IP e-Games gets into pay-to-play as well
Written by: Philstar.com author
Publication: Philstar.com
Date published: October 1, 2007
As the gaming industry booms, more and more online game publishers pull out the stops to sell their titles to a demanding gaming public.
Game genres change within a few short years as purely fantasy and medieval-themed online games get replaced with futuristic worlds, modern-day-campus-based themes to completely unique post-Renaissance multiplayer online games.
Pay-to-play schemes give way to free-to-play models, item-based billing sys tem and hybrid systems that combine the best online game play models.
Demanding gamers are like an unpredictable ocean. They hail the first online games that come out but once they’ve played for a few years, they’ll get bored with it and try out the next new game. A few game publishers have sunk and others have seen better days in this contentious ocean.
Online game publishers have to either keep releasing new episodes to their games or release new games. It’s a sink or swim situation.
IP e-Games Ventures Inc. (IP e-Games), a provider of free-to-play online games who made its fortune by introducing RAN Online and other free-to-play games, is clearly trying to sail through these tumultuous waters by adapting a different tack: pay-to-play games.
===
GE launch
IP e-Games launched Granado Espada (GE) last Sept. 15 at the One Esplanade Convention Center in Pasay City. GE is a full 3D MMORPG set in a fantasy 17th century world rich with European history and culture. It combines magic, wizardry and otherworldly wonders with post-Renaissance technology and New World discoveries.
The game has potential as it integrates a few noteworthy features: MCC (multi-character control) which allows the player to control three characters at the same time, and recruitable non-player characters (RNPCs) wherein they could use the game’s tailor, blacksmith and other colorful characters for adventuring.
IP e-Games went to great lengths to dress their event, putting up a GE-inspired stage, even getting teenage girls dressed up in GE’s fashion.
During the press conference, Steve Tsao, president and COO of IP e-Games, said that since February 2007, GE has amassed more than 300,000 users in Southeast Asia, 30 percent of whom are GE players.
300,000 seems small compared to World of Warcraft’s nine million users but it does represent a significant fact: Asians, particularly Filipinos, love this game because of its rich 17th century culture, alluding similarities to Spanish colonial rule we endured more than 300 years ago.
Gary Escobar, VP for special projects of IP e-Games, said Granado Espada uses the pay-to-play model but added that it’s more economical and gamer-friendly.
Players can purchase Gpoints and use them either for game time or in-game money to buy in-games items, or both. Asked about GE’s distinctive game access model, Escobar said surprisingly, players are okay with this new system and are willing to pay to play the game.
Granado Espada won’t be the last triple A game IP e-Games will bring in this year. “We will have another announcement later this year to (reveal) another new game,” Tsao said.
===
e-Games evolution
What will happen to e-Games flagship titles like RAN Online, O2Jam and Audition Dance Battle? Tsao said these games will still flourish and still provide Filipino gamers with new content and features. These games made IP e-Games one of the leading online game publishers today and the company is bent on developing and making them better.
But is IP e-Games dropping the free-to-play? Hardly. The company is launching e-Games evolution, which, according to Tsao, is a new stage for the company as the “evolution” comes with a new logo as well. The new IP e-Games logo is spherical but still maintains the trademark blue and red colors and the letters E and G as well.
“With it, we will bring in new games, new services and the new logo will bring about a friendlier image as well,” Tsao said.
He added that gamers can expect the company to keep on pushing the frontier of online gaming in its market and can also look forward to improved services among the existing games as well as many more new games to come.
The company is also pushing for better services and experience. “We believe they deserve more and it’s our job to deliver even better services than we ever had before,” Tsao said. These are lofty ambitions as most online games suffer from lag and other technical issues. But with the financial backing IP e-Games has, it could make the online game play worthwhile.
Tsao added that they will also strengthen their relationships with their i-Café partners and come up with new initiatives to reward their top i-Café partners.
He also revealed that their e-Gamer Loyalty Card program which they introduced last April, will be going through another phase, broadening its list of partner establishments, and introducing new features and services for e-Games players.
And IP e-Games is spreading its new message with the e-Games Evolution roadshow event, which kicked off recently at The Block at SM North Edsa.
A gamut of live contests, cosplay events and live band performances, staples in most online game events, was held.
