En Masse Entertainment, a new MMO developer has stepped onto the scene, comprised of many top names from companies including Blizzard, NCsoft, ArenaNet and EA.
The company, a subsidiary of Korean MMO company Bluehole Studio, Inc., will focus on selecting top online games, then adapting, refining, and positioning them so that they are suitable for western audiences. We can assume that the process will be somewhat similar to the transformation the recent MMO Aion went through, as it was originally only launched in South Korea but has been highly successful since its western launch in September; Eastern MMOs don’t have a particularly good track record in the west, with perhaps the exception of Final Fantasy XI.“We’ve brought together ‘best of breed’ experts in the fields of technology, online gaming, branding and localization who have a shared vision for global MMO games that deliver on the highest levels of quality and cultural relevance,” said En Masse’s chief executive, Jae-Heon Yang.
The team at En Masse includes Blizzard’s Patrick Wyatt, who worked on Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo as well as the original battle.net. He was also one of the founders of ArenaNet and helped develop Guild Wars. Chris Lee, who marketed hit titles such as Age of Empires, Halo and Aion is also on the roster, as is Brian Knox, who was a producer for Aion, and is overseeing the western development of TERA, the first game to be ‘westernised’ by the company.
The impressive-looking TERA is due to launch in Korea later this year and will be released in Europe and North America later. You can see the trailer over on IGTV.
