Tera Online News

SEATTLE, WA – June 10, 2010 – En Masse Entertainment, a new breed of game publisher focused on delivering highly anticipated online video games to Western audiences, announced today that it will present the first hands-on demo of its flagship Action MMO title, TERA™, at the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 in Los Angeles. The hands-on demo will focus on TERA's groundbreaking action combat system, which allows players to step into a world where their actions, teamwork, and combat expertise—not statistics—give them a chance to become true heroes in the face of danger.

"At E3, people will have the chance to experience firsthand what makes TERA's gameplay so exciting," said En Masse CEO Dr. Jae-Heon Yang. "Select media will form a party with varied roles and venture forth to experience their first battle using our innovative action/adventure style combat system. During the show, players will see how TERA is changing the rules of MMO combat."

TERA is an innovative Action MMORPG with rich graphics and animations where players fully control their characters through the game’s dynamic battle system. Player actions in TERA can change the balance of power in a world threatened by dark powers as six allied races work together to protect their world. The game, which is currently in development for PC, will launch in North America and Europe in 2011.

TERA will be available at E3 for hands-on play in the En Masse Entertainment booth (#537) in the South Hall during show hours on June 15–17, 2010.

Players can visit the official TERA website for game information, team updates, and to sign up for beta testing opportunities at: www.TERA-Online.com

A new force is emerging in the world of MMOs - created from veterans of Blizzard, Bungie, NCsoft and more giants of gaming.

En Masse Entertainment is focused on 'selecting high quality online games and adapting, refining, and positioning them so they are perfectly suited for audiences in Western markets'.

But can it really do battle with the big boys? Its first big hope is PC title TERA - dubbed 'the world's first action MMO'.

We caught up with En Masse's COO Patrick Wyatt, who doesn't exactly have a bad track record.

As well as being involved in the creation of Warcraft and Starcraft, the Ex-Blizzard man wrote Diablo's multiplayer code, scaled up Battle.net, founded ArenaNet, developed Guild Wars and served as CTO of NCsoft.


He should know what he's talking about, then. Words now...

Q. En Masse's aims seem smart; capitalising on the phenomenon of Korean/Far East MMO popularity for a Western audience. But what makes you think that these games will appeal to a Western audience? Aren't cultural tastes completely different?

A. Cultural tastes vary, but great game experiences can be universal. I actually think Western audiences are pretty receptive to a broad range of game "flavours," and our job at En Masse is to make sure that we refine and enhance the parts that Western players like, and de-emphasize anything that doesn't work well here.

For example, story-as told both in-game and in the lore-doesn't tend to translate well. Even great translators can't correct for different cultural referents. So what you really have to do is identify and use the parts of the story that work, and entirely rewrite other parts, so it doesn't leave you with that "did I miss something here?" sensation.

In regards to TERA specifically, it also helps that the development team [Bluehole] has had an eye on the Western market for a long time. Their last game to ship in the West was moderately successful, but nothing like its immense popularity in Asia. So they've been thinking about how to do better here for a while.

If you've seen the artwork in TERA, you know it's gorgeous. But more than that, it also has quite a Western flavour for a Korean-developed game, with more athletic, masculine-looking male characters, more exciting early level monsters-no rodent and rabbit combat-and a less-grindy, more quest-driven game progression.

Finally, Bluehole and En Masse are working together on a series of Focus Group Tests (our first was in December, with about 300 players) to identify what additional changes need to be made. Unlike a Beta test, where the game is largely finished and most of the effort focuses on game balance and hardware compatibility, the FGT tells us about areas that need reworking. There's still plenty to do, but we have the time and the commitment necessary to make TERA rock.


Q. What criteria will you look for when choosing an MMO that you can repackage for the West?

A. I think the critical factors for choosing an MMO that can succeed in the West are the level of ambition of the project, the fun factor and the willingness of the dev team to make changes for the Western market.

We want to be in the position of publishing games that are going to make people want to line up at stores, which incidentally is not a factor for PC games in Asia, because there's no retail presence to speak of.

We'd like to find games that are bold, innovative, and fun, and we'll work with their dev teams and help them hear the voices of Western gamers. That means we probably won't be publishing too many titles, but the titles we do publish will be worth playing.


