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Message: An Asian FPS Coming to the West
An Asian FPS Coming to the West
Cross Fire is a free-to-download-and-play first-person shooter for the PC platform debuting in Q4, 2008. Matthew Denomme of G4BOX, the game’s publisher, discusses the company’s approach in bringing the game to a Western audience.
It may come as a surprise to learn that G4BOX is prepping the Korean-developed, Cross Fire, for release in Western markets. It’s not a secret that, in general, first-person shooters have been poorly received in the Eastern market.
Only very recently have shooters begun to gain appeal there, with the worldwide success of games like Counter-Strike, and the emergence of free-to-play shooters in countries like Korea and China.
Because these games were typically neglected before, they exploded when Eastern gamers discovered their visceral pace and competitive nature. Cross Fire is a game that was met with an enormous initial response in Korea. In the first three days following its release, it gained 62 000 concurrent players!
After playing the game, G4BOX immediately recognized its potential as a North American and European release. The game had the right mix of responsive controls, good graphics, and finely-tuned shooting mechanics that Western gamers demand in an online FPS. This is probably because the game’s developer, SmileGate, designed Cross Fire with an international audience in mind from the start. This being said, G4BOX has been met with unique challenges and special considerations in adapting the game for a Western audience.
Community-building
Games that place an emphasis on an online multiplayer component, like Cross Fire and other shooters, and also MMOs, are often only as good as the communities that support them. For the player, a strong community means a constantly-awaiting challenge or experience that is socially-mediated and driven largely by human interaction. A community is “always on”, giving players the feeling of participation in the immediacy of the here and now, kind of like live television or radio. The feeling that they are not alone and that people are participating in the same events as they are, at the same time, but somewhere else in the world. It’s for this reason that we at G4BOX not only see ourselves as game publishers, but also as community-builders. That’s why we are currently working hard on developing social features and tools to fully integrate our games with the communities that drive them. For example, Cross Fire’s friends lists, clan-building, achievements, and ranking systems, will be built right into the game.
Micro-transactions and the player
In order to properly assess the micro-transaction model we should first consider the reasons for why such a model exists in the first place. The micro-transaction model is a considerable departure from the traditional “paid ownership” model of purchasing video games. This model, of course, involves the exchange of consumer currency for a physical product or service rendered.
With the digital distribution of software and video games, this model is problematic because no physical product is being delivered to the customer. The act of purchasing a video game then becomes closer to the traditional method of purchasing a service. A consumer buys a license which entitles them to play the game and engage in a certain experience. However, for most users receiving a digital “copy” of a song, or a movie, or a video game, is not analogous to the traditional model of “paid ownership”; where the consumer typically gets something physical to keep for themselves. After all, a digital file can be erased or corrupted, or worse yet, expire. This is one of the reasons that digital downloads are often cheaper than their physical alternatives and why they are often coupled with additional bonuses and free gifts.
The problem here is that the perceived value of a digital copy is not the same as its physical counterpart. Obviously, there are an infinite number of benefits to the digital distribution of media, but that is for another discussion. The point is that, in offering a free-to-download-and-play video game a new model is required. When a player downloads a free-game, what are they offering to the vendor in return? Their time? This is usually the case in the eyes of the consumer because their perceived value of a free game is often very low.
So now the problem in offering a free game becomes: How do you offer the player of a free game “ownership”, or something of value? The answer is micro-transactions. With Cross Fire, G4BOX has incorporated micro-transactions as a means by which players can customize and personalize their experience with the game. In Cross Fire, micro-transactions provide a way for players to both literally and figuratively make the game “theirs”. As the game approaches release, G4BOX will release specific details as to how the micro-transaction model is being incorporated in this way.
In summary, the implementation of micro-transactions in Cross Fire is based on player choice. The player chooses the degree to which they want to customize their game experience, and for that personalization they pay a small fee.
