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On April 1st, 1995 was the day FullSoft (for marketing) and Full Studio (for R&D) were founded. In 1997, these two integrated into FullSoft. Many new Gamanians may be unfamiliar with this part of the history, what is FullSoft’s relationship with Gamania? Let G!VOICE take you back to the past and unveil the exciting stories underneath.
Key Milstone
l 1993富進時代：《戰國策》、《魔異入侵》開啟遊戲研發之路
l 1993 Fujin Era: launched game products, ‘Warring States’, Alien, and started the path to game R&D
l 1995富峰群時代：《日蝕》開始打響知名度
l 1995 FullSoft Era: launched ‘Eclipse’, and enjoyed rising popularity
l 1996富峰群時代：《富貴列車》慘敗，初嚐失敗滋味
l 1996 FullSoft Era: launched ‘Golden Train’ but suffered defeat
l 1999富峰群時代：《便利商店》開創遊戲界重視行銷的新觀念
l 1999 FullSoft Era: launched ‘Convenience Store’ and installed new concept for marketing-oriented approach in game industry
l 2000遊戲橘子時代：《天堂》掀起台灣線上遊戲熱潮
l 2000 Gamania Era: launched ‘Lineage’ and stirred up online game mania in Taiwan
l 2005遊戲橘子時代：《楓之谷》改寫台灣線上遊戲的收費方式
l 2005 Gamania Era: launched ‘Maple Story’ and rewrote the payment method for online game in Taiwan
Fujin Era (prior to 1995)
1993: launched game products, ‘Warring States’, Alien, and started the path to game R&D
1990 saw the worldwide game upsurge. Albert, as a student who just turned 20, together with good friend Lin, Huei-Yuan established Fujin Lab for their passion for games. They decided to create games and made a wish that someday they will lead Taiwan’s game industry into the world. They studied and learned from English, how to write programs, computer illustration to designing game project. In 1993, they created game products, ‘Warring States’ and ‘Alien’ that were well-received in the market. From then on, they gradually built up a game kingdom that belongs not only to themselves, but to all Taiwanese.
Albert (left) and good friend Lin, Huei-Yuan’s (right) strong tie started when they were in the 2nd year in junior high school. This was taken during their study in vocational school.
FullSoft Era (1995-1999)
From 1995-1999, Taiwanese market remained dominated by console game, but with the rise of World Wide Web and computer-related industries, internet in Taiwan began to take shape[1]. A surge of internet-based business sprang up in Taiwan as well as various forms of online games.
1995: launched ‘Eclipse’ and enjoyed rising popularity
FullSoft, the predecessor of Gamania was found in April 1st, 1995. One of the first game product launched during that period was ‘Eclipse’, a strategic game that is based on ancient war chess game, enjoyed wide popularity in Taiwan and Korea. The success helped prompt the idea to turn global with the launch of its next product, not only in the Asian market, but in Europe and the U.S.
1996 FullSoft Era: launched ‘Golden Train’ but suffered defeat
FullSoft launched ‘Golden Train’ in 1996 with Chinese, Korean and English versions, however due to insufficient fund, they were unable to penetrate global markets and failed to address regional difference. The setback was a hard hit for the company and it was under the pressure for re-organization.
Despite the failure in market strategy, ‘Golden Train’ was considered a classic game by many players. It won the title of ‘Best Indigenous Game in Adventure Category’ by Style Game Magazine in 1996 as well as ‘Best Game Star in Adventure Category’ by Taipei Computer Association in 1998.
1999 FullSoft Era: launched ‘Convenience Store’ and installed new concept for marketing-oriented approach in game industry
After the setback, FullSoft decided to shift its business focus from game research and development to combining marketing and management. This was the crucial moment behind the transformation from FullSoft to Gamania. Combining 5 elements: technology, creativity, marketing, distribution channels and internationalization, ‘Convenience Store’ marked 1999 a significant year that turned defeat into victory, creating a record breaking profit of selling 100,000 copies in primary launch period in Taiwan game market.
The day before the launch of ‘Convenience Store’, the company was still in debt for sever million NT dollars and the cheque was about to bounce, however, more than 20 million NT dollars came in the day of the launch. You can see the importance of ‘Convenience Store’ to the company. Without it, there would be no Gamania today.
Gamania Era (1999~Present)
2000 Gamania Era: launched ‘Lineage’ and stirred up online game mania in Taiwan
On November 11th, 1999, FullSoft officially renamed to Gamania.
Year 2000 to 2003 marked the massive increase of internet usage in Taiwan. The internet usage rate in 2000 was merely 27%, representing 6.26 million household users. However, in 2003, the ‘frequent internet users’ reached 8.83 million with the prevalence rate of 3839%[1].
Albert had a gut instinct then that online game would become the trend of the future, therefore one must have good internet quality to run online games. To provide players with the best game quality, despite waves of opposition, Albert spent over hundreds of millions of NT dollars and built the largest online game internet data center (IDC) in Asia in April, 2000. ‘Lineage’ was launched in July 1st, 2000 and soon became an online game sensation in Taiwan.
At the time when internet had not prevailed in every household in Taiwan, the presence of ‘Lineage’ increased the growth and vitality of internet cafes in Taiwan. Players with no internet access at home crowded into internet cafes, which subsequently mushroomed the number of internet cafes throughout Taiwan in a short period of time.
Almost all the screens in internet cafes were dominated by the presence of ‘Lineage’.
To provide good internet connection quality, Albert spent hundreds of millions NT dollars to build the largest online game IDC in Asia before the launch of ‘Lineage’ (April 2000).
2005 Gamania Era: launched ‘Maple Story’ and rewrote the payment method for online game in Taiwan
After the revolution of ‘Lineage’, ‘Maple Story’ rewrote the payment method for online game in Taiwan, from monthly fee system to item mode based virtual shop system which is monthly fee free.
In February 2005, after acquiring the agent right for Maple Story, the game became the first successful monthly fee free online game in Taiwan which created another hot trend: people could play online games without spending money (unless for equipment reinforcement etc). People can play to their hearts content in Maple Story, have fun, kill monsters and make friends etc. They only need to purchase items in virtual shop when they need to. This initiative was originally underestimated by peers in Taiwan game industry. They think free online games would only spoil players’ payment habit. However, the removal of monthly fee lowered the threshold of online game and created more players from different age groups. The game created the demand of consumption, therefore it can be said that free online game creates more profit.
‘Lineage’ and ‘Maple Story’ became revolutions in game industry respectively. ‘Lineage’ prompted the surge of internet usage while ‘Maple Story’ revolutionized the monthly payment method, turning it into item mode based virtual shop system.
In the year of 2012, due to the market shift in Taiwan as well as global entertainment market, Gamania gradually gears towards multi-dimensional development, expanding beyond games to animation, comics, e–Sport etc. Platforms have changed from desk top computers to smart phones, iPad, TV etc. This is not only the new trend that global entertainment industry focuses on but will continue to be the goal and challenge for Gamania in the future. Let’s wait and see!
E-Sport contests have become one of the favorite activities enjoyed by young people, therefore many game companies hope to include such events into the planning of game projects.