Mission of Koei Singapore

Original post on 2005-10-13 09:42pm:
i88gerbils pointed to an interview transcript with Koei during the Tokyo Game Show 2005 by GameDaily.

Q: (Taiwan) What will your network plans be for the next generation? [Note: This particular question was asked in Chinese, translated into English by one of Koei's Chinese representatives, and then translated into Japanese by Koei's main English-Japanese translator before going through the whole process again in reverse.]

A: While Fatal Intertia is going to be our first action-based game that will offer online play, we're currently working on a few promising online titles, including an MMORPG based on the Three Kingdoms period that's being handled by our development team in Singapore. Elsewhere, an online version of Dynasty Warriors is currently in the planning stages, but so far, it will only be available for the PC.

So what's up with this Singapore team? A new release from them would either be in Japanese or English. If the release is in English, would it get prioritized over GVO?

So I went into detective mode. Before Koei Singapore was set up, Koei has selected a few Singaporeans to undergo training at Koei Japan in mid-2004. Koei Singapore was opened in February 2005. That means the first batch of interns has returned. The centre would work on localising existing Japanese games and development of new projects (the Three Kingdoms MMORPG).

I would speculate that a new project like the Three Kingdoms MMORPG would take at least around two years to develop due to its massive scale. So if they started work in March, beta would be scheduled some time in late 2007. So are we gonna see the English version of the GVO in the horizon?

Update:
I've located the news report by Experience Gaming on the Koei Entertainment Singapore Opening Ceremony. Below are some of the new updates I infered:
- For the English market, GVO would have a higher chance over Nabunaga's Ambition Online, at least on the PC platform
- Romance of the Three Kingdom (RTK) would be developed for the Japanese market first, then later other Asian versions
- RTK is due to release in 2007. Nice to know that I guessed correctly :D

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