WORLD IN CONFLICT – Looking back at 2007
2007 has been a great year for all of us at Massive Entertainment. With the release of World in Conflict in September 2007 the last months of the year gave us a great opportunity to see how the game evolved in the hands of the gamers. In this article we will attempt to briefly sum up World in Conflict’s birth year and how the game was received by both critics and gamers alike.
Even though Massive Entertainment has been around for ten years, and World in Conflict is the company’s third strategy game title, it was the first title for many of the Massive staff members. With high ambitions and an encouraging working climate, 2007 was the year when Massive grew to, well, massive proportions. Programmers, artists and designers from all over the world came to Malmö to join our ranks.
- The World in Conflict team is very talented and consists of numerous strong individuals. Everybody really played their role and did their part during development, and even though parts of the team lacked development experience it didn’t take long for everyone to find their place and work at their full potential, says producer Petter Sydow.
And the hard work would prove to pay off, as the release of the game was met with a great number of positive reviews. But even though the reviews were startling, nothing could prepare us for what the various yearly awards would bring. Several websites honored World in Conflict with their “Best Strategy Game” awards, including Gamespot, Gametrailers and IGN. On top of that, IGN honored us with “Best Online Multiplayer Game” and Gamespot proclaimed World in Conflict as the “Most Innovative Game” of 2007.
But while it is great to get the acclaim, for us it was always about the fans. Having been deeply involved with the community as early as in the alpha stage of development, we’ve always felt that the fans have been important channel for us and that their inputs have been of an incredible value to the game. One way to do this was to appear on different events throughout the world, including big LAN parties and conventions such as i30 in the UK, Dreamhack in Sweden, Igromir in Russia, E3 in the United States and Games Convention in Germany. Having a playable version and letting the crowds try it hands-on proved to be immensely rewarding both for the development and morale.
- It was extremely fun working with a game that we felt got better and better for each pass. One of the most rewarding aspects was having the game playable very early on, which gave us the opportunity of seeing it tested by the fans and press at conventions throughout development. Even though the production was strenuous at times, it felt good to know that people enjoyed our work long before the game was even finished, says producer Petter Sydow.
During development we consistently talked about the game with numerous gamers who wanted to play World in Conflict competitively, and since release we’ve tried to stay in contact as much as possible. Starting off by putting up small-scale tournaments during alpha and beta, the competitive scene has only grown since then.
- My team “Don't Care” plays the game on a competitive level, and I have been playing this game since closed beta. The game has come quite far since then. It’s one of the most beautiful games graphically I have seen and if you combine that with the competitive scene and the way you can broadcast the games the future is bright and endless for World in Conflict, says Shawn “SwOOsh” Autry from Don’t Care.
Another competitive team that has made a lot of success in tournaments worldwide is Team Dignitas. We also got a comment from the team leader of their real-time strategy team, Robert “Moyes” Haxton:
- When Team Dignitas started playing World in Conflict (Alpha build at the time!) we were immediately struck by the quality of the game. It was an exceptional effort by Massive to develop a title that departed from the standard RTS formula, without losing the appeal of the genre. The growing number of World in Conflict tournaments is definitely deserved recognition for a title that matches any current release for intense competitive action. Given the in-game visuals and excellent broadcast tool I would dare say World in Conflict even leads the way when it comes to entertaining an audience with visuals that border on cinematic!
But of course it’s not only competitive gamers that matter. The majority of the community consists of casual players who log on to Massgate and play a handful of games from time to time. Some of them are actively talking to us and each other on our forums, and they have a huge influence on us as we continue to work with World in Conflict. With constant update and tool releases being one of our most important goals, the voices of the community are as important as during development.
- Without the community we wouldn't have put half as much time and money into the updates. Seeing the pain of problems and the joy of fixes is a tremendous spur, says lead game designer Magnus “Soundboy” Jansén.
