Summoners War recently reached 1,000 days of global service and is the only game developed by a Korean company (Com2uS) that occupies the top ranking of all continents including North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and Africa. A new global PVP feature, World Arena, was recently added. Seen below is an interview with Director of Game Production, Min-Young Jung.
Q: What do you think is the reason for the success of Summoners War?
A: Summoners War is a classic RPG game. We could easily change the classic elements of RPG to be trendier as we operate the game, but we decided not to. I believe that’s the reason why our users started to have faith in our game.
Q: It took quite a time to update the real-time PvP content into Summoners War.
A: Yes, indeed. We wanted to run enough tests and be confident about the elements that can be attractive to our users. So, we had to take our time. We especially had some serious debate within our team regarding whether to go hardcore with the World Arena content or to make it easier for accessibility. We’ve also changed the meta on the current Arena System. We made sure to run many tests and monitor the World Arena during the test period thoroughly, so I hope the users will understand.
Q: Do you have any plans for casual and mid-core gamers who are not so much into PVP?
A: We added a Replay Feature where users can Spectate the gameplay of high rankers or watch their replay. With this feature, high rankers will be able to show off their decks while lower rankers learn how to form their decks from the high rankers. Additionally, most of the rewards available from the World Arena are decorations, so it’s not absolutely necessary for the users to play World Arena. There are also items that the users can acquire by collecting points even if they’re not high rankers. We tried not to make the users to play World Arena as mandatory.
Q: You just mentioned the Spectate Feature, but I heard that this feature won’t be added with the update.
A: Right. We still need to run more tests and improve the UX for more convenience. We try not to rush if we’re not sure that we’re completely ready (laughs). It’ll probably take us another few weeks.
Q: I noticed that the nationality is displayed. Any future plans on holding a battle where users of the same nationality team up to fight against others?
A: We haven’t figured out any details. I learned a lot from watching users battle against other nationalities in the Homerun Battle in the past. All we did was adding the nationality flag and the reaction at the community was overwhelming. (laughs) I think it definitely plays an important role in the excitement as an emotional aspect.
Q: Did you have any balancing issues regarding a specific Monster being too popular or used too often?
A: That’s one of the reasons why the test period took a while. We need to verify the Monster combinations in the Pick & Ban System. Luckily, there was no phenomenon of uniformity since the users are banning the Monster by taking turns during the Ban Process. However, we found some strange Monster combinations. (laughs).
Sometimes, we’d be fighting against each other while the Monster combination of both sides is completely destroyed. There were many variables that could affect the battle and there’s a skill balancing patch once every 1-2 months which prevents any critical balancing issues. So, we’re not too worried about balancing in the World Arena.
Q: Rift of Worlds, Homunculus, and World Arena have been updated so far. What’s next?
A: We are preparing an update to improve accessibility for the beginner and intermediate users. Guild related content is also under preparation. We need to unlock the last map and also create a different type of Homunculus. There are too many things that need to be done now that I’m listing them up (laughs). All of the content can be expanded in depth, there’s still a lot that can be added to the game this year.
Q: Some say that Summoners War has high barriers for the new users. Any thoughts on this?
A: We’re working on content that can guide the new users. It’s not about just completing endless missions but rather about users properly get used to the game. We’ve been making modifications so that the new users can acquire and grow faster. The same goes for this year. We’re improving some of the old graphics from the introduction.