The free-to-play model and system specifications
Gamers often equate low system specifications with low quality. However, a game’s system requirements are often a considerable barrier for the PC gamer as to whether they can play a game or not. For G4BOX, a lower system spec goes hand-in-hand with the free-to-download-and-play model we are pushing with Cross Fire. We are offering the game for free because we want as many people to enjoy the game as possible. This allows us to create a meaningful and worthwhile community around the game. By eliminating barriers to entry, such as cost, we can reach a much wider potential audience. Similarly, high system specifications are often a considerable barrier to entry for the average PC user. With lower system requirements, we are again minimizing entry barriers for the gamer in favor of online equality and community-building. That’s not to say the game is of a low quality. The game has smooth graphics and animation, and the controls are extremely tight. There is a large selection of maps and the maps themselves are fairly sizeable and varied. As a pick-up-and-play online shooter it is on par with similar games in terms of quality and value.
Maintaining a fun online experience
For a FPS, a sense of fairness and contribution for all players involved is integral. A sense of balance. Each player should feel as if they are contributing to a match in some way, whether it is one frag or one hundred. Otherwise, why play? Games like Halo and Counter-Strike are good examples of games that do this right. They evoke a collaborative spirit that everyone participating is in some way contributing to the overall affect or goal. At G4BOX, we feel this is one of the stand-out qualities of Cross Fire as well. However, there is a trend in the online FPS landscape of multiplayer communities becoming too elite and exclusionary to newer/less-skilled players. G4BOX is exploring numerous ways to prevent this from occurring in Cross Fire. One way is through the game’s military ranking system. Based on a player’s rank, other player’s can gauge their skill level, and then find opponents who are closer to their own rank.
Expandable Content
By definition, an online game should be dynamic in terms of its content. Offering fresh challenges and features is essential to maintaining a healthy and enthusiastic community-base. For this reason, G4BOX will continually update Cross Fire post-release. New maps, modes, features, and equipment are some of the obvious ways to offer an ever-changing game experience to the player.
Stiff competition in the Western FPS market
The western FPS market is steeped in competition. In terms of competitors, Cross Fire most closely resembles games like Combat Arms and Counter-Strike. In fact, Cross Fire is often confused with Counter-Strike at first glance. We are confident that this stigma will be lifted once Cross Fire is released. In terms of quality and value, Cross Fire offers numerous upgrades to Counter-Strike and is simply a better, more feature-rich game. This said, Counter-Strike is a great game and its success and legacy are not to be ignored. As a competitive game, it has been played all around the world, and it is largely responsible for the dissemination of the first-person shooter as a “marquee” genre. Counter-Strike is an old game though, nearly 8 years old now. Its community consists mainly of “expert” players who are happy to continue playing “Version 1.6” for the sake of familiarity and the pure competition it provides.
Though Cross Fire is similar to Counter-Strike in some ways, such as, realistic military themes and settings, and multiplayer-oriented, squad-based mechanics, it is also different. It obviously has better graphics and new maps. It has an exclusive mode of play called “Ghost Match”, where one team is invisible and armed with knives, and the other team must hunt them down based on sound and other environmental cues. It also incorporates many newer FPS features that Counter-Strike lacks, such as, integrated friends lists, stat-tracking, player leveling and achievements, clan creation, and more. Oh, and did I mention it’s free.
In the face of such fierce competition, differentiation is essential. Find a niche and work within it to become the best. Explore untapped opportunities and offer players a product of such a great value that they can’t afford to pass it up.
Cross Fire will launch in Q4, 2008. You can view a trailer for the game at: http://cf.g4box.com
G4BOX INC. is a digital media provider, specializing in the publishing and distribution of online video games. The company was founded in 2006 on the principle that online, community-based video games offer unique and compelling gaming experiences with untapped mass market potential and wide social appeal. They currently offer a growing portfolio of successful, massively multiplayer online game properties.
