Q&A With Acclaim's Ken Chan

By: Andrew Joy

In 1991, the gaming community got its first hint of a man named Howard Marks when he purchased 30% of Activision's stock, and brought the company back from the brink of bankruptcy. Over a decade later, Acclaim (the software giant behind such games as Turok: Dinosaur Hunter) ran into similar trouble, filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy and later, the final nail in the coffin, Chapter 7. Though Marks didn't step up to the plate then, when he saw that the Acclaim brand was for sale he made his move and purchased it for $100,000 in August of 2005.

In the early months of 2006, the new Acclaim began to unveil itself. The company itself has gone through a bit of a change, which is what happens of course when you have to liquidate all of your assets in order to pay a massive debt of over $100 million dollars. With its grand re-opening, the company revealed that it already had two games in development for PC.

Though they have yet to be released (in fact, they are in still in beta testing), we know that they are both online titles and free to play with the costs supplemented by in-game advertising and the purchase of in-game items using real world money. One of the titles is a massively multiplayer online RPG (MMORPG) called 9Dragons and the other a customizable robot fighting game called BOTS.

In the interest of our readers' (and of course our own) curiosity, we had a chat with Ken Chan, Brand Manager for BOTS, to find out what we can expect from the new Acclaim and their games.

VGGEN: First off, I want to thank you for taking the time to speak with us, it is very important to us to have this kind of one-on-one with the people behind the games we love so much. We appreciate you taking the time, even though you're in the middle of your media blitz right now.

Chan: No problem, thanks for speaking with me.

VGGEN: Let's start of with your job, Mr. Chan. To be clear, what exactly is it that you do as 'brand manager" for the new Acclaim?

Chan: A traditional brand manager oversees all the marketing of a product, including things like advertising, pricing, promotions and distribution; I get to do all that. With Acclaim, however, I have influence over our product that most brand managers would sell their kids to have. Since we're an online game, we really have the flexibility to adapt and modify our product based on what our consumers are saying, that's very cool for me and for our players. I bring this up because I'll be doing a lot of that as well.

VGGEN: Now, Howard Marks is the man who purchased the Acclaim brand. At what point did you join the team, and how involved were you with the structuring of the new Acclaim.

Chan: I joined the team with a primary responsibility of launching BOTS several months ago. I would say that every member of the team has affected the new structure of Acclaim but overall, it's Howard's vision.

VGGEN: Also, on the same note, this simple question has to be asked: why? Why purchase a label that was defunct and not what one might call, shall we say, reputable (apart from the apparent free publicity it carries with it: The Return of Acclaim)? Surely it could've been easier to start an all-new company, especially since you aren't getting any of the titles associated with the name.

Chan: ::laughs:: That's the nicest way anyone's put it so far. I agree with you on that point. The old Acclaim had some rough times at the end due to some bad decisions. But I really don't think we should judge the entirety of the brand by what happened at the end. It was a good brand and that's why everyone was so disappointed in it. If it was never good, no one would care. We are focusing on the old old Acclaim, if you will, and we think the brand still has a lot of potential. I'm not going to lie, free publicity is nice but that's short-term AND we've got the baggage of the old Acclaim fresh on people's mind. Howard had a choice, start a company with a whole new name, or be able to actually revive a brand he loves back to glory. He chose the latter path and it has challenges but it makes thing more exciting and ultimately more rewarding.

VGGEN: It must have been a daunting task, starting up from scratch with only a name to hold you up, and yet here you are touting two new games already: 9Dragons and BOTS. All we really know about these titles is that 9Dragons is a martial arts MMORPG and BOTS is a customizable robot fighting game. What made you decide to build upon those two games?

Chan: Frankly, because they're really fun games and because we don't think there's anything like them in the market. BOTS is fast-paced with a whole lot of action and 9Dragons is going to really shake up your definition of MMORPG (No elf. No spells.).

VGGEN: Why the PC? I mean, the next-gen console era is upon us and it is clearly online ready, so why the limited focus. Do you have any interest in the new generation of consoles? For example, the Xbox Live Marketplace certainly seems to offer itself up as a suitable forum for your commercial interests.

Chan: We're really excited about the Next-Gen console and you're right, they will be the most networked devices we've seen yet. We definitely have plans to be there. We're not choosing one channel over another, we're just starting with PC and giving the consoles some time to settle in.

VGGEN: Speaking of Xbox Live, will there be any way for players to earn in-game currency or credit towards purchasable items through certain achievements (like has been discussed for Marketplace), or is hefty wallet a must for players interested in your games?

