GC 2007 - Day 3: Sega Rally, Spellborn and MMO money
K2 NetworksOur meeting with K2 Networks (publishers of many free-to-play MMOs, such as Sword of the New World: Granado Espada wasn't about new games - this was about picking their brains over the current trend of bringing Korean MMOs across to the Western markets and the use of "real money" shops in games. Phil Maurer (important chap in the Ops Team for the Sword title and K2 Networks in general!) firmly believed that whilst some aspects of Korean online games don't appeal to Westerners, there are plenty of other elements that do - he cited PvP as being something that they do particularly well. The rough user figures for Granado are over 150,000 which isn't bad at all, considering the mixed reviews it received. This number will no doubt increase now that the title has moved to being free-to-play, in line with the rest of K2 Network's catalogue. Totally free games earn money by two means: in-game advertising or "real money" shops. The latter is K2's primary way of handling this and it's a scheme that's very popular in the Far East and US - less so in Europe, especially the UK, as certain games in the past have sold items that give a player with money an advantage in the game (such as double experience for a limited time or a superior weapon). This goes against the mindset of the Western player that one's gaming skill should be the key to the rewards - not the capacity of your credit card. Maurer suggested, though, that many players (particularly casual ones) are ready for a different payment model with MMOs - Hellgate: London is one such example of doing something different with its subscription system and we are certainly going to see a lot more unique systems appearing in a market that's rapidly filling with titles. If they all remained on a monthly sub, eventually you'll run out of players because not everyone is going to fork out a large stack of money to play several MMOs each month. Some cultural barriers are far too strong for just one or two games to break them down - it will take something very special from Korea to be the next WoW but there's certainly a whole bunch of contenders willing to take it on. Perhaps the biggest hurdle to jump is not how the game plays but how you're expected to pay for it.
More Day 3 coverage can be read here and a final round-up of the entire Leipzig Game Convention will be coming soon. Please head over to our discussion board to talk about this article (registration not required).
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