Red 5 Studios: Hints and Latest Info Revealed by CEO Mark Kern

[Cody Bye]

The last few years have been full of promise for the future of massively multiplayer online games. For those that were interested in the MMORPG marketplace, it seemed like every other month featured the announcement of a new studio jumping into the marketplace. One of the most exciting of the unveiled studios during this time period was Red 5 Studios, and the studio has continued to make headlines throughout 2006 and 2007. But 2008 has yet to field any interview with the Red 5 team. To break the silence, the Ten Ton Hammer staff members caught up with Red 5's president and CEO, Mark Kern, to find out what's been happening with the studio. However, that's not just all we talked about and Kern even dropped a few hints about the upcoming game! Read on to find out more!

Kern: I know people are just waiting for something new and fresh...keep the faith. MMOs are about to get a lot cooler, not just from us, but from everyone's need to evolve and make the most out of online games in new ways. We kind of hit a furrow after WoW shipped and stunned everyone. There was a scramble just to understand what had happened and why it succeeded, and the generation of games that followed were largely mimicry and clones. That's about to change!

Read the entire interview here!

What do you think of Kern's hints about the upcoming Red 5 MMORPG? Will they be able to take on the 800 pound gorilla in the market? Let us know!

[Sardu]

You'd mentioned before that Red 5 is one of the studios to watch, and I'm inclined to agree with you. Even though no specific details were given about the exact style of game they're making, it sounds as though they understand just how important it is to have the best toolset you're able to create before ramping up production.

The few hints given on what type of game they're making definitely have me curious... do they mean 'sports' in terms of a highly competitive atmosphere ala Guild Wars, or something more literal like a Madden Pro Football MMO? How nutty would that be if it were a football MMO? Guilds would naturally be your 'team', complete with uniforms (not unlike tabards) etc... but looking at the long list of people involved in the project I have a feeling that's (hopefully) not the case

On the whole 2007 was definitely a year of negatives for MMOs in a more general sense. We saw highly anticipated projects crash and burn, a couple that released long before they were ready, and still others canceled outright. The main success of the year (the Burning Crusade) seemingly led to even more negative attitudes as witnessed by some of the comments made by top developers at this year's GDC, as though the success of that one title has somehow doomed the rest of the genre.

2008 though? So far it's shaping up to be an extremely exciting, interesting year for MMOs. It started off with what could have pointed things in a negative direction again with the announcement of MUO being canceled, but Cryptic turned that around into something incredibly positive with the announcement of Champions Online. We have a few highly anticipated AAA games launching throughout the year, and are on the verge of seeing a flood of new details on even more AAA projects.

So if last year was by and large a milestone year for the console market, I have a feeling that this year will ultimately be one where MMOs once again take center stage and show everyone the potential future in store for the industry as a whole.

So yea, I'll definitely be watching for our first real look at what studios like Red 5 have planned - I have a feeling that whatever it is, it'll turn more than a few heads.