Q. What makes Tera such a success in the territories it is currently available in, and why was it the first game to be chosen as part of your new model?

A. The game is not yet available in Korea-it won't be out until later this year. We chose TERA because its groundbreaking battle system will appeal to a wide audience, and the level of influence the players will have over the game world is unprecedented.

The building blocks of a hit MMO are all there, and the refinements we'll add will only enhance an already-great game.


Q. Are you daunted by taking on the likes of Blizzard, Funcom, NCsoft etc? Can you compete with these giants of the MMO world?

A. The game industry is a pretty small place, so many on the En Masse team are former members of those companies, and consequently we have some share in their triumphs and missteps.

Having worked at Blizzard as employee #2 and ArenaNet as a founder, I can personally say that it's only daunting if you stop and think about it. Most days you're too busy working-and having a damn fun time of it too-for it to be a concern.

The great thing about the game industry is that there's no monopoly on fun. If we deliver a compelling product that's fun for gamers, we'll be successful. So our days aren't filled with worry about what are competitors might do, but rather making sure that we're delivering something that's going to kick ass.


Q. How close is the MMO market to saturation in the West? What makes you think you can carve out a place for yourself?

A. I'm not sure whether it really matters to us whether the market is saturated. We're more concerned with the question of whether there are enough players who want to buy -and stick with-our games.

The reason I joined En Masse is because I believe that there is still a huge opportunity for companies that are innovative, quality-focused, and patient, no matter what the competition.

I think that TERA specifically has the potential to do more than carve a niche - I think it's going to hack off a great big bloody hunk of the market. It's got the eye-popping graphics needed to attract attention, but it doesn't end there; the combat system is going to draw from some existing MMOs, but I also think we'll pick up console gamers because of the more visceral, intense action.

Ultimately, if we demonstrate that we can release a high-quality game and support it well, there's plenty of space for us in the market without having to unseat anyone else.


Q. Where will your audience come from? Are you hoping to tempt over existing MMO fans from established franchises?

A. No doubt, our audience will consist of current MMO players looking for something new and fresh, and a fair number of new players looking for a portal into the next big online world.

TERA's groundbreaking battle system is designed to appeal to a broader audience, using the kind of intense, engaging action-based combat players usually only see in action RPG games.

This has the potential to introduce MMOs to those who may have stayed away in the past, and offer console gamers an accessible MMO experience. I think console players in particular are going to be intrigued by this game.


Q. Time for the obvious question: Could this cherry picking from the East lead you to discover the next World of Warcraft?

A. I was the producer and lead programmer for the original Warcraft, and I'm not going to lie: it would be awesome to top World of Warcraft so I don't have to spend the rest of my career labouring in the shadow of a game franchise I helped create.

But I think that WoW's success derives from more than just the fact that the team created an absolutely amazing game experience; it comes from having a world-wide fan-base who have come to trust the Blizzard brand. We don't have that brand yet, but I think we'll move a long way in that direction when folks get their hands on TERA.


Q. How does your experience working at Blizzard help En Masse - what did you learn about growing an MMO audience there that is of value to this company?

A. Back when there were only four of us at Blizzard, we focused on creating quality simply because we loved games, and we loved getting the chance to make them. We'd go back to game features again and again to fix them until they were right - sometimes long after other companies would have called it done.

And while it takes longer to make games that way - and target ship dates are merely wishful thinking - it means that when the game does come out, gamers are going to want to play it. We always knew we had winners because the testers would keep playing after the game was being manufactured, instead of taking a well-deserved break.

In regards to building an MMO audience, you need something new, something familiar and critical mass. You've got to have something new because, if your game just duplicates an existing game, why not keep playing that one instead?

And that's where TERA has me really excited, because of the non-targeted combat system. In an MMO a substantial portion of the play experience is beating up monsters, so making combat more engaging has the greatest impact on game fun.

Instead of just "playing the interface" - selecting a monster, watching meters, and cycling through a palette of spells on the skill-bar-you have to pay attention to the monsters.

You need to be close enough to do damage but prepared to dodge away at any moment, and try to position yourself so that you can do damage to several monsters at once without letting them flank you. It's a pretty high level of interactivity, and I think players will dig it.

