RF Online Update Interview
MMORPG.com: It is quite unusual that an MMO begins with one publisher, is then shut down and re-opened with a new publisher. Can you tell us how this came to happen with RF Online?
CCR:
They told us that they were apologised for having to take their service offline between when the Codemasters service ended and now and that while it may be much more commonplace for an MMO to go from start to finish with one single publisher, that this isn't the only way that things can be done.
They wanted to be clear that the closure wasn't something that they were pleased with either, but that they hope that when the game is re-launched, their game will be better than ever.
"We, CCR," they said, "will do our best fr RF Online Global Service, and we guarantee no more service suspension will be generated later".
MMORPG.com: Is there any fear that, given its previous closure, players will perceive this as a failed game and stay away?
CCR: They told us that: For an Asian market game, RF Online had a good and positive reputation in the Western MMORPG market while Codemasters served as publisher. They think that coming to the conclusion that RF Online is a failed game simply because of the service interruption would be a broad interpretation of the facts.
They went on to say that The reactions of the games players can be read in magazines, blogs and their official website and while people have certainly had a lot of questions since their announcement at the end of last year, they feel that their answers have shown that those who might see the game as a failed game are incorrect.
MMORPG.com: Can you tell us the differences between your RF Online and the Codemasters version?
CCR: They told us that if they were to lay out all of the differences between their version and the Codemasters version, it would result in players who have been waiting for the game to launch to be unhappy.
For now, they wanted to just simply say that the new RF Online under CCR will be the newest version available and will be different from the Codemasters version.
"Please wait shortly", they said. "You won't regret joining our game."
MMORPG.com: Will players of the previous incarnation of the game have to "start over" when the new version launches?
CCR: No, they don't need to start over again.
To resolve this issue, they held a character restoration event for former Codemasters users during their closed beta test. They plan to do something similar again when the game re-launches but with a different format.
MMORPG.com: What will the business model be when RF Online re-opens?
CCR: RF Online's business model will be based on items sales.
When players first start the game, there will be no cost to them signing in, but those who want to "more fun" can purchase the items that they need from in-game.
They told us that they feel that this kind of business model is good both for MMO gamers who don't want to pay monthly fees and the company that "wants to give more chance to play game to users."
MMORPG.com: Will there be an Open Beta after the Closed Beta, or will the game simply launch at that point?
CCR: Commerical launch (or in this case re-launch) is an issue that they take very seriously and while they do currently have a schedule for it, they want to be careful about making any announcements because certain issues could come up that would force them to change it.
They did, however, want to pass along a tip for MMORPG.com readers and that is that they will be "concretizing" their schedule based on the success of their closed beta test.
For now, they told us, their number one priority is to "prepare the game perfectly".