According to Ed Pasion, VP for marketing of IP e-Games, the roadshow is expected to run until early 2008, going through Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao schools, malls, and i-Cafés.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. With the company’s ‘evolution,’ we plan to do even bigger and greater things,” he said.
Game genres change within a few short years as purely fantasy and medieval-themed online games get replaced with futuristic worlds, modern-day-campus-based themes to completely unique post-Renaissance multiplayer online games.
Pay-to-play schemes give way to free-to-play models, item-based billing sys tem and hybrid systems that combine the best online game play models.
Demanding gamers are like an unpredictable ocean. They hail the first online games that come out but once they’ve played for a few years, they’ll get bored with it and try out the next new game. A few game publishers have sunk and others have seen better days in this contentious ocean.
Online game publishers have to either keep releasing new episodes to their games or release new games. It’s a sink or swim situation.
IP e-Games Ventures Inc. (IP e-Games), a provider of free-to-play online games who made its fortune by introducing RAN Online and other free-to-play games, is clearly trying to sail through these tumultuous waters by adapting a different tack: pay-to-play games.
===
GE launch
IP e-Games launched Granado Espada (GE) last Sept. 15 at the One Esplanade Convention Center in Pasay City. GE is a full 3D MMORPG set in a fantasy 17th century world rich with European history and culture. It combines magic, wizardry and otherworldly wonders with post-Renaissance technology and New World discoveries.
The game has potential as it integrates a few noteworthy features: MCC (multi-character control) which allows the player to control three characters at the same time, and recruitable non-player characters (RNPCs) wherein they could use the game’s tailor, blacksmith and other colorful characters for adventuring.
IP e-Games went to great lengths to dress their event, putting up a GE-inspired stage, even getting teenage girls dressed up in GE’s fashion.
During the press conference, Steve Tsao, president and COO of IP e-Games, said that since February 2007, GE has amassed more than 300,000 users in Southeast Asia, 30 percent of whom are GE players.
300,000 seems small compared to World of Warcraft’s nine million users but it does represent a significant fact: Asians, particularly Filipinos, love this game because of its rich 17th century culture, alluding similarities to Spanish colonial rule we endured more than 300 years ago.
Gary Escobar, VP for special projects of IP e-Games, said Granado Espada uses the pay-to-play model but added that it’s more economical and gamer-friendly.
Players can purchase Gpoints and use them either for game time or in-game money to buy in-games items, or both. Asked about GE’s distinctive game access model, Escobar said surprisingly, players are okay with this new system and are willing to pay to play the game.
Granado Espada won’t be the last triple A game IP e-Games will bring in this year. “We will have another announcement later this year to (reveal) another new game,” Tsao said.
===
e-Games evolution
What will happen to e-Games flagship titles like RAN Online, O2Jam and Audition Dance Battle? Tsao said these games will still flourish and still provide Filipino gamers with new content and features. These games made IP e-Games one of the leading online game publishers today and the company is bent on developing and making them better.
But is IP e-Games dropping the free-to-play? Hardly. The company is launching e-Games evolution, which, according to Tsao, is a new stage for the company as the “evolution” comes with a new logo as well. The new IP e-Games logo is spherical but still maintains the trademark blue and red colors and the letters E and G as well.
“With it, we will bring in new games, new services and the new logo will bring about a friendlier image as well,” Tsao said.
He added that gamers can expect the company to keep on pushing the frontier of online gaming in its market and can also look forward to improved services among the existing games as well as many more new games to come.
The company is also pushing for better services and experience. “We believe they deserve more and it’s our job to deliver even better services than we ever had before,” Tsao said. These are lofty ambitions as most online games suffer from lag and other technical issues. But with the financial backing IP e-Games has, it could make the online game play worthwhile.
Tsao added that they will also strengthen their relationships with their i-Café partners and come up with new initiatives to reward their top i-Café partners.
He also revealed that their e-Gamer Loyalty Card program which they introduced last April, will be going through another phase, broadening its list of partner establishments, and introducing new features and services for e-Games players.
And IP e-Games is spreading its new message with the e-Games Evolution roadshow event, which kicked off recently at The Block at SM North Edsa.
A gamut of live contests, cosplay events and live band performances, staples in most online game events, was held.
According to Ed Pasion, VP for marketing of IP e-Games, the roadshow is expected to run until early 2008, going through Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao schools, malls, and i-Cafés.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. With the company’s ‘evolution,’ we plan to do even bigger and greater things,” he said.