You also want to give players something familiar - the MMO genre isn't that old, but there are a lot of things players expect - and because TERA is built by some old hands in the industry, the game has got 'em. And here's an area where I've got to give the TERA developers major props because, while it has a large feature-set, the interface is not overwhelming - it's easy to pick up and play.

'Critical mass' was a term we used at Blizzard to mean, "You can always find someone to play with." If you can't find someone to visit a dungeon, or run a quest, or crush a boss-monster, or try whatever hare-brained thing you want to do, you'll go play a different game.

And over time, the loss of people means that the ones who are left are less likely to find partners too, so it's a self-perpetuating cycle.

Building critical mass means designing game features to bring players together, but it also means demonstrating to players that the development and publishing teams are going to support the game-fixing game bugs and balance issues, providing updates and enhancements, maintaining a high-quality and secure play environment, offering great customer support, and in general keeping the game alive and healthy.

I think gamers in Asia are much more willing to play a game on the promise that the dev team will "get the game there" in the long run, but in the West, we're impatient - we want it now.

We're fortunate because TERA is going to get its burn-in period in Korea to sort out the kinks while we build a Western publishing organisation that can provide the level of support players expect these days.


Q. Will En Masse be looking to launch something that could rival Battle.net?

A. For the near term, we're focused on releasing TERA, but we have been planning for Web interactivity and some of the other components associated with Battle.net. We'll be providing more details about our Web-services plans later in the year.

Could you one day look to bring some products to console, either via boxed product or XBL/PSN?
I think it would be great; I started out as a console developer an eon ago (in game-industry years, which are kinda like dog years). With the advances in technology, bandwidth, and especially hard-drive space, consoles are becoming a much more viable MMO market and one we'd be open to exploring.

EN MASSE ENTERTAINMENT ADDS STELLAR INDUSTRY TALENT TO PREPARE FOR LAUNCH OF INNOVATIVE TERA MMO

Award-winning Publisher of TERA, the World’s First Action MMO, Announces New Staff Members as It Builds toward Launch of Flagship Title

SEATTLE – April 12, 2010 – En Masse Entertainment, a new breed of game publisher specializing in bringing globally renowned online properties to Western audiences, today announced several new hires following the successful gameplay debut of its flagship Action MMO title, TERA™, at GDC 2010. En Masse increased its stockpile of talent with a Creative Director fresh off a stint on Halo®, a PR Director who led campaigns for Dragon Age™ and the Mass Effect™ series, a Lead Writer from Dungeons & Dragons® and Aion®, and a Network Operations Director who built the Xbox® Operations Center.

“We want En Masse Entertainment to serve as a magnet for creative talent,” said En Masse CEO Dr. Jae-Heon Yang. “As we build toward the launch of TERA, we are adding veteran strength to all facets of the company to ensure a topnotch Action MMO experience for our customers.”

The new hires at En Masse include the following veteran leaders:

Creative Services Director Aaron LeMay
Aaron LeMay has overseen visual design, resource management, and game production at Bungie, Volition, and other developers while working on major franchises including Halo, Saints Row™, The Punisher™, and Red Faction®. As Sr. Visual Designer at Bungie, he managed outward facing operations for Halo 3 and other Halo titles while overseeing visual development of the brand identities of Bungie and the Halo franchise. At Volition, LeMay held a variety of roles including Visual Designer and Associate Producer for Saints Row.

Public Relations Director Matt Atwood
Matt Atwood is a PR veteran with 15 years of experience including stints at Bioware™, Electronic Arts™, Nintendo of America, 2K Sports™, and Capcom Entertainment. Before joining En Masse, he was the Global PR Lead for Dragon Age and the Mass Effect series, and while at Nintendo, he led enthusiast campaigns for the Wii™, DS™ Lite, and The Legend of Zelda®: The Twilight Princess. Throughout his career, Atwood has driven PR campaigns for Resident Evil®, Street Fighter™, and the entire 2K Sports line while launching over 70 games and collaborating with creative luminaries including Shigeru Miyamoto, Shinji Mikami, Dr. Ray Muzyka, and Dr. Greg Zeschuk.