So what does the future hold? We’re getting plenty of questions in e-mails and forum posts about what we’re working on, but so far we haven’t let anything slip. At this point we’re still not ready to reveal any big news, but it’s safe to say that the whole team is just as busy as ever.
- 2007 was an important year for Massive Entertainment, and with the release of World in Conflict we’ve now made a commitment for years to come. The future looks very promising. At this point we’re still working behind closed doors but I assure you that 2008 will be an exciting year both for us and the fans, says founder and President Martin Walfisz.
About World in Conflict
World in Conflict is a fast-paced, action-packed strategy game that puts the gamer right on the frontline as Soviet forces disembark on the American west coast in 1989. With a strong, story-driven single-player campaign, and an engaging team-focused multiplayer mode, World in Conflict stands out as one of the most intense strategy games ever created.
About the Developer
Massive Entertainment is a premier producer of games and interactive entertainment software for the global market. The company was founded in 1997 and is currently located in Malmö, Sweden.
In 2002 Massive was acquired by Vivendi Universal Games, making the studio one of only two Vivendi development studios outside North America. With over 120 passionate game developers, Massive is now continuing to expand to meet the demands of gamers worldwide.
In September 2007, Massive released ‘World in Conflict’ – a critically acclaimed action-strategy game that further positions the studio as one of the most prominent development studios in the world.
List of all awards
Best Strategy Game at krawall.de
“Selten hat uns ein Effekt in einem Spiel so sehr verblüfft wie die Explosion der B(ig) f(ucking) B(omb), dem Nuklearschlag. Als wir diese gewaltige Detonation das erste Mal sahen, waren selbst wir sprachlos. Dafür gibt es, ohne weiteren Kommentar, den ersten Platz im Echtzeitgenre.”
RTS game of the year at eurogamer.de
Best Strategy Game 2007 at Gametrailers.com
“World in Conflict fulfils all of its mission objectives – single player and multiplayer. And hey, everybody wants to rule the world!”
Best Strategy Game at ign.com
“World in Conflict combines fantastic visuals, high-octane action, brilliant missions and an unforgettable story.”
Best Online Multiplayer Game at ign.com
“As much as we loved the single-player game in World in Conflict, it was the multiplayer aspects of the game that really won us over. The small battles keep the intensity and focus level very high and the class based unit system ensures that teamwork and inventiveness are top priorities.”
Top Games of 2007 #3 at ign.com
“Since launch, developer support for WIC has been outstanding – multiple patches have tweaked the few bugs and balance issues that the game shipped with. Its instant access online game, a unique feature that makes it more like a shooter than a strategy game, has proven to be a big success.”
Runner-up as PC Game of the Year at ign.com
Runner-up as Most Innovative Design at ign.com
Massive is runner-up as best developer at ign.com
Best Strategy Game at Gamespot
“This is essentially a fantastic game about destruction. You have to level a city in order to save it, which is always a great motivating factor for those of us with a soft spot for big explosions.”
Most Innovative Game at Gamespot
“The game is brilliantly paced so there's almost no downtime; you don't have to wait five minutes to build up an economy to attack the enemy. As soon as the game begins, just order up your units and start fighting. If you're units are destroyed, order up some new ones and keep going. It's so much fun that World in Conflict can easily suck away hours at a time.”
Top 10 Games of 2007 on bit-tech
"World in Conflict is accessible in a way which few other RTS games are and tells a compelling story which knocks even classics like Command and Conquer out of the water for some of us."
PC Top 10 on GameSpy
"The result of World in Conflict's small-force oriented design is a fast-paced, action-oriented and tremendously exciting experience unlike any offered by its older more traditional RTS brethren."
Editor’s Choice on CNET
"World in Conflict is definitely one of the top games this year, with outstanding visual effects and an innovative gameplay system."
