With more than 100 million Americans and 288 million Chinese playing mobile games, one Chinese game company thinks some of those players are ready for a much better experience on their smartphones.
We Are Good Games is planning to release its massively multiplayer online role-playing game, The World II, on smartphones. Such games are normally so big and difficult to make that they require the extra computing horsepower available on a personal computer. The World II will be released as a free-to-play title in December on the iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. It will also have versions on the Windows PC, Steam, Mac OS, and Linux.
As newer smartphones with better processors and bigger screens are released every year, more gamers are using their mobile phones to play games on the go. Guangzhou, China-based We Are Good Games is an MMO maker that will soon release The World II, the latest game from head producer Raistlin Ma.
The previous title, released on the PC in 2013, generated more than 500 renminbi, or $80 million in U.S. currency.
“Gamers want the same experience they get on their handheld systems like when they play Monster Hunter, Pokemon, or NBA 2K13,” said Ma, in a statement. “Gamers want their mobile phone games to be big, and we’re doing that with ‘The World 2’. We offer players the chance to fight the biggest boss battles in 3D on their phone either alone or with their friends.”
Players in both the East and the West can play the fantasy role-playing game on Wi-Fi or mobile phone service. In the game, you can fight more than 80 big bosses including mechanical dinosaurs, fire-breathing apes, and insane butchers. Mobile players can lead their own guilds, recruiting from a list of 30 different types of heroes and five classes. Weapons and armor can be traded. Players can pay real money to purchase items or sell what they no longer need for in-game cash.
“We are also working hard to bring a huge story with our game including our own mythology that all large MMORPGs offer,” Ma noted. “The story begins hundreds of years after a large war almost killed humanity and brought forth mutations, magical elements, and the renouncement of technology. Players will choose between the many factions as another great war looms. Their decisions may grant them the kingdom and a chance to be king.”
“Allowing players the chance to pay with their money or time allows for more equality in some markets where gamers spending hundreds seem to be the only ones having fun,” Ma said.
“Knowing what MMORPG gamers want has been something we’ve developed and studied in China,” Ma said. “We want to blend the best qualities of both the Chinese and Western MMORPG and bring something that will be viewed as an example for future MMORPGs on mobile phones. Both our teams in China and Taiwan are eager to show the west what high quality gaming China has to offer compared to what our competitors give to gamers in America.”
We Are Good Games was created in September 2011, and it has 180 employees. About 20 people are working on The World II.
Above: The World II