9Dragons: Overview

9Dragons is a free-to-play, historical MMO set during China's Ming Dynasty. Players can play as one of six clans in this primarily PvE MMO with minor PvP elements. They are the Shaolin, Wu-Tang, League of Beggars, Heavenly Demon, Sacred Flower and Brotherhood of Thieves. Acclaim promotes 9Dragons as "the first authentic martial arts massively multiplayer online role-playing game."

A combination of in-game (built into the interface) advertising and an in-game item mall make the free-to-play model possible. Acclaim has worked hard to ensure that advertising - or sponsorship as they prefer to call it - is of benefit to both the advertisers and the players, and have relied significantly on consumer feedback to tailor this new MMO business model.

Originally developed for the Asian market, Acclaim has taken great pains to fully localize 9Dragons for a North American and European audience. In addition to the obvious translation, a North American development team led by science-fiction author Steve-Elliot Altman has completely re-written the game's story and quests. Everything, down to the level curve, has been adjusted and considered to make sure that this is not just another simple translation.

Acclaim was reborn under the guidance of CEO Howard Marks as a company that believes in digitally distributed free-to-play MMOs supported by means other than subscription fees. 9Dragons is the second game and first major MMO from this new company. Bots, a casual MMO, was the company's first release and David Perry's 2Moons is slated for later this year.

9Dragons is currently in Open Beta with over 250,000 registered players. The team hopes to open their item mall and begin commercial service in April 2007.