Exclusive Runes of Magic Interview with Interim President Sean Kauppinen

[Cody Bye]

At this year’s Leipzig Games Convention, the Ten Ton Hammer staff took time out of their busy schedule to track down the developers of Runes of Magic and take a look at their upcoming MMO. To say we were surprised would be an understatement, what we saw was a polished product that easily received our “Best Free to Play Game” of the entire convention.

Recently, Frogster Interactive Pictures (the publisher of Runes of Magic) created a subsidiary branch in the United States with the sole purpose of pushing their project into the US market. Heading up the Frogster USA team is Sean Kauppinen, President & CEO, Frogster America, Inc. Over the past few years, the Ten Ton Hammer team has gotten to know Sean, and so we tossed a few questions his way concerning the Frogster deal and his involvement with the new company. We hope you enjoy the chat!

Ten Ton Hammer: With a new office in the states, does this mean that Runes of Magic will undergo more beta testing for the US audience? Localization? Or will the English version of the European game suffice?

Sean: Runes of Magic has undergone extensive beta testing already, with thousands of players joining from the US in the early beta stages. Having more native speakers in a game always creates a better experience since language or location specific issues can be addressed faster and more effectively with greater feedback. Ultimately, we see the game nearing a quality level that delivers a compelling experience at launch, and the opening of US servers and the US office to promote the game will definitely draw more North American users to ensure testing is complete in the coming weeks.

To read the rest of our exclusive interview with the Frogster President, please click here!