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Im not sure if this has been post, but I havent seen it around and thought you might to look at it. well enjoy
MindArk: Marketing and brand awareness to attract 150 million users to Entropia
Posted in Features by Siam Choudhury on the June 11th, 2007
Recently, MindArk announced they were partnering with a Chinese company and expanding Entropia Universe into China. They stated their goal is to get 150 million users from around the world. The MMO Gamer sat down with MindArk CIO to discuss this partnership and those goals.
The MMO Gamer: Hello and welcome. I’d like to thank you for taking the time to let us interview you live over IMs. Could you begin by introducing yourself and what you do at MindArk, please?
Marco Behrmann: Thank you for this opportunity. I am Marco Behrmann, CIO at MindArk. My job description includes community management, PR, design and strategic decision making. I have been with MindArk some five years and enjoy it immensely.
The MMO Gamer: Entropia Universe, known previously as Project Entropia, has been around since 2003 and has been marketed as a Real Cash Economy from the start. Could you tell us how that works?
Marco Behrmann: The Entropia Universe client software is free to download over the Internet and doesn’t involve any subscription fees what so ever. Entropia Universe utilizes a “real cash economy”, which means that the internal Entropia Universe economy is linked to the real world economy.
This is achieved using a virtual currency called the Project Entropia Dollar (PED), which has a fixed exchange rate, guaranteed by MindArk, to the US Dollar, where 10 PED equals 1 USD. By enabling this kind of currency exchange, both to and from Entropia Universe, a participant has the opportunity to earn real money while in essence partaking in an online computer game.
Real currency is entered into Entropia Universe using mainly credit cards and pre-paid cards. The virtual PED currency may then be exchanged back into real world currency using either a direct bank transfer, or the Entropia Universe Cash Card, which essentially is an ATM card that can be loaded with PED from inside
the Entropia Universe and used to instantaneously withdraw real funds according to the exchange rate mentioned above, from over 1 million ATM machines worldwide.
The MMO Gamer: How many registered users does Entropia Universe have now and how many of them take an active part in the RCE by investing real money into the game?
Marco Behrmann: Entropia has some 595 000 registered account. Almost everyone takes part in the economy as many activities have some cost associated, usually decay of item value when used. The number of people depositing compared to the non-depositors is a business secret. However, some 110,000,000 PEDs were deposited last year into Entropia Universe.
The MMO Gamer: How does MindArk profit from this type of virtual economy?
Marco Behrmann: The main drain in Entropia Universe is the decay of items when used. Tools, weapons, armor, etc all lose a small fraction of its MindArk-guaranteed re-purchase value every time it is used.
The MMO Gamer: Does MindArk take a transaction fee when players trade with each other?
Marco Behrmann: No. We also don’t take any transaction fees converting real-virtual currency.
The MMO Gamer: MindArk has gone into partnership with Cyber Recreation Development Corp in China to develop what seems like an entirely different virtual world than Entropia Universe with seemingly an increased focus on culture, education and real life work than just playing a game. How different will the new project be from what EU looks like today?
Marco Behrmann: The partnership will create a more varied and diverse universe, with a lot of planets to explore. Various planets will have various themes or focus, like shopping, culture, gaming, e-commerce, education, etc. But it will all be under the same concept that is Entropia Universe.
The MMO Gamer:Will this new project replace the current version of Entropia Universe or will it be an alternative to it?
Marco Behrmann: An addition. It is part of MindArk’s strategic plan to have partners in various fields and from various parts of the real world, to have planet(s). Some will be very much game-like, while other will have a completely different tone.
The MMO Gamer: I see. Will they all use single account/login system?
Marco Behrmann: Yes, as it is part of the same universe.
The MMO Gamer: How long has this project been in development and when do you expect it to be completed?
Marco Behrmann: Negotiations started late summer 2006 and we expect the first partner system to be ready mid 2008.
The MMO Gamer: The only recorded measuring of the number of average concurrent players online in Entropia Universe is 600. This new partnership talks about a server allowing 7 million concurrent users. That is quite a huge leap, is it a realistic goal? How long do you think it will take for MindArk and CRD to reach that goal and how many average simultaneous users are you expecting to have a year after the launch of the new project?
Marco Behrmann: The number referred to is from 2005 and is obsolete. The requested data is considered business secrets. A lot of companies are closely watching what MindArk does as we are pioneers in our field.
The MMO Gamer: I understand, but how plausible is it that you’ll reach 7 million simultaneous users online on a single server? Games such as EVE Online and Second Life have recorded numbers between 30,000 and 35,000 and World of Warcraft servers generally hold about 4,000 to 5,000 people per server.