Lead Writer David Noonan
David Noonan has lived at the intersection of games and stories, working in both tabletop gaming and online games. A former newspaper reporter, David became managing editor of the official Magic: The Gathering® magazine and a frequent contributor to card and story design. Following that, he became a multiple ENnie-award-winning game designer for the hugely popular Dungeons & Dragons® franchise as part of the core design team that rebuilt D&D from the ground up for the best-selling 4th Edition release. A longtime MMO gamer, Noonan helped manage a crew of 16 writers who adapted Aion for North American and European audiences.

Network Operations Director Markus Schweig
Markus Schweig is a technology leader with over 21 years of strong solutions design, software architecture, development, test, deployment, and global operations experience. At Microsoft®, Schweig built the Xbox Live Operations Center and supported the infrastructure for the first one million online gamers in 19 countries. As CTO of Smith and Tinker, Schweig shipped an interconnected game, Internet platform, and toy for the Nanovor line of microscopic monsters. As CTO and Chief Software Architect of Hidden City Games, he advanced the company's hosting infrastructure and software development for its popular worldwide Bella Sara™ brand.

As part of the preparation for launching TERA outside of Asia, the development team at Bluehole knew it would be necessary to create a publishing organization to represent the interests of Western gamers, and to provide a high level of service in support of the game community. We're proud to announce the creation of En Masse Entertainment-headquartered in Seattle, Washington-to fulfill that role. En Masse will focus on adapting the game for local tastes and overseeing every aspect of game service, from marketing to customer support, from operations to community-relations, and from public-relations to game security.

En Masse Entertainment (en masse means "all together" in French) is an eclectic mix of game industry veterans who share a vision for creating the ideal company and game publisher. We're excited to deliver games that audiences can enjoy "en masse." And right now, we're moving toward our goal of sharing the excitement of TERA with a worldwide audience. It's the same game, same team, and same vision...only now we're making it abundantly clear that TERA is a force to be reckoned with!

We'll be unveiling TERA for Western audiences in a booth on the main show floor at the Game Developers Conference. Hope to see you there this March in San Francisco...and soon in the world of TERA!





"From day one at En Masse, there's been this palpable excitement about TERA-excitement that starts with our team of developers and infuses everyone in the office. After our first Focus Group Test, I saw firsthand how that excitement is spreading across the community. Combine a passionate dev team with an eager community, and I think you've got the recipe for something special in TERA."





Information about TERA is still scant outside of Korea, but with the creation of En Masse Entertainment we mean to change that-with a little help from TERA fans like you. The best way for gamers to learn more about the excitement of TERA is from other gamers, and especially from fansites. If you've created a TERA fansite you think will capture the imaginations of future TERA players, we'd like to recognize your efforts. Please send the URL to contact@tera-online.com by March 20th. We'll select one site as an official TERA Fansite of the Month, and announce it in a future newsletter.




The population of En Masse's new Seattle offices has expanded from four to almost thirty in just three months, but never fear, there are many exciting positions still available. If you want to work for a company that inspires you, En Masse is a great place to be. Visit the En Masse career page to learn more about the opportunities that await you.

'En masse Entertainment'
"En masse" pronunciation is on its french: \ĕn mas'\

MMO Veterans Gather to Form En Masse Entertainment
February 24, 2010

Game industry veterans from around the world have gathered together in Seattle to create their vision of the perfect game publishing organization. Working with Korean development partner Bluehole Studio, En Masse Entertainment is preparing to unveil next-generation MMORPG TERA™ to Western audiences next month in San Francisco at the 2010 Game Developers Conference.

Not only is En Masse adapting TERA for gamers in Europe and North America, but the company also oversees every aspect of game publishing, including marketing, localization, community relations, testing, customer support, and game security.

"From day one at En Masse," says Brian Knox, Senior Producer, "there's been this palpable excitement about TERA. After our first Focus Group Test, I saw firsthand how that excitement is spreading. Combine a passionate dev team with an eager community, and I think you've got the recipe for something special in TERA."

About En Masse Entertainment
En Masse is a game publisher dedicated to bringing players the best massively multiplayer online games in the world. Get acquainted with En Masse at About Us.

