For Z2Live, the free-to-play model is useful in reaching as many players as possible. Battle Nations uses a currency called “nanopods” that can be used in much the same way. In Trade Nations, for instance, users can purchase a premium currency called “magic beans” that can be used to buy special in-game items or speed up the production of resources.
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Trade Nations is a perfect example: we have players that have been with the game, and with Z2Live, for over a year and they continue to look forward to each new release of content and expansion of the universe.”īattle Nations, as with all of Z2Live’s mobile games, is free to download but monetized via in-app purchases. “We don’t have ambitions to release a new title every month,” he said, “we would rather build brands that players can engage with for years to come. Once Apple entered the ring Fasulo and his team decided to shift their focus and work in internally developed games.Īs the studio continues to grow Fasulo says that the rate at which new games will launch will increase, but that the developer will still maintain a focus on quality game experiences. It received $3 million in funding for the idea in August 2009. Prior to the release of Apple’s Game Center app, Z2Live was attempting to build something similar to offer users an Xbox-live style experience on a mobile device. Part of this has to do with the company’s origins.
Three games in three years is quite slow by mobile standards. While many mobile developers are content with a rapid release schedule, launching new games with very short development cycles, Z2Live has gone a different route. The name of the game was also influenced by past releases, attempting to create a recognized brand based on the success of Trade Nations. You can’t see it as a player, but when you engage other players in Battle Nations random PvP matches, Metalstorm’s match making technology is under the hood.” It also provided some of the underlying technology for the Battle Nations battle system. Specifically, Metalstorm taught us a lot about the relative importance of player-versus-player and single player content. He added, “Our experience with Metalstorm also contributed both technologies and design best practices. This also created an opportunity for us to put our learnings from Trade Nations to work in a new title.” “Players have consistently wanted to attack their neighbors,” Z2Live chief operating officer Lou Fasulo told VentureBeat, “but this didn’t feel like the right game play expansion for Trade Nations so we decided to build an entire new title around the concept.
The idea behind the game was actually inspired by feedback from players. Whereas its previous games focused on vastly different markets - Trade Nations is a social city-building game while Metalstorm is a 3D air-combat game - Z2Live’s latest game is somewhat of a blend of the two, letting players build up a military city and engage in strategic combat with both other players and computer controlled armies. As it does so, the company is finding ways to stand out in a sea of mobile game developers. Now the developer is following that up with the recent launch of Battle Nations. Seattle-based Z2Live might not be as well-known as other mobile developers like Angry Birds maker Rovio, but the studio’s first two games - Trade Nations and Metalstorm: Online - can regularly be found near the top of the highest-grossing app charts on iOS (iPod, iPhone, iPad).
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