G4BOX is based in Toronto, Canada, where it employs a staff of widely-talented and culturally diverse employees – headed by an experienced and imaginative management team. Their mission is to become a premier content provider in the online gaming market.
http://www.edge-online.com/blogs/an-...
It may come as a surprise to learn that G4BOX is prepping the Korean-developed, Cross Fire, for release in Western markets. It’s not a secret that, in general, first-person shooters have been poorly received in the Eastern market.
Only very recently have shooters begun to gain appeal there, with the worldwide success of games like Counter-Strike, and the emergence of free-to-play shooters in countries like Korea and China.
Because these games were typically neglected before, they exploded when Eastern gamers discovered their visceral pace and competitive nature. Cross Fire is a game that was met with an enormous initial response in Korea. In the first three days following its release, it gained 62 000 concurrent players!
After playing the game, G4BOX immediately recognized its potential as a North American and European release. The game had the right mix of responsive controls, good graphics, and finely-tuned shooting mechanics that Western gamers demand in an online FPS. This is probably because the game’s developer, SmileGate, designed Cross Fire with an international audience in mind from the start. This being said, G4BOX has been met with unique challenges and special considerations in adapting the game for a Western audience.
Community-building
Games that place an emphasis on an online multiplayer component, like Cross Fire and other shooters, and also MMOs, are often only as good as the communities that support them. For the player, a strong community means a constantly-awaiting challenge or experience that is socially-mediated and driven largely by human interaction. A community is “always on”, giving players the feeling of participation in the immediacy of the here and now, kind of like live television or radio. The feeling that they are not alone and that people are participating in the same events as they are, at the same time, but somewhere else in the world. It’s for this reason that we at G4BOX not only see ourselves as game publishers, but also as community-builders. That’s why we are currently working hard on developing social features and tools to fully integrate our games with the communities that drive them. For example, Cross Fire’s friends lists, clan-building, achievements, and ranking systems, will be built right into the game.
Micro-transactions and the player
In order to properly assess the micro-transaction model we should first consider the reasons for why such a model exists in the first place. The micro-transaction model is a considerable departure from the traditional “paid ownership” model of purchasing video games. This model, of course, involves the exchange of consumer currency for a physical product or service rendered.
With the digital distribution of software and video games, this model is problematic because no physical product is being delivered to the customer. The act of purchasing a video game then becomes closer to the traditional method of purchasing a service. A consumer buys a license which entitles them to play the game and engage in a certain experience. However, for most users receiving a digital “copy” of a song, or a movie, or a video game, is not analogous to the traditional model of “paid ownership”; where the consumer typically gets something physical to keep for themselves. After all, a digital file can be erased or corrupted, or worse yet, expire. This is one of the reasons that digital downloads are often cheaper than their physical alternatives and why they are often coupled with additional bonuses and free gifts.
The problem here is that the perceived value of a digital copy is not the same as its physical counterpart. Obviously, there are an infinite number of benefits to the digital distribution of media, but that is for another discussion. The point is that, in offering a free-to-download-and-play video game a new model is required. When a player downloads a free-game, what are they offering to the vendor in return? Their time? This is usually the case in the eyes of the consumer because their perceived value of a free game is often very low.
So now the problem in offering a free game becomes: How do you offer the player of a free game “ownership”, or something of value? The answer is micro-transactions. With Cross Fire, G4BOX has incorporated micro-transactions as a means by which players can customize and personalize their experience with the game. In Cross Fire, micro-transactions provide a way for players to both literally and figuratively make the game “theirs”. As the game approaches release, G4BOX will release specific details as to how the micro-transaction model is being incorporated in this way.
In summary, the implementation of micro-transactions in Cross Fire is based on player choice. The player chooses the degree to which they want to customize their game experience, and for that personalization they pay a small fee.