About TERA
TERA™ is a next-generation massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) set in a richly imagined fantasy universe. TERA ushers in a ground-breaking interactive combat system that allows you to respond instantly to real-time combat conditions. Unlike faction-based games, TERA unites players everywhere against truly dangerous foes: rampaging monsters, insidious demons, and the many horrors of a world torn apart by the gods

http://www.enmasse.com



Their Executive Team:

Dr. Jae-Heon Yang – CEO

Dr. Yang’s mission as CEO of En Masse Entertainment is to build a company with integrity; one that will strive to bring only the very best games to the Western market. A gamer at heart, he plays TERA every day, and views the company’s efforts to launch the game in North America as nothing less than a labor of love. Dr. Yang has contributed to games as a computer science academic, a gaming executive, and an online gaming visionary.

Dr. Yang holds a Ph.D in Computer Science from the University of Maryland at College Park, and taught computer science at KAIST. He transitioned into private industry to help game creators to fulfill their visions without getting in the way of the creative process. From 2005 to 2007 Dr. Yang was CTO of NCsoft. Today he leads the close-knit team at En Masse Entertainment.

Patrick Wyatt – COO

Widely respected as an industry leader, Patrick Wyatt has 19 years in the games industry. Starting as a creator of Blizzard’s legendary Warcraft and Starcraft franchises and writing Diablo’s multiplayer code, he went on to co-found ArenaNet, launch Guild Wars, and become CTO of NCsoft West. As a programmer, producer, and executive, Wyatt has had key roles in some of the gaming industry’s most vaunted franchises. As a developer, he has successfully helped build small companies into big ones, led the development efforts of best-selling game franchises, programmed virtually every aspect of game development, and specialized in developing state-of-the-art technologies required for AAA games.

As COO of En Masse Entertainment, Wyatt is responsible for the technical backbone and expertise that underlies all its properties including TERA, En Masse’s inaugural MMO project. He brings not only bountiful technical expertise to the role, but also well-earned business leadership gleaned from executive roles in three leading companies in the interactive industry.

Chris Lee – Publishing VP

Chris Lee is a respected games industry veteran of more than ten years who successfully managed the marketing for packaged goods and MMO franchises including Halo, Need for Speed, Age of Empires, and Aion at companies including Electronic Arts, Microsoft, and NCsoft before joining En Masse Entertainment in 2009. As Publishing VP, Lee is responsible for overseeing all facets of publishing, business development, and marketing. He is an integral part of the senior executive team and reports to En Masse CEO, Dr. Yang.

Throughout his career, Lee has been involved with the launch efforts of a series of hit franchises, and he brings savvy decision-making, great team leadership, the ability to create effective processes, and a wealth of experience developing very successful marketing campaigns that he will bring to bear on TERA, En Masse’s inaugural MMO project that will launch in North America and Europe in 2010.


Brian Knox – Senior Producer

Brian Knox’s MMO career has run the gamut from QA tester to game producer. Today he dedicates himself to bringing Korean games to western markets by employing the highest standards of quality in localization and testing. As Producer of Aion at NCsoft, Knox led the team that published the company's first true Western title, which became 2009’s largest and most anticipated MMO launch and secured dozens of industry awards and critical accolades.

As Senior Producer at En Masse Entertainment, Knox is responsible for production, project management, localization, and testing for all titles starting with the company’s inaugural MMO project, TERA. As En Masse ramps up, he looks forward to applying his passion and commitment to bringing TERA to the eager western audience. His goal is to put as much time and effort into localization and publishing as the talented team at Bluehole Studio has put into developing TERA.

-Interviewee Questions-

• Q: What is En Masse Entertainment?
  A: En Masse is a recently formed publishing company dedicated to bringing players the best massively multiplayer online games in the world. Our first title will be TERA which is being developed by Bluehole Studio in South Korea.
  
  
• Q: Who are you and what do you do at En Masse?
  A: My name is Brian Knox, and I'm the senior producer at En Masse Entertainment. I oversee the Westernization and localization process, QA, writing, and overall product quality for TERA, as well as future En Masse products.
  