Top 10 Games of 2007 on FragZone
“Det är strategispelet där det kalla kriget blev varmt. Det är strategispelet som visade att ett läckert utseende är lika viktigt oavsett spelgenre. Det är strategispelet som fick svenskar att sträcka på sig lite extra, det är strategispelet som lyckades få unga män kära i atombomber. Det är spelet som visade att skåningarna på Massive vet vad de gör.”
Best Game of the Year according to Norwegian BergensAvisen
“Pur glede i dette svært velpolerte og majestetiske strategispillet med handling fra 1989. Enkle og umiddelbare kontroller pluss storslagen og dyp flerspillerdel gjorde dette til årets spillopplevelse for oss.”
Top 10 Games of 2007 in Norway’s biggest newspaper
"Det er ikke ofte vi får så høypolerte og actionfylte taktiske strategispill som «World in Conflict». Fra du starter opp til du anpusten senker skuldrene en god stund senere, fylles skjermen av eksplosjoner, krigsfly og intense kamper."
Best 10 Games - #3 World in Conflict at Gameplayer.se
”World in Conflict sätter även en ny standard när det gäller grafisk presentation i strategispel och spelet sätter även en ny standard när det gäller handling. Men framför allt befäster Massive Entertainment sin ställning som en av de främsta spelutvecklarna i världen, och att företaget är svenskt gör det ju bara bättre.”
Best Strategy Game at Gameplayer.se
”Massive Entertainments realtidsstrategispel är utan tvekan årets bästa i genren, faktiskt krigsstrategigenrens bästa någonsin vilket gjorde att valet därför inte var särdeles svårt. World in Conflict är bäst, helt enkelt.”
Best Games of 2007 at dn.se
“Svenska Massive entertainments version av vad som kunde ha hänt 1989 om Sovjetunionen hade lyssnat på sina generaler i stället för på förnuftet.”
Best Games of 2007 #3 at HookedGamers
“In 1989, the Berlin Wall still stands strong and Soviet Russia is on the move as it aggressively pushes its way into East Germany, taking NATO completely unprepared for the assault. The player ends up in the thick of the fight, taking Real Time Strategy to new heights.”
2007 has been a great year for all of us at Massive Entertainment. With the release of World in Conflict in September 2007 the last months of the year gave us a great opportunity to see how the game evolved in the hands of the gamers. In this article we will attempt to briefly sum up World in Conflict’s birth year and how the game was received by both critics and gamers alike.
Even though Massive Entertainment has been around for ten years, and World in Conflict is the company’s third strategy game title, it was the first title for many of the Massive staff members. With high ambitions and an encouraging working climate, 2007 was the year when Massive grew to, well, massive proportions. Programmers, artists and designers from all over the world came to Malmö to join our ranks.
- The World in Conflict team is very talented and consists of numerous strong individuals. Everybody really played their role and did their part during development, and even though parts of the team lacked development experience it didn’t take long for everyone to find their place and work at their full potential, says producer Petter Sydow.
And the hard work would prove to pay off, as the release of the game was met with a great number of positive reviews. But even though the reviews were startling, nothing could prepare us for what the various yearly awards would bring. Several websites honored World in Conflict with their “Best Strategy Game” awards, including Gamespot, Gametrailers and IGN. On top of that, IGN honored us with “Best Online Multiplayer Game” and Gamespot proclaimed World in Conflict as the “Most Innovative Game” of 2007.
But while it is great to get the acclaim, for us it was always about the fans. Having been deeply involved with the community as early as in the alpha stage of development, we’ve always felt that the fans have been important channel for us and that their inputs have been of an incredible value to the game. One way to do this was to appear on different events throughout the world, including big LAN parties and conventions such as i30 in the UK, Dreamhack in Sweden, Igromir in Russia, E3 in the United States and Games Convention in Germany. Having a playable version and letting the crowds try it hands-on proved to be immensely rewarding both for the development and morale.
- It was extremely fun working with a game that we felt got better and better for each pass. One of the most rewarding aspects was having the game playable very early on, which gave us the opportunity of seeing it tested by the fans and press at conventions throughout development. Even though the production was strenuous at times, it felt good to know that people enjoyed our work long before the game was even finished, says producer Petter Sydow.
