WarCry had the honor of sitting down with Dragon Oath General Manager, Martin Tan. Mr. Tan discusses the unique nature of marketing a well-established Asian game in the West and gives fans an insider's look at Dragon Oath. Keep reading!
Please introduce yourself and give us your game development history.
Hi, I am Martin Tan, General Manager of ChangYou.com (US) Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of ChangYou.com Ltd., China's leading online game developer and operator. I've been working in the Dragon Oath development team for over 5 years.
Please give readers some background about ChangYou.com. What other games have previously been developed by ChangYou.com and in which countries?
Our parent company ChangYou.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYOU) is a leading online games developer and operator in China. We began operations in 2003 as Sohu.com's massively multi-player online games ("MMORPG") business unit, before our carve-out as a separate, stand-alone company in December 2007 and subsequent listing on the NASDAQ Global Select Market in April 2009. We now operate one of the most popular MMORPGs in China, and have enjoyed healthy growth in users and revenues for our games. Our leading in-house technology platform includes an advanced 2.5D graphics engine, a uniform game development platform, effective anti-cheating and anti-hacking technologies, proprietary cross-networking technology and advanced data protection technology.
What precipitated ChangYou.com wanting to bring Dragon Oath to the North American market?
Dragon Oath, known in Asia as Tian Long Ba Bu (TLBB), has been operating in China for over two years and has received a number of awards and honors. After 3 years of developments and over two years of continual enhancements through the launch of regular updates and expansion packs, the game is well polished. As such, we think this is the right timing for us to bring the game to the American market. Dragon Oath is comparable to other established MMOs here in terms of quality and content, but at the same time, it offers a unique gaming experience beyond what gamers normally find in other games.
How does marketing Dragon Oath in the Western market differ from strategies used in the Asian market?
Dragon Oath is adapted from a very popular martial arts fiction in the Greater China Region. When we began to market the game in China and other parts of Asia two years ago, it was already a household name.
On the other hand, most gamers in the United States are not familiar with the story of Dragon Oath, so we plan to put more efforts in introducing and promoting the unique gaming experience and gameplay that Dragon Oath is able to offer. We want American gamers to know that Dragon Oath is a well-developed free-to-play MMO with intricate game features that is comparable to those found in some of the best pay-to-play games in the U.S., including World of Warcraft.
We believe that eventually there will be a confluence of the Eastern and Western cultures that results in people sharing similar beliefs and interests. An example would be the fact that people in both the East and West find dragons mysterious and appealing. You might have heard about "How to Train Your Dragon", a movie adapted from a popular children's novel that is going to be released early next year. In fact, our game also has a function that has to do with dragons. In our game, gamers can breed and train their own dragon and go on adventures with it through an ancient wonderland. So I was thinking that this shared fascination with dragons in both the East and West may be something I can utilize for our marketing campaigns.
Tell us about the ChangYou team in the US. How many employees are based in the US?
Our team in the U.S. consists of Western MMO insiders and Chinese staff that have worked on the Chinese version of Dragon Oath. It is a bi-cultural team. Our aim is to combine the local staff's insights and knowledge of the U.S. market with ChangYou's management and operation experience gained in China.
What would you suggest sets Dragon Oath apart from all the other MMOs on the market today?
I think it's a combination of things. We have all the typical features you would expect to find in a game, but also unique elements that players may not find in other games. In Dragon Oath, there are events happening throughout the day that keep gamers engaged. For example, we have automated quest events, trivia contests and Live GM events. If you want to join a game where there is always something going on, then Dragon Oath is for you.
The most successful MMOs in North America and Europe have been the more traditional RPG-type such as is seen in World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online. How would you compare Dragon Oath to more "traditional" (at least in the West) MMOs?
The game was developed in the East so there are some features in the game that Western players may not be used to, but overall the elements that make good MMOs are in our game. I think Western players that have only played games from the West will find the features that we have added in Dragon Oath to be refreshing.
For those unfamiliar with Dragon Oath, what can you tell us about the game overall?
Dragon Oath is the English version of TLBB (Tian Long Ba Bu), one of the most popular online games in China. It is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) set in ancient China. Dragon Oath allows players to engage themselves in ancient Chinese folklore and take part in captivating quests that tell the tales of warriors and diplomats from this time period. The game emphasizes teamwork and community and boasts over 300 different martial arts skills, 136 armor sets with up to 116 million combinations of weapons, over 200 pets with up to 80,000 combinations, and 100 automated daily in-game live events 24/7.
Dragon Oath offers many features, but I think what U.S. players will value most about the game is the Community. From the very beginning, Dragon Oath was built to be a community-based MMORPG that promotes players to form teams to complete quests rather than simply moving up levels by fighting. Dragon Oath was designed with features that encourage players to build a Friend-Line or so called a Group. Therefore, players who thrive on interactions and cooperation with others will find Dragon Oath appealing.
What is the background of the name "Dragon Oath"?
The game's name is taken from the novel on which the game is adapted from. The story behind Dragon Oath revolves around a saga of complex relationships among numerous characters from various kingdoms and sects during China's Northern Song Dynasty.
Dragon Oath is adapted from one of the most popular martial arts fictions, "Tale of Eight Demigods", in Chinese communities around the world. It is set in the Song Dynasty in 960 AD. The main storyline is based upon the mythology of the eight races of non-human deities described in Buddhist cosmology.
Read on for more information about races and classes, PvP and more!
