by Karen Hertzberg on Feb 20, 2008
Trying to Be an F2P
Success Story
We spoke with David Hoffman, Executive Producer behind OGPlanet's bid
to publish Cabal Online for the North American market. The stateside
variant of the game abandons the subscriber model in favor of
microtransactions and puts the game squarely in the hands of an
energetic quasi-developing publisher with tons of ambition and a work
ethic to match. Hoffman expounds on his formula to help Cabal avoid the
ash heap of also-ran F2Ps in this brief interview. It's all part of our
live coverage from GDC '08.
Unlike many other entrepreneurial spirits working on
such a project,
Hoffman invested heavily of himself to ensure that Cabal Online doesn't
fall into the diction death trap that has befallen many an Asian
crossover. "4 to 6 weeks, morning and night," Hoffman related,
describing how long it took him to clean-up the rough translations
given him as well as build-in some signature humor. "It wasn't cool my
eyes would bug out. I couldn't go home and look at the computer screen
or watch TV; my eyes hurt. I'd come home and go to bed, then go back
and do it again. It had to be done."