During development we consistently talked about the game with numerous gamers who wanted to play World in Conflict competitively, and since release we’ve tried to stay in contact as much as possible. Starting off by putting up small-scale tournaments during alpha and beta, the competitive scene has only grown since then.
- My team “Don't Care” plays the game on a competitive level, and I have been playing this game since closed beta. The game has come quite far since then. It’s one of the most beautiful games graphically I have seen and if you combine that with the competitive scene and the way you can broadcast the games the future is bright and endless for World in Conflict, says Shawn “SwOOsh” Autry from Don’t Care.
Another competitive team that has made a lot of success in tournaments worldwide is Team Dignitas. We also got a comment from the team leader of their real-time strategy team, Robert “Moyes” Haxton:
- When Team Dignitas started playing World in Conflict (Alpha build at the time!) we were immediately struck by the quality of the game. It was an exceptional effort by Massive to develop a title that departed from the standard RTS formula, without losing the appeal of the genre. The growing number of World in Conflict tournaments is definitely deserved recognition for a title that matches any current release for intense competitive action. Given the in-game visuals and excellent broadcast tool I would dare say World in Conflict even leads the way when it comes to entertaining an audience with visuals that border on cinematic!
But of course it’s not only competitive gamers that matter. The majority of the community consists of casual players who log on to Massgate and play a handful of games from time to time. Some of them are actively talking to us and each other on our forums, and they have a huge influence on us as we continue to work with World in Conflict. With constant update and tool releases being one of our most important goals, the voices of the community are as important as during development.
- Without the community we wouldn't have put half as much time and money into the updates. Seeing the pain of problems and the joy of fixes is a tremendous spur, says lead game designer Magnus “Soundboy” Jansén.
So what does the future hold? We’re getting plenty of questions in e-mails and forum posts about what we’re working on, but so far we haven’t let anything slip. At this point we’re still not ready to reveal any big news, but it’s safe to say that the whole team is just as busy as ever.
- 2007 was an important year for Massive Entertainment, and with the release of World in Conflict we’ve now made a commitment for years to come. The future looks very promising. At this point we’re still working behind closed doors but I assure you that 2008 will be an exciting year both for us and the fans, says founder and President Martin Walfisz.
About World in Conflict
World in Conflict is a fast-paced, action-packed strategy game that puts the gamer right on the frontline as Soviet forces disembark on the American west coast in 1989. With a strong, story-driven single-player campaign, and an engaging team-focused multiplayer mode, World in Conflict stands out as one of the most intense strategy games ever created.
About the Developer
Massive Entertainment is a premier producer of games and interactive entertainment software for the global market. The company was founded in 1997 and is currently located in Malmö, Sweden.
In 2002 Massive was acquired by Vivendi Universal Games, making the studio one of only two Vivendi development studios outside North America. With over 120 passionate game developers, Massive is now continuing to expand to meet the demands of gamers worldwide.
In September 2007, Massive released ‘World in Conflict’ – a critically acclaimed action-strategy game that further positions the studio as one of the most prominent development studios in the world.
List of all awards
Best Strategy Game at krawall.de
“Selten hat uns ein Effekt in einem Spiel so sehr verblüfft wie die Explosion der B(ig) f(ucking) B(omb), dem Nuklearschlag. Als wir diese gewaltige Detonation das erste Mal sahen, waren selbst wir sprachlos. Dafür gibt es, ohne weiteren Kommentar, den ersten Platz im Echtzeitgenre.”
RTS game of the year at eurogamer.de
Best Strategy Game 2007 at Gametrailers.com
“World in Conflict fulfils all of its mission objectives – single player and multiplayer. And hey, everybody wants to rule the world!”
Best Strategy Game at ign.com
“World in Conflict combines fantastic visuals, high-octane action, brilliant missions and an unforgettable story.”
