Full thing:
http://www.gamedaily.com/mmoguide/article.asp?aID=387
GD: Why has Gravity made the decision to stay away from retail marketing, and do you see that changing in the future?
CK: For online games, distribution is handled very differently than the US in most Asian counties. (MMO) CDs and game packages are all free, therefore you do not see them on store shelves at retailers, but, in the US market, even though it is an online game, it is still sold it at retailers. This is very common in the United States as well as Japan. It has also been a habit of users and retailers / distributors to have something in their hand. I believe it is the right move to have online games available to download online for free, even though we do charge for service. But the client itself should be freely downloaded.
GD: How has the Korean government helped in the success of Ragnarok and how has their reaction been so far to Ragnarok?
CK: First of all, there are several ways the Korean government supports the gaming industry. They no longer believe gaming affects young people negatively; they now understand it is a cultural industry that can be of great value. Some of the ways they did this, was creating laws that encourage gaming companies, as well as creating an official national award system for game content. They also, more realistically, assist Korean game companies to attend overseas expositions. Those affect the game companies directly, but also they invested a huge amount of money in our counties network to make it faster and more widespread.
http://www.gamedaily.com/mmoguide/article.asp?aID=387
GD: Why has Gravity made the decision to stay away from retail marketing, and do you see that changing in the future?
CK: For online games, distribution is handled very differently than the US in most Asian counties. (MMO) CDs and game packages are all free, therefore you do not see them on store shelves at retailers, but, in the US market, even though it is an online game, it is still sold it at retailers. This is very common in the United States as well as Japan. It has also been a habit of users and retailers / distributors to have something in their hand. I believe it is the right move to have online games available to download online for free, even though we do charge for service. But the client itself should be freely downloaded.
GD: How has the Korean government helped in the success of Ragnarok and how has their reaction been so far to Ragnarok?
CK: First of all, there are several ways the Korean government supports the gaming industry. They no longer believe gaming affects young people negatively; they now understand it is a cultural industry that can be of great value. Some of the ways they did this, was creating laws that encourage gaming companies, as well as creating an official national award system for game content. They also, more realistically, assist Korean game companies to attend overseas expositions. Those affect the game companies directly, but also they invested a huge amount of money in our counties network to make it faster and more widespread.
