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

Chris Lee
Publishing VP, En Masse (TERA) ™

It’s true to an extent, that gaming is a big business, however it’s a business that marries technology, art, creativity and user interaction. Many of these attributes are hard to quantify and predict, which can create a level of chaos many big business types are uncomfortable with. I believe the dilemma, as you have pointed out, is that the industry is faced with chasing success or taking a huge risk. But it isn’t quite as simple as that, the path to success in the MMO market is filled with obstacles. For example, a risk that MMO creators face that console developers don’t is that consumers have strong social ties to their primary game, creating a significant switching cost. So even if your product is “better,” you still might not overtake existing products. When there is an incumbent in a competitive social space with a large share of the market, it presents a particularly daunting challenge for new products. The good news for gamers is that this kind of market condition fosters competition and encourages differentiation and innovation.

"I personally believe the industry needs to move past the notion of besting World of Warcraft, and that some developer needs to step up and bring us something truly new. However, do you think that can't happen if revenue is the number one goal?"

I agree with you, and from a business perspective for the company willing to take a risk and to pioneer “the next big thing,” the rewards are substantial. To repeat an existing formula, the upside is only marginal. So it’s about risk tolerance vs. bottom line management. The way we see it at En Masse, you can attempt to mitigate risks and follow the crowd or you can offer something different and both pull players who are bored with their existing library of games and grow the market by attracting a new audience. Ultimately gamers will have the final say on what direction the market goes, by voting with their dollars they support innovation or drive product sameness.

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Patrick Wyatt
COO, En Masse (TERA)

One of the questions I frequently hear from gamers is, “How is TERA going to beat the competition?” We all love to identify with a favorite sports team and cheer its victories or lament its losses; in cinema the biggest news is not “how good is the movie” but instead “how big was the opening weekend” so it can be compared to other releases; so it’s natural that a similar view applies to online games. My feeling is that game developers need to think more about creating something that people want to play rather than endeavoring to beat the competition.

The great thing about the games market is that there is no monopoly on fun; it’s possible to create a game with any

"The great thing about the games market is that there is no monopoly on fun; it’s possible to create a game with any size development budget that players will love to play." - Patrick Wyatt

size development budget that players will love to play. So as we work on developing TERA, our focus is to create an online world that players want to live in and play frequently. We need to create game mechanics that are sometimes familiar, and sometimes break out of the existing mold.

One of the reasons I’m particularly excited about TERA is the way it combines many familiar elements of the fantasy MMORPG genre that players know and love, and then turns around and completely redefines other areas of gameplay to bring a new level of excitement and interest to the game. TERA’s non-targeted combat system, which plays equally well with either a keyboard/mouse or with a gamepad, is just more fun to play! And coupled with the collision-based positional combat system, which enables players to create shield walls to block monsters, set up gauntlets to funnel their enemies, do more damage when attacking from behind, and fundamentally redefine the way that support characters work in combat, the new tactical combat system has much more interesting minute-to-minute gameplay than players have seen before.

So, as I think about releasing TERA into the market, I’m not worried that there are other games that have a large market-share. I feel there’s an incredible opportunity to appeal to gamers with something that’s going to raise their expectations about how a game should play; the level of excitement generated by the new combat system, a visually stunning online world, a play experience balanced for Western gamers, and a return of familiar features that gamers love, will all join together to create a product that players love for itself, not for how it compares to the competition.

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Brian Knox
Senior Producer, TERA

Evolution and refinement is the key to success. By evolving features and ideas you begin to shape your game into something familiar yet unique. For example TERA has all the elements of a traditional fantasy MMO: the adventuring and questing, the dungeon encounters and competitive PVP. We devoted our time to evolving the combat system in a way that MMOs haven’t yet, making a much more immersive and interactive experience. By removing the targeting system and focusing more on the action taking place in the center of the screen it creates something new and different. This unique feature is surrounded within many of the other comforts you would expect from a big budget MMO and allows it to stand out from the crowd yet have a familiar air about it.

There is plenty of room in the MMO market for high quality games, and the quality is the key element. Players are not going to invest the amount of time necessary in an MMO if the game is not of a high standard. Customer support, community and, more recently, security all need to be kept at that same level of quality you hold the game to. If you can meet this standard then you will find your audience and be successful as an MMO.