  
• Q: What did you do before working on Tera Online?
  A: I've worked at two MMO companies previously; most recently I served as producer on the MMORPG Aion.

-Character Customization-

• Q: What sort of character/class customization features (like talent points or skill points) will be available to players as they progress through the game?
  A: We are working on ways to distinguish classes, such as skill trees, gear variety, and so on. In addition, with TERA’s unique combat system, I believe players themselves will help distinguish their characters by how they move and react in battle.
  
  
• Q: Is player housing planned for TERA's release?
  A: Yes, we plan to have guild housing with perks for guild members such as teleporting, special buffs, and a space for community activities.
  
  
• Q: Will there be anything other than looks to distinguish races from one another?
  A: As part of the Westernization process, we're developing unique racial backgrounds and distinctive "voices" for each race. You will definitely see racial differentiation in the game text and how characters interact with one another. We want users to choose their race based on personal preferences, not because one is better than the other.  It's never fun to be forced to play a certain race because it is considered "superior" to other races.

-Gameplay-

• Q: Can you tell us more about the planned PvP system for TERA? Will it be entirely free-for-all in most areas? will there be safe areas?
  TERA includes a system that allows players to declare PvP on other players. This system should allow players the freedom they desire in-game, while at the same time eliminating the ganking that can occur with open PvP.
  
  
• Q: Will there be any instanced PvP areas?
  A: TERA has consensual PvP areas called "battlegrounds." You can form battle groups and fight for political gains, guild prestige, and loot, and you'll earn points that can be used for various guild improvements and political gains.  Battlegrounds will also span multiple servers to increase participation and competition.
  
  
• Q: Does the company plan to support servers where PvP is everywhere (PvP servers) as well as servers where you have to flag yourself to be part of PvP (PvE servers)?
  A: Yes. We expect to have both PvE and PvP servers. PvE servers will still have consensual PvP content such as battlegrounds and duels.
  
  
  
• Q: Will TERA have more open elite areas or more instanced elite areas?
  A: There will be non-instanced dungeons, such as the Enchanted Castle, and instanced dungeons as well. We hope to provide a variety of both, because they'll each offer unique gameplay experiences.
   
  
  
• Q: What is the planned level cap for TERA?
  A: Currently, the planned level cap is set at 60.
  
  
• Q Will players have the option to reach max level by both soloing and grouping?
  A: The development team's main goal is to provide the most enjoyable and rewarding experience possible. That means we're focused on ensuring that the content that is the most rewarding is also the most enjoyable. Right now, we're concentrating on group play and balance, but we do understand that you can’t always find a group that suits you. To address that, we're working hard to ensure that you'll have the ability to solo and still make substantial leveling progress. Grouping will be the fastest way to advance in TERA, and we're looking at ways to make it easy for players to find groups that fit their preferences.
   
  
• Q: Will players be able to quest all the way to max level?
  Yes. Players will have group and solo quests to play throughout the entire game. 
  
  
• Q How many zones (regions) will TERA release with?
  TERA will have 55+ zones at launch, many of which will offer multiple types of content per level range. You'll be able to go back and replay these zones with alternate characters to see entirely different content. We really want to encourage players to create and level alts, and we have a few tricks up our sleeve for those who enjoy creating and playing multiple characters.

-Economy/Political System-

• Q: Will TERA have an auction house system, a broker system or just personal shops?
  A: TERA has what we call a Homunculus--a personal pet accessible to all characters on the same account. Your Homunculus can be set to buy and sell in a personal shop, as well as perform a few other cool tasks. We also plan to implement a broker system.
  
  
• Q: What can you tell us about the crafting system?
  A: Crafting is very important in TERA. You'll be able to gather materials from monsters you hunt, as well as from minerals and plants in the world. As you level in TERA, it is very important to equip gear equal to your level or you won’t be nearly as powerful as you could be. Crafting will play a major role in keeping players geared up and performing at their best!
  
  
• Q: What can you tell us about the political system?
  A: Not much right now! :) We expect that it will create a dynamic community on each server, where players strive to be a part of what we call the Circle of Archons. We hope to start releasing more details on this system soon, but for now, I can say that we're really excited by it. We think it's a unique endgame feature that will bring a lot to the TERA experience.