NCSoft only interested in "big" MMOs

NCSoft managing director Veronique Lallier has said the publisher isn't interested in chasing the casual MMORPG crowd, instead focussing on "big" MMO projects.

"Our focus is really triple-A MMO games - big games like Aion, Lineage II, Guild Wars and so on," Lallier said in an interview with GamesIndustry.

"That's the key focus for NCsoft West - we had been looking at other kinds of more casual games, that were free-to-play or browser- or small client-based, but back in 2009 we decided to completely refocus our efforts on what we're good at."

Lallier said the industry has changed markedly in the last decade, with publishers gradually reducing the quantity, but upping the budget, of releases.

"If you look at the market today that's changed to really focus on the very big titles - fewer games but with higher quality - and that's the strategy we're really going for, targeting those MMO games that we know will be successful," she said.

Lallier named Lineage II, Aion, Guild Wars and City of Heroes as a few of the company's major draws, with Guild Wars 2 and Blade and Soul as the next big things. This relatively small stable allows NCSoft to focus tightly - but does preclude firing up new projects.

"What we're really looking at are big MMO projects - and those are so big that we really only want to focus on a few projects to create high quality.

"The life cycle of an MMO is so long compared to a traditional solo console game... it's a completely different way to approach things, and at the moment we're not looking at more projects in Europe," Lallier explained.