Russian-Targeted MMORPG Faces Unique Obstacles 34
Thanks to the Moscow Times for their article discussing the rise of the Russian-based PC MMO title Sphere, which "is the first MMORPG developed in Russia and catering specifically to Russian players." According to a spokesperson, there are markedly different limitations to Western titles: "From the beginning, we faced a big technical problem -- how to make a game that would work well over our absolutely abominable phone lines." In addition, some of the economic problems are also intriguing: "Since few Russians have credit cards, 1C developed another scheme for online payment... [using] Yandex-Dengi, a ruble-based payment service similar to the dollar-based service PayPal. Players interested in a low-tech alternative can also re-subscribe by buying a fresh Sphere CD for about $6 every month." Overall, the MMO's subscription "costs about half as much as EverQuest's, opening the door to cash-strapped Russian gamers", and it's attracted over 15,000 players in the first 3 months.
It really doesn't look all that great. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It really doesn't look all that great. (Score:5, Insightful)
An English language MMORPG is going to sell as well in Russia as a Russian MMORPG will in America - you'd have about six customers, one of whom would never play it, one would be Russian language students, two would be Russians who were now living in the US, and the remaining two would constantly complain about not being able to read Russian.
Okay, so you've played a Korean-made MMORPG, but the average American gamer on the street probably hasn't. Heck, 99% of American MMORPG gamers haven't even *heard* of the most popular MMORPG in the world - Lineage [lineage.com] (which has over 2 million active players).
Re:It really doesn't look all that great. (Score:5, Insightful)
Not sure about it.
In Europe, as we haven't a lot of choice of localized MMORPG, most of the friends I have are playing US MMORPGs on US servers. One goal is to learn the language at the same time.
But maybe me and my friends aren't representative (and I'm playing Japanese beta of Lineage 2 too, so...)
new markets and 15k (Score:4, Insightful)
Even a straight PC game that sells under 100k is seen as a 'failure'. In some ways this is perception; by being the first, they can survive with subscriber numbers that a bigger corporation would see as tiny.
Go small startups!
Re:Exactly what Russian's need (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It really doesn't look all that great. (Score:2, Insightful)
I'll bet you dollars against rubels there are more english speaking russians then americans speaking russian.