Gamefactory, which operates under the name OGPlanet from El Segundo, California, redesigns South Korean online games for North America, such as the turn-based strategy shooter BB Tanks and the 3-D fighting game Rumble Fighter.
Some of the more famous and widely played games are PangYa (also known here as Albatross18), a casual golf simulation game, which also spawned the Wii games Super Swing Golf and Super Swing Golf: Season 2; and Cabal Online, a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game.
Upon tweaking and redesigning the South Korean games, OGPlanet offers them as free downloads for anyone in North America (though they’re always available in other countries through other publishers). But, unlike many online games in the U.S. and Canada, which usually charge monthly subscription fees, OGPlanet’s games are free to play and they only charge for certain items.
By only having optional items and costumes cost money, OGPlanet is trying to appeal to a wider variety of gamers--namely, those without a whole lot of disposable income--within an online community dominated by games that charge monthly, such as World of Warcraft and Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Oftentimes, in addition to paying a monthly fee, gamers also need to buy the physical game disc along with any of the numerous expansions that are released afterwards.
It’s no wonder, then, that OGPlanet has received some positive feedback regarding their pay-if-you-want policy.
“I was surprised that, genuinely, gamers embrace it,” said OGPlanet executive producer David Hoffman in an interview with MMO Gamer. “We’re giving [gamers] a way for younger players to take their allowance and spend some of it on [Cabal Online], if they want.”
With the funding provided by DFJ Athena, OGPlanet can continue bringing South Korean games to North American gamers, with closed-beta testing that will soon begin on a 2-D side-scrolling game called LaTale.