General: AGC: 2Moons & 9Dragons Interview

Dana

Howard Marks, the CEO of Acclaim, met with MMORPG.com Senior Editor Dana Massey at AGC to discuss future MMORPG business models, 2Moons and 9Dragons. Here is what we learned:

The day after giving a talk to AGC called “Game Over”, Howard Marks and I met on the show floor to discuss 9Dragons, 2Moons, Acclaim and future economic models for the MMORPG industry. In his talk, Marks challenged developers to see the world through his eyes. Marks is a firm believer that the future of MMORPGs is in advertising, just as television and the internet itself have ended up. Through Acclaim, Marks hopes to be at the forefront of this future and has boldly promised that all Acclaim’s MMORPGs will be pretty much free to play. There is a slight emphasis on “pretty much”. The first two major titles 2Moons and 9Dragons are perfect examples.

You can read the full article here.

Antioche

It's good to see Mark's doesn't have his head up his butt. As one of the lucky closed beta testers I have made some not so positive posts relating to the "grind" in 9Dragons. I will grant that fanboi's and noobs to mmorpgs aren't too happy with what I say, or they just don't understand because they're still level 7. I'm glad to hear that he is willing to look at such aspects of the game, and be willing to change them to suit the needs of the audience.
I'm sure 9Dragon's and 2 Moons will be successful because of it.

LuckyDucky

Acclaim? I thought these guys went under after screwing the pooch with Turok.

BogSvarog

How is making games F2P going to drive the crowds to MMO's? It will loose its prestige