Level Up! Games is the NO.1 game publisher in Philiphine. At this year's Chinajoy we had the opportunity to talk with Jake San Diego, the Marketing Director for Level Up! Games. we took this opportunity to make an brife interview with him. Enjoy it.

MMOsite: Hello, Jake, thanks for taking our interview. To start, can you say hello and introduce yourself and Level Up! to our readers?

Jake San Diego: Hi to the beautiful people who belong to the mmosite.com community. I'm Jake San Diego, Marketing Director for Level Up! Phils. Inc. We are the ones who pioneered MMORPG's in the Philippines through the introduction of Ragnarok Online in 2003. We are currently the leading game publisher in the country with 7 titles in our game portfolio.

MMOsite: Welcome to China, and what is your impression of this year's ChinaJoy? Have you achieved your goals for attending the sixth ChinaJoy?

Jake San Diego: Well it's my first time in China and I must say I was really impressed. Not only with the number of game companies who showcased their games, but more so with the intensity and passion of the Chinese online gaming community. Braving 38 degrees Celsius under the heat of the sun to line up outside of the Shanghai Convention Center is no mean feat.

I would say that we as a team were able to achieve our goals for coming to CHinajoy. We've met the top game developers, checked out how they market their games in China and saw very interesting new contents.

MMOsite: Are there some criteria for you to select a title to distribute? At the 2008 ChinaJoy, did you find any interested title you will like to distribute? What will be the next title you're planning to release in Philippine?

Jake San Diego: One basic criteria we have for selecting a game is the accessibility in terms of game specs. That's why we are very keen on going to China as any game that works in China will work in the Philippines because both countries would have the same internet infrastructure.

We definitely saw a lot of interesting titles there; our team of 5 people from our content group went to all the booths and tried out all the games during the convention's first 2 days. However, we can't say which titles we will be testing further when we get back home...for obvious reasons.

The next title we're launching in OBT is actually a game made by Shanda (SNDA) of China, it's Crazy Kart. We recently launched it's official site and I hope all you guys visit it, it's pretty cool (www.crazykart.ph). Our closed beta period is coming to an end this month and we'll announce in the site when the OBT launch is in the next few days.

MMOsite: I noticed that most of your games are cute style MMOs such as Ragnarok, Rose and FlyFF. How do you describe the Philippine players?Do you think that Philippine players have a predilection for cute games?

Jake San Diego: That is true. With Ragnarok breaking through the mainstream and being accepted as part of pop culture, it definitely set the bar in terms of the art you would expect out of an online game. However, the past 2 years saw the growth in terms of popularity of games with the classic MMORPG style artwork. Games like RF Online and Perfect World displaying realistic character art now cater to the more hardcore, mature gamers.

MMOsite: Many people think that casual games can't have a lot of hardcore gamers, but it seems that it's different for Level Up!'s games. What's the reason behind?

Jake San Diego: Casual games have definitely grown a lot in the country the past year. Mostly due to entry of new titles. Primarily, what drives the hardcore players in the game would be the tournaments that are done both locally, at the internet cafe level, and nationally, through events like Level Up! Live.

MMOsite: In your opinion, what contributed to the great success of Level Up! in Philippine? And what are your future prospects for Level Up!?

Jake San Diego: It helped a lot that we were the ones who started locally publishing games in the country. But personally, I think that what made Level Up! successful in the Philippines is that it has constantly remained true to it's vision-- which is to have a Level Up! Gamer in each and every Filipino household. This is the battlecry of all the employees of the company; from the people in charge of content who make sure we have a wide array of games for whatever type of gamer there is, to the people in marketing who spread the word, down to the people in the operations side of the business--all of whom espouse the age old business adage that the customers should always come first. Our main inspiration is seeing the Level Up! Community growing every single day.