Dice Magazine, “New Edge: making dreams happen” (2 of 3)

Here’s a continuation of the Dice Magazine (时代漫游) article on New Edge’s transformation from a distributor to a publisher. This time: “Realizing the Dream.”
Realizing the Dream

Terry proudly told this reporter, even though the DNF TCG product is not yet released, the response so far has pre-orders that already surpass WoW TCG and M:TG in China – this is what Chris means when he says “Terry’s sales strengths.”

However, Terry does not feel this is all up to his abilities. He feels that,  more importantly, the pre-production and preparation work for DNF TCG has been done very well. “Our promotions, artwork, design, sales network and other aspects have all received a lot of attention, and so I believe that the DNF TCG is going to be a success, and so far the numbers are proving that out.”

DNF (地下城与勇士) is a 2005 Korean online side-scrolling game, which was brought to China by TenCent and has become one of their top sellers. The games fast fighting action has brought in a lot of younger players – and this is naturally among the reasons that New Edge felt it was a good match for TCGs and so pursued the license.

However, this kind of cooperation is two-sided. When you are doing your own product and making choices about who to partner with, one must do a good analysis of your partner’s strengths. The first thing that New Edge can point to is its long success and experience with WoW TCG, including the many sales channels developed for TCGs. “In China, within card games, especially TCGs, the right pricing has not yet really been found. The price of RMB25 for a pack of WoW or MTGT TCGs is just too high for most kids today.” Terry went on to explain more on his thinking of the company’s pricing, saying “When we take a look at TCG tournaments, we see most of the players are more or less 30 years old, and are used to the prices for TCGs and their play styles. What we want to do is come up with a new game, one that opens up a new market segment, and we think that just happens to be the biggest market segment.”

New Edge is expecting kids from 13-15 years old to be interested in the game, and so has priced each pack at only RMB5! To most TCG players this is a jaw droppingly low price.

Of course, pricing isn’t enough to attract the younger audience, “The TenCent folks feel that with their popular online games foundation, and with strong promotional support from them, well-aimed at the target market, with the right pricing…this is the best way to go after the biggest numbers and will let a lot of players think, ‘it’s probably pretty good, I’ll give it a try.’ But we at New Edge know that in order to keep the players’ interest there is a lot to do after that, there has to be confidence in the game and its ongoing support to generate long-term success,” said Terry with a twinkle in his eye.

This last February, Terry discussed his idea to go after DNF with Chris’s friend Justin Gary, the former USA M:TG champion and creator of “Ascension” deck building game, ultimately asking him to create a game for DNF. In the spring, Justin provided a game engine for Terry to try, and he immediately liked the approach. “This game is really easy to pick up, so easy that when some of the (non-gaming) women in the office watched some of the demonstrations, they got it immediately.” The DNF TCG game has some small similarities to a skateboarding game that Justin created in the USA. In that game, the cards have arrow indicators to show what kinds of cards can come next in a combo of moves before “wiping out” and scoring. For DNF, the combos come from abilities which flow from one to the next. “Among the interesting bits of this game is that while you might lose, you will still have the chance to put out really stunning combos! And in the end, this will also let players feel like they have accomplished something.”

We asked Terry: considering that you are in the process of realizing your dreams, then you say that making stunning combos is important, is the process more important than the results? “No, results are important, and I am confident in our success,” again affirming his belief in DNF’s growth in the future.

[Next time: the Dream’s precursor]