Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Ten Ton Hammer: So is it 2D? I mean obviously it’s a side-scrolling type of thing.

Min Kim: It’s side-scrolling. It’s really kind of like Final Fight.

Ten Ton Hammer: I love Final Fight! My name is Cody, and there was Cody in the game. How could I not love it? Does it have the same sort of RPG elements as normal MMOs?

Min Kim: Yeah. Basically you can choose from five character classes and an additional four sub classes below that. You progress and gain skills and are picking up items. It’s very Diablo-esque in some ways, too.

Ten Ton Hammer: Because it’s all about action and hitting the button?

Min Kim: Exactly. It’s not really turned-based. It’s about hitting stuff.

Ten Ton Hammer: How do you guys pick the games that are coming out of Asia? Obviously some games that do really well in Korea don’t translate very well [to Western audiences]. Are there any times when you have made a mistake?

Min Kim: It gets pretty complicated when you’re a publisher like we are and we’ve got our own titles and third party titles. A lot of it really isn’t just about the game. It’s about the relationship between the publisher and the developer. A lot of titles we bring over are internal titles so we have really tight relationships with those teams.

And having a really good relationship there magnifies and multiplies your chance of success. Again, it’s going back to Asia and seeing what worked and what games have been successful there for us and what games we know, at least at the core, are games that can generate money.

Ten Ton Hammer: Are there any more big, full-featured MMOs like Mabinogi that are over there right now that you’re looking at?

Min Kim: I think Dungeon Fighter is going to be the big game for us. We think it’s going to be bigger than Maple[Story] has been in the States. We really believe in that. That’s the one we’re spending all of our money on right now. We trying to do a “less is more” focus, and so that’s going to be the whole show this year.

Ten Ton Hammer: Are you going to do the commercials like you did for MapleStory? Or something like the 7-11 promotions. That sort of thing.

Min Kim: We’re still developing our marketing time because the game is pretty unique in some ways. We’re trying to figure how we’re going to do that. But we’ll probably spend more money marketing for Dungeon Fighter than we’ve done for any of our games.

Part of the problems we’ve had is we bring games over here that we don’t have necessarily all the resources to fund each of those games responsibly. So the strategy we’re taking is “let’s just bring our best titles here and then market those titles and operate them in the best way possible and localize them well.