Marco Behrmann: I cannot go into the specifics of the technical platform we have developed, I am sorry. But sufficiently said, we and our partners have great trust in this venture.
The MMO Gamer: Fair enough. Moving on to registered users. The official website states that Entropia Universe has ca 500 000 registered users now and the press release announcing the partnership states the aim to reach 150 million registered users. That is about a 30 000% increase, how is MindArk planning on reaching this goal? What will be done to the game to attract this increase?
Marco Behrmann: The main thing is that the huge Chinese market gets access to Entropia and the win-win partnership between MindArk and CRD includes a plan for marketing and brand awareness. CRD is perfect for this as they have a terrific knowledge of the China market, PR and marketing of products.
The MMO Gamer: When western companies expand into China, there are worries about censorship. Will Entropia Universe be filtered and censored according to Chinese policies? Stories of giants such as Google and Yahoo filtering web searches of keywords such as democracy or falun gong comes to mind.
Marco Behrmann: There have been no such demands from CRD.
The MMO Gamer: Will CRD have the ability to impose such restrictions? Will Chinese players in Entropia Universe be able to express opinions without fear of their private information such as IP address being forwarded to Chinese government agencies?
Marco Behrmann: You have to ask CRD about their abilities. Entropia Universe is set to be one unified universe.
The MMO Gamer: David Liu, the CEO of CRD, said in the press release that some 10,000 qualified jobs will be generated. What will these people be doing?
Marco Behrmann: For a specific answer you need to contact Mr. Liu. The vision is to have e-commerce, trading, gaming, education and culture in place in Entropia. These are activities that can create work. Also, building Entropia planets and content creation from an outside perspective is also not unforeseeable.
The MMO Gamer: According to the press release, the new Entropia Universe will be open to a worldwide audience and not just for the Chinese. Will the operation of the game and its servers be located in China alone?
Marco Behrmann: The main part will be on Chinese soil, for maximum performance and accessibility.
The MMO Gamer: Thank you, that was my last question for this interview. Is there anything you’d like to add, something you’d like to tell our readers that maybe this interview didn’t cover?
Marco Behrmann: Thank you yourself and I hope we all can meet up in Entropia and hunt some virtual prey and lounge in a virtual bar. Stay virtual!
MindArk: Marketing and brand awareness to attract 150 million users to Entropia
Posted in Features by Siam Choudhury on the June 11th, 2007
Recently, MindArk announced they were partnering with a Chinese company and expanding Entropia Universe into China. They stated their goal is to get 150 million users from around the world. The MMO Gamer sat down with MindArk CIO to discuss this partnership and those goals.
The MMO Gamer: Hello and welcome. I’d like to thank you for taking the time to let us interview you live over IMs. Could you begin by introducing yourself and what you do at MindArk, please?
Marco Behrmann: Thank you for this opportunity. I am Marco Behrmann, CIO at MindArk. My job description includes community management, PR, design and strategic decision making. I have been with MindArk some five years and enjoy it immensely.
The MMO Gamer: Entropia Universe, known previously as Project Entropia, has been around since 2003 and has been marketed as a Real Cash Economy from the start. Could you tell us how that works?
Marco Behrmann: The Entropia Universe client software is free to download over the Internet and doesn’t involve any subscription fees what so ever. Entropia Universe utilizes a “real cash economy”, which means that the internal Entropia Universe economy is linked to the real world economy.
This is achieved using a virtual currency called the Project Entropia Dollar (PED), which has a fixed exchange rate, guaranteed by MindArk, to the US Dollar, where 10 PED equals 1 USD. By enabling this kind of currency exchange, both to and from Entropia Universe, a participant has the opportunity to earn real money while in essence partaking in an online computer game.
Real currency is entered into Entropia Universe using mainly credit cards and pre-paid cards. The virtual PED currency may then be exchanged back into real world currency using either a direct bank transfer, or the Entropia Universe Cash Card, which essentially is an ATM card that can be loaded with PED from inside
the Entropia Universe and used to instantaneously withdraw real funds according to the exchange rate mentioned above, from over 1 million ATM machines worldwide.
The MMO Gamer: How many registered users does Entropia Universe have now and how many of them take an active part in the RCE by investing real money into the game?
Marco Behrmann: Entropia has some 595 000 registered account. Almost everyone takes part in the economy as many activities have some cost associated, usually decay of item value when used. The number of people depositing compared to the non-depositors is a business secret. However, some 110,000,000 PEDs were deposited last year into Entropia Universe.