The free-to-play model and system specifications
Gamers often equate low system specifications with low quality. However, a game’s system requirements are often a considerable barrier for the PC gamer as to whether they can play a game or not. For G4BOX, a lower system spec goes hand-in-hand with the free-to-download-and-play model we are pushing with Cross Fire. We are offering the game for free because we want as many people to enjoy the game as possible. This allows us to create a meaningful and worthwhile community around the game. By eliminating barriers to entry, such as cost, we can reach a much wider potential audience. Similarly, high system specifications are often a considerable barrier to entry for the average PC user. With lower system requirements, we are again minimizing entry barriers for the gamer in favor of online equality and community-building. That’s not to say the game is of a low quality. The game has smooth graphics and animation, and the controls are extremely tight. There is a large selection of maps and the maps themselves are fairly sizeable and varied. As a pick-up-and-play online shooter it is on par with similar games in terms of quality and value.
Maintaining a fun online experience
For a FPS, a sense of fairness and contribution for all players involved is integral. A sense of balance. Each player should feel as if they are contributing to a match in some way, whether it is one frag or one hundred. Otherwise, why play? Games like Halo and Counter-Strike are good examples of games that do this right. They evoke a collaborative spirit that everyone participating is in some way contributing to the overall affect or goal. At G4BOX, we feel this is one of the stand-out qualities of Cross Fire as well. However, there is a trend in the online FPS landscape of multiplayer communities becoming too elite and exclusionary to newer/less-skilled players. G4BOX is exploring numerous ways to prevent this from occurring in Cross Fire. One way is through the game’s military ranking system. Based on a player’s rank, other player’s can gauge their skill level, and then find opponents who are closer to their own rank.
Expandable Content
By definition, an online game should be dynamic in terms of its content. Offering fresh challenges and features is essential to maintaining a healthy and enthusiastic community-base. For this reason, G4BOX will continually update Cross Fire post-release. New maps, modes, features, and equipment are some of the obvious ways to offer an ever-changing game experience to the player.
Stiff competition in the Western FPS market
The western FPS market is steeped in competition. In terms of competitors, Cross Fire most closely resembles games like Combat Arms and Counter-Strike. In fact, Cross Fire is often confused with Counter-Strike at first glance. We are confident that this stigma will be lifted once Cross Fire is released. In terms of quality and value, Cross Fire offers numerous upgrades to Counter-Strike and is simply a better, more feature-rich game. This said, Counter-Strike is a great game and its success and legacy are not to be ignored. As a competitive game, it has been played all around the world, and it is largely responsible for the dissemination of the first-person shooter as a “marquee” genre. Counter-Strike is an old game though, nearly 8 years old now. Its community consists mainly of “expert” players who are happy to continue playing “Version 1.6” for the sake of familiarity and the pure competition it provides.
Though Cross Fire is similar to Counter-Strike in some ways, such as, realistic military themes and settings, and multiplayer-oriented, squad-based mechanics, it is also different. It obviously has better graphics and new maps. It has an exclusive mode of play called “Ghost Match”, where one team is invisible and armed with knives, and the other team must hunt them down based on sound and other environmental cues. It also incorporates many newer FPS features that Counter-Strike lacks, such as, integrated friends lists, stat-tracking, player leveling and achievements, clan creation, and more. Oh, and did I mention it’s free.
In the face of such fierce competition, differentiation is essential. Find a niche and work within it to become the best. Explore untapped opportunities and offer players a product of such a great value that they can’t afford to pass it up.
Cross Fire will launch in Q4, 2008. You can view a trailer for the game at: http://cf.g4box.com
G4BOX INC. is a digital media provider, specializing in the publishing and distribution of online video games. The company was founded in 2006 on the principle that online, community-based video games offer unique and compelling gaming experiences with untapped mass market potential and wide social appeal. They currently offer a growing portfolio of successful, massively multiplayer online game properties.
G4BOX is based in Toronto, Canada, where it employs a staff of widely-talented and culturally diverse employees – headed by an experienced and imaginative management team. Their mission is to become a premier content provider in the online gaming market.
http://www.edge-online.com/blogs/an-...
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