time is a new challenge to <Divine Soul>. We, all the executives and staffs, will try our best to make the best game for Russian gamers.”

More details are available at the Russian official site(soul.gamexp.ru).

365 comments »

Posted in Korean Games Industry, Russia

Tags: CBT Divine Soul GamePrix nikita online OBT

Ubisoft Signs TERA Package for EU

May 4th, 2011

Bluehole Studio announced on 4th that Ubisoft will be resposible for the pacakge distribution of its MMORPG <TERA> in Europe.

So the original publisher of <TERA> in Europe, Frogster, will only take care of service, marketing, online distribution.

<TERA> in Europe will be published in three different langauges, English, French, and German, to 27 countries.

“<TERA> is a game of outstanding graphic and one that significantly expanded the field of ?MMORPG genre. We are so glad to introduce <TERA> to European gamers and are looking forward to positive feedback,” said an Ubisoft official.

“Ubisoft’s greatness in distribution network and credibility in Europe would help <TERA> to be widely distributed. We will do our best to achieve meaningful result with game itself and quality of service,” said KangSuk Kim the CEO of Bluehole Studio.