The MMO Gamer: How does MindArk profit from this type of virtual economy?
Marco Behrmann: The main drain in Entropia Universe is the decay of items when used. Tools, weapons, armor, etc all lose a small fraction of its MindArk-guaranteed re-purchase value every time it is used.
The MMO Gamer: Does MindArk take a transaction fee when players trade with each other?
Marco Behrmann: No. We also don’t take any transaction fees converting real-virtual currency.
The MMO Gamer: MindArk has gone into partnership with Cyber Recreation Development Corp in China to develop what seems like an entirely different virtual world than Entropia Universe with seemingly an increased focus on culture, education and real life work than just playing a game. How different will the new project be from what EU looks like today?
Marco Behrmann: The partnership will create a more varied and diverse universe, with a lot of planets to explore. Various planets will have various themes or focus, like shopping, culture, gaming, e-commerce, education, etc. But it will all be under the same concept that is Entropia Universe.
The MMO Gamer:Will this new project replace the current version of Entropia Universe or will it be an alternative to it?
Marco Behrmann: An addition. It is part of MindArk’s strategic plan to have partners in various fields and from various parts of the real world, to have planet(s). Some will be very much game-like, while other will have a completely different tone.
The MMO Gamer: I see. Will they all use single account/login system?
Marco Behrmann: Yes, as it is part of the same universe.
The MMO Gamer: How long has this project been in development and when do you expect it to be completed?
Marco Behrmann: Negotiations started late summer 2006 and we expect the first partner system to be ready mid 2008.
The MMO Gamer: The only recorded measuring of the number of average concurrent players online in Entropia Universe is 600. This new partnership talks about a server allowing 7 million concurrent users. That is quite a huge leap, is it a realistic goal? How long do you think it will take for MindArk and CRD to reach that goal and how many average simultaneous users are you expecting to have a year after the launch of the new project?
Marco Behrmann: The number referred to is from 2005 and is obsolete. The requested data is considered business secrets. A lot of companies are closely watching what MindArk does as we are pioneers in our field.
The MMO Gamer: I understand, but how plausible is it that you’ll reach 7 million simultaneous users online on a single server? Games such as EVE Online and Second Life have recorded numbers between 30,000 and 35,000 and World of Warcraft servers generally hold about 4,000 to 5,000 people per server.
Marco Behrmann: I cannot go into the specifics of the technical platform we have developed, I am sorry. But sufficiently said, we and our partners have great trust in this venture.
The MMO Gamer: Fair enough. Moving on to registered users. The official website states that Entropia Universe has ca 500 000 registered users now and the press release announcing the partnership states the aim to reach 150 million registered users. That is about a 30 000% increase, how is MindArk planning on reaching this goal? What will be done to the game to attract this increase?
Marco Behrmann: The main thing is that the huge Chinese market gets access to Entropia and the win-win partnership between MindArk and CRD includes a plan for marketing and brand awareness. CRD is perfect for this as they have a terrific knowledge of the China market, PR and marketing of products.
The MMO Gamer: When western companies expand into China, there are worries about censorship. Will Entropia Universe be filtered and censored according to Chinese policies? Stories of giants such as Google and Yahoo filtering web searches of keywords such as democracy or falun gong comes to mind.
Marco Behrmann: There have been no such demands from CRD.
The MMO Gamer: Will CRD have the ability to impose such restrictions? Will Chinese players in Entropia Universe be able to express opinions without fear of their private information such as IP address being forwarded to Chinese government agencies?
Marco Behrmann: You have to ask CRD about their abilities. Entropia Universe is set to be one unified universe.
The MMO Gamer: David Liu, the CEO of CRD, said in the press release that some 10,000 qualified jobs will be generated. What will these people be doing?
Marco Behrmann: For a specific answer you need to contact Mr. Liu. The vision is to have e-commerce, trading, gaming, education and culture in place in Entropia. These are activities that can create work. Also, building Entropia planets and content creation from an outside perspective is also not unforeseeable.
The MMO Gamer: According to the press release, the new Entropia Universe will be open to a worldwide audience and not just for the Chinese. Will the operation of the game and its servers be located in China alone?
Marco Behrmann: The main part will be on Chinese soil, for maximum performance and accessibility.
The MMO Gamer: Thank you, that was my last question for this interview. Is there anything you’d like to add, something you’d like to tell our readers that maybe this interview didn’t cover?
Marco Behrmann: Thank you yourself and I hope we all can meet up in Entropia and hunt some virtual prey and lounge in a virtual bar. Stay virtual!
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