Irvine is becoming a hub for video game companies that offer free-to-play games online. A Taiwanese online game company is the latest to join the growing group.
In October, Taipei-based Gamania Digital Entertainment Co. opened a small office here with big plans for a multiplayer online game, an animated TV series and toys.
Gamania operates games on a model known as “free to play micro-transactions.”
The games are free to download and play. Players have the option of making small purchases (for a few dollars here and there) for items along the way, often using specialized fictional currency tied to a credit card or prepaid account.
Some of the purchases are to better equip their characters. Others are just for fun.
“They are meant to enhance your game playing experience,” said Kevin Crawford, product director for Gamania. “But you can play from the beginning of the game to the end and not spend a dime.”
The free-to-play model is expected to grow in the next few years.
It’s a contrast to the subscription model used for games such as “World of Worldcraft,” a massively popular online role-playing game created by Irvine-based Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
Blizzard charges around $15 a month to play. Some 12 million people play “World of Warcraft” around the globe.
Gamania is heading into a fairly crowded market in Irvine, where there’s a cluster of companies that use a free to play micro-transaction model.
Local companies with the free-to-play model include K2 Network Inc., NHN USA Inc., a unit of South Korea’s NHN Corp. that runs Web site ijji.com, and YNK Interactive Inc., part of South Korea’s YNK Korea Inc.
All operate from Irvine.
There’s also homegrown online game company True Games Interactive Inc., which was started a few years ago by a few veterans of K2 Networks.
True Games, which also is in Irvine, is in the process of moving its headquarters to Austin, Texas, to coalesce around a new development studio head.
“Irvine has been a hot spot for a lot of the free-to-play game companies,” Gama-nia’s Crawford said. “It’s a great place to find people who have experience with this model and we have a lot of great friendships with these companies.”
Gamania’s Irvine outpost, which is set to have around 30 workers, is the company’s U.S. headquarters. It’s also a launching point for its efforts to grab an audience in Europe.
“The Orange County site is a strategic office for launching our titles into the Western and European markets,” Crawford said.
The U.S. presence marks a strategy shift for the company.
Gamania saw around $500 million in sales last year, including sales from operations in Hong Kong, China, South Korea and Japan. It has around 1,200 workers in all.
“Some developers choose to bring a very Eastern title to the West and just assume it will work well,” Crawford said. “But that’s not always the case.”
Gamania’s flagship game is “Hero: 108.”
The storyline is loosely based on a classic Chinese novel called “The Water Margin,” which details the adventures of 108 outlaws during the Song Dynasty.
RedGate Games, the creative team that’s a Beijing-based unit of Gamania, developed “Hero: 108” specifically for the West, Crawford said.
The game takes place in a fictional land called the Hidden Kingdom where humans and animals are at war. A rebel force made up of both humans and animals with special powers called the First Squad fight evil and protect humans from the sinister HighRoller, who controls armies of animals.
The game goes into testing this summer.
Gamania is targeting 13- to 16-year-olds for “Hero: 108,” according to Crawford.
“That younger demographic isn’t really targeted as much,” he said. “It’s untapped. Hopefully as they grow older, they can grow with Gamania. We want them to become a part of their community early so they understand the brand and feel comfortable with our pricing models.”
In 2004 Gamania struck a licensing deal with Woodland Hills-based Moonscoop LLC for the rights to develop a show for Time Warner Inc.’s Cartoon Network based on “Hero: 108.” It’s set to debut in the U.S. and Britain next month.
The company also has a licensing pact with Costa Mesa-based Playmates Toys Inc., part of Playmates Toys Ltd. of Hong Kong, to develop a line of vinyl toys and a board game based on characters from the game.
Gamania hopes to rope in a younger audience with the Cartoon Network show that will “graduate” to the online multiplayer game, Crawford said.
“We’re expecting that kids who are watching the show will eventually cross over into game,” he said.