Chan: The Xbox Live Marketplace is a great idea. We're definitely going to reward players for playing our games but I can't give the exact details of that yet. And no one needs to have a hefty wallet to enjoy our games, they're all free.

VGGEN: In addition to players purchasing in-game items with real world money, Acclaim intends to allow users to play for free by supplementing the costs with in-game advertising. How exactly is this going to work, because you must admit, it'll be hard to ignore a cola ad in 9Dragons?

Chan: Oh no, we won't ever have a cola ad in 9Dragons. We're going to be working very closely with our players to figure out what is appropriate and how much advertising is too much. I really want to empower our consumers to let us know what works and what doesn't so I doubt cola in 9Dragons will happen. There's many different ways to advertise in addition to skinning content in the game, so we'll be exploring everything and see what works best.

VGGEN: What do you have to say to gamers who think there is already too much advertising in video games?

Chan: I would say they have a valid point. The fact is, most experiences gamers have had with in-game advertising is from a product they've bought retail. There is definitely a much lower threshold for advertising when you've bought the product. The analogy I like to use is going to a movie theater, you never want to show an ad in the middle of a theater and product placement that's too obvious throws you off. For us, we're more like television, I think players will understand that the game is free and that the advertising allows us to bring all this cool free content to them.

VGGEN: In previous interviews you've stated that Acclaim intends to release a new game every three months or so. Aren't you afraid you are going to spread yourselves thin? This isn't going to be one of those things where players start paying for all these in-game items and then, as time wears on, you gradually stop supporting the old games in favor of new ones is it?

Chan: Oh no, we're definitely not going to abandon any games. We're not like the traditional retail model where you make a big splash, collect the cash and move on to making the sequel. We're building up a portfolio of really great online games and we intend to support these games from launch to maturity. The fact is, we don't have to make a big splash in the beginning to succeed so we have a lot of time to enhance our games with input from players.

VGGEN: In your company profile, it says you are a gamer. What sorts of games interest you? Can players expect to see you in 9Dragons or BOTS?

Chan: Oh yeah, I plan to play a lot of our games, probably too much. Frankly, I love online games. I started off with online text RPGs, Gemstone III to be exact (Go Voln!) From there, I've played every big MMORPG that's been released and yes, like everyone else, I've played WoW(there's a Druid in WoW standing on a mailbox doing nothing for about 3 weeks now). I'm late to the game but I started up EVE a couple nights ago, they put out a new release. I'll let you know what I think.

VGGEN: Having been a gamer yourself, I'm sure you realize there are plenty of us out there wishing we were in your shoes. Any advice for a gamer out there who's looking to get into the industry?

Chan: ::laughs:: Oh boy, I'm not sure I'm good at career counseling. I took a flanking maneuver attack approach and came in from the advertising industry. I know it sounds cliche but you really do have to have a passion for games and I would say what a lot of aspiring gamers don't understand is that it has to be about more than playing the games. If, like me, you want to get on the business side, you really have to have that solid business experience and then really educate yourself on the industry and the market. If you want to get into the creative side of the business, you have to build up experience with actually making assets, be it art, level designs or animation. Companies are still companies and they look for skill first, then passion though I would say both are equally important.

VGGEN: Now, it really helps an interview of this sort if we come away with the goods. So c'mon, tell us something nobody else knows about one of your games. Or, if you prefer, feel free to view this as a great opportunity to announce that third title you've got waiting in the wings.

Chan: ::laughs:: Ok, I'll let you in on a secret but you can't tell anyone ok? ::whispers:: ::laughs:: Just kidding, I can't give away the farm in an interview, that'd be silly. I'll tell you this though, the third game is unlike anything else you've seen out there. That's not saying much huh? Ok, fine, I'll give you something else. BOTS will be the first game ever that will be rewarding to players. I see Howard coming with some duct tape so I'm going to shut up now.

VGGEN: Once again I want to thank you for speaking with us Mr. Chan and we look forward to hearing great things from you, and of course Acclaim, in the future. On a final note, is there anything else you'd like to say to the readers of VGGEN?

Chan: Yes, one sec, let me put on my shameless marketing hat. Ahem, please register for BOTS at www.botsgame.com. ::laughs:: Arrrgh! I always hated the guy that did that but now I'm him. Thanks a lot for the interview, it was fun!

Once again we'd like to thank Mr. Chan for his time, and wish he and everyone at Acclaim the best as they try to rebuild the Acclaim name.

Posted: 03/10/2006