IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

Interview: Korean MMO Tera Coming En Masse

Posted February 24, 2010 by David Radd

Today, veterans from Blizzard, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, ArenaNet and NCsoft announced the formation of En Masse Entertainment. The studio is a subsidiary of Korean MMO company Bluehole Studio and will focus on bringing online titles to the U.S., like the upcoming MMORPG title Tera.

IndustryGamers had an chance to speak with En Masse's Publishing VP Chris Lee about this new company, its relationship to Bluehole and their first title, Tera.

IndustryGamers: How was the contact with Bluehole initially formed? 

Chris Lee: In 2009, Bluehole Studio in Korea was looking to establish a Western publishing entity for its inaugural product, Tera. The Bluehole team views the West as a critical market for achieving global renown, and they felt it more important to invest in building a Western publishing entity than it was to even publish in their home territory.

The En Masse leadership team came together in late 2009, with the purpose of bringing Tera to Western audiences. Our CEO Dr. Jae-Heon was the first to see Tera, and his immediate reaction was that this was a special property that had great global appeal. He then started the recruiting process which resulted in the senior management team coming together (in some cases joining forces once again given some shared company affiliations) to create a new kind of Western publishing organization. Dr. Yang’s vision, which we all share, revolves around working as a close knit team to select innovative online games we’re genuinely passionate about and feel can offer culturally relevant experiences to the Western gamer. We’re extremely proud of who make up En Masse as this is a team with an amazing collective track record of successful products, and the skills necessary to realize some exciting and ambitious goals. Having brought this group together, we can now focus on our areas of expertise to plan, recruit, and build the Production, Operations, and Marketing areas of the company for Tera and future projects.

IG: Why do you think that now is the right time to be founding an MMO publisher?

CL: When you look at the growth of the MMO industry, and the lack of diverse content offerings, we believe that now is a time of opportunity. There are still a lot of unexplored areas and things players want to see from games, and En Masse Entertainment's goal is to become a specialist MMO publisher and begin exploring these areas. Tera is our first step in this direction.

IG: What can you tell us about your first project, Tera?

CL: We believe that Tera is an innovative MMORPG that combines the depth and flexibility of online PC games with the rich graphics, animation, and immediacy of console action games. Factors such as player position, attack timing, and missile aim all impact combat, creating a uniquely immersive "explore and engage" experience that supersedes traditional point-and-click-style MMO games. Players can use the keyboard and mouse or a console controller to put characters right in the action.

Rather than relying on a zero sum battle between existing factions, players of the six different races participate in a common struggle against rampaging monsters, insidious demons, and the countless horrors of a world torn apart by the gods themselves. Players not only control the action, they dictate the flow of the economy and individually impact the community environment.

The early buzz on Tera has been very positive, and the Korean launch is nearing, so we’re really excited to be able to bring this game to the Western market. We’ll debut the game at GDC so we’re really looking forward to seeing how it’s received. Should be fun!

IG: En Masse's senior members all come from diverse backgrounds. How did you all come together to form a company?

CL: The leadership team came together all around the same time, after a long search for just the right mix of experience and creativity. Dr. Yang is such an inspiration and motivation to us all, so it was a natural decision for all of us to join forces with each other on something we feel strongly about. Each member of the team had a chance to sit down and play Tera for an extended period of time before joining the company, and seeing the game made the decision easy for all of us. When you combine that with the complete support of the senior management at Bluehole Studio, you realize you have that rare chance to make a real difference.

IG: What is En Masse looking to do after it launched Tera?

CL: While we're very focused on Tera, we are building a multi-dimensional organization. En Masse's strengths could easily be applied to games developed in either the East or West, as indicated by the franchises this group has worked on in the past. We’re not able to officially confirm what’s in store beyond Tera, but we can definitely say with confidence our long term organizational goal is to create a strong presence rooted within a portfolio of high quality online games with global appeal that does a great job serving the ever growing MMO category.

IG: Thanks Chris.

David Radd has worked as a gaming journalist since 2004 at sites such as GamerFeed, Gigex and GameDaily Biz.