First announced early last month, the China server for Age of Wushu will be getting a major content update on 8th August, including a much larger area, new clans and more. Last week, the Chinese media sat down with an interview with Snail Games CEO, Mr Shi Hai, and chatted more on the topic. Do note that only selected questions and answers are translated below.
Q: There are rumours about Age of Wushu getting an engine upgrade with either Unreal Engine 3 or CryEngine. How true are these rumours?
A: Yes, having a game engine upgrade for older developers like us is a standard procedure. Regarding the rumours about using Unreal Engine 3, I can only say it might be real *laughs*.
Q: After the game engine upgrade, how will Age of Wushu compare to Moonlight Blade (a new wuxia MMORPG coming out in China under Tencent Games)?
A: We will 100% be better, as in this industry, whatever we do has to be planned a few years prior. Even though Tencent is huge, Snail Games as an independent developer must be better and more unique in terms of technology, quality and details in order to survive. In an industry where copying is prevalent, we must be faster than others.
Q: Many online games (in China) separate their games into Free-to-Play and subscription servers in the middle of their lifespan. Are there plans to do this for Age of Wushu as well?
A: We had such plans before. But we observed how such games’ subscription servers suffer from a severe lack of players, and eventually everyone returned to the Free-to-Play one.
I believe that even if there are players asking for such a subscription-only server, in actual fact, there will not be many such players who are actually paying and playing.
Snail Games is currently focused on porting Age of Wushu to home consoles, and currently not thinking about having Free-to-Play and subscription servers.
Q: Age of Wushu has a service where rich players spend thousands of dollars on customized equipment skins (with no stats). What is your thought on this?
A: I don’t actually think there are any problems with this service, and it is definitely healthy. This service does not limit any players, and shows how players are confident with the product (Age of Wushu).
