Russian developer 101XP on Era of Legends (MT4 in China), the fourth part of its free-to-play online mobile role-playing series that it claims makes $2 million a day. The studio and publisher are targeting MMO-loving millennials while also courting a more casual audience of older players. Tencent will distribute in China.
It’s an open-world game that’ll release in English after coming out in Chinese first. And that makes sense for the Moscow-based 101XP because while mobile games are more than a $70 billion market this year, China is an almost $38 billion gaming market on its own, and mobile, Newzoo says, makes up $23 billion of this.
Era of Legends takes place in the realm of Eminnor, and you’re out to stop the forces of evil from freeing a dragon god. Along the way, you encounter fierce monsters that 101XP claims use “unique tactics.” You’ll have eight characters classes to choose from, with three professions to unlock and skill tress. It promises you’ll have lots to do besides combat, like long flights on your mount while exploring the open world (it’s 10,000 square meters), crafting, personal combat demons (think like a pet, but with teeth), and switching between the standard and chibi-style character appearances. It’ll have player-vs.-player (PVP) and player-vs.-environment (PVE, where you just play against the game’s zones, story, and other challenges, not players).
It’ll also have a guild system, clan wars, crafting, and achievements. Players will be able to go on raids and take on epic dungeons.
101XP has a 170 people and has been around for nine years. A studio spokesperson said it’s published more than 100 games, with many of them being browser releases. It’s works on PC, console, and mobile games as well. Many of these games debuted in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Correction, 3:23 p.m. Pacific on December 13: A spokesperson for 101XP said they were misinformed about Tencent working with the studio and clarified that the Chinese company is publishing in China only. We have updated the story.