Best Online Multiplayer Game at ign.com
“As much as we loved the single-player game in World in Conflict, it was the multiplayer aspects of the game that really won us over. The small battles keep the intensity and focus level very high and the class based unit system ensures that teamwork and inventiveness are top priorities.”
Top Games of 2007 #3 at ign.com
“Since launch, developer support for WIC has been outstanding – multiple patches have tweaked the few bugs and balance issues that the game shipped with. Its instant access online game, a unique feature that makes it more like a shooter than a strategy game, has proven to be a big success.”
Runner-up as PC Game of the Year at ign.com
Runner-up as Most Innovative Design at ign.com
Massive is runner-up as best developer at ign.com
Best Strategy Game at Gamespot
“This is essentially a fantastic game about destruction. You have to level a city in order to save it, which is always a great motivating factor for those of us with a soft spot for big explosions.”
Most Innovative Game at Gamespot
“The game is brilliantly paced so there's almost no downtime; you don't have to wait five minutes to build up an economy to attack the enemy. As soon as the game begins, just order up your units and start fighting. If you're units are destroyed, order up some new ones and keep going. It's so much fun that World in Conflict can easily suck away hours at a time.”
Top 10 Games of 2007 on bit-tech
"World in Conflict is accessible in a way which few other RTS games are and tells a compelling story which knocks even classics like Command and Conquer out of the water for some of us."
PC Top 10 on GameSpy
"The result of World in Conflict's small-force oriented design is a fast-paced, action-oriented and tremendously exciting experience unlike any offered by its older more traditional RTS brethren."
Editor’s Choice on CNET
"World in Conflict is definitely one of the top games this year, with outstanding visual effects and an innovative gameplay system."
Top 10 Games of 2007 on FragZone
“Det är strategispelet där det kalla kriget blev varmt. Det är strategispelet som visade att ett läckert utseende är lika viktigt oavsett spelgenre. Det är strategispelet som fick svenskar att sträcka på sig lite extra, det är strategispelet som lyckades få unga män kära i atombomber. Det är spelet som visade att skåningarna på Massive vet vad de gör.”
Best Game of the Year according to Norwegian BergensAvisen
“Pur glede i dette svært velpolerte og majestetiske strategispillet med handling fra 1989. Enkle og umiddelbare kontroller pluss storslagen og dyp flerspillerdel gjorde dette til årets spillopplevelse for oss.”
Top 10 Games of 2007 in Norway’s biggest newspaper
"Det er ikke ofte vi får så høypolerte og actionfylte taktiske strategispill som «World in Conflict». Fra du starter opp til du anpusten senker skuldrene en god stund senere, fylles skjermen av eksplosjoner, krigsfly og intense kamper."
Best 10 Games - #3 World in Conflict at Gameplayer.se
”World in Conflict sätter även en ny standard när det gäller grafisk presentation i strategispel och spelet sätter även en ny standard när det gäller handling. Men framför allt befäster Massive Entertainment sin ställning som en av de främsta spelutvecklarna i världen, och att företaget är svenskt gör det ju bara bättre.”
Best Strategy Game at Gameplayer.se
”Massive Entertainments realtidsstrategispel är utan tvekan årets bästa i genren, faktiskt krigsstrategigenrens bästa någonsin vilket gjorde att valet därför inte var särdeles svårt. World in Conflict är bäst, helt enkelt.”
Best Games of 2007 at dn.se
“Svenska Massive entertainments version av vad som kunde ha hänt 1989 om Sovjetunionen hade lyssnat på sina generaler i stället för på förnuftet.”
Best Games of 2007 #3 at HookedGamers
“In 1989, the Berlin Wall still stands strong and Soviet Russia is on the move as it aggressively pushes its way into East Germany, taking NATO completely unprepared for the assault. The player ends up in the thick of the fight, taking Real Time Strategy to new heights.”
I don't work for Massive anymore. Thanks for the great times!
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