Interzone Entertainment, parent company of Interzone Games and a BigWorld licensee, announced its long-secret massively multiplayer online sports title, Interzone Futebol. The Portuguese version will be first released in Brazil, for it's home to millions of avid soccer fans and players with Portuguese mother-tongued, and the international versions for worldwide release will follow closely. Jeff Lyndon, Vice President of China Operations, accepted our interview and give us some detials about this long-secret game.

MMOsite: Would you first introduce your company Interzone Entertainment to our readers? Where is your company located and when was it founded? Have you guys previously been involved in the creation of any MMORPG?

Jeff Lyndon: Interzone Entertainment is an online games developer founded in 2007.  Interzone's headquarters are located in the United States, our production studio is in China, Research and Development in Australia, and Publishing and localization in Brazil. We have over one hundred experts from around the world who share common work experience, knowledge, and passion for games. We have pooled talents from a variety of developers who have worked on the original C&C, Earth & Beyond, Fury, FFXI, Dragon Quest Series, Heavenly Sword, Shadowbane, Black and Bruised, Ultima Underworld, and Descent, and that is only a tip of our iceberg!

MMOsite: In overview, what kind of an online world is Interzone Futebol? What's the core concept of this game? Why do you think that your game will be successful on the market?

Jeff Lyndon: Imagine living in a world that revolves around futebol (soccer). That is what Interzone Futebol is about. That is our core concept.

Why do we think we will be successful? We have development teams with extensive hands-on experience developing MMOs, and because futebol is the #1 sport in the world, our target market numbers in the millions.  

MMOsite: Why do you want to develop a football game? How long have you been working on this project and where does the development currently stand?

Jeff Lyndon: Soccer, or futebol as they say in Brazil, is the one of the most influential sports. Until now no one has successfully launched a true multiplayer online version. We recognized that the current soccer games in the market do not represent the sport and its surrounding culture in a virtual world. We see that there is a passion surrounding the sport and we wanted to create something that allows people to interact online as they do in real life.

MMOsite: Can you describe the main gameplay of the game? Which features you would say you're most proud of, and why?

Jeff Lyndon: The main focus of the game is the player and their progression trying to become an ultimate football player.  We have followed the FIFA rule set whenever possible, and our game design was created by futebol players who also happen to be top notch game developers!  The game itself has so many features it's difficult to select one specific example, but here's one:  Interzone Futebol is the first MMO futebol game in which all characters are player-controlled-even the goal keepers which, until now, have been AI-controlled in other games.  We're also quite proud of how our virtual world is shaping up.  Players can experience shopping, explore the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, and enjoy the club scene so there is always something for everybody to do outside the stadium. 

MMOsite: Up to now, are you guys satisfied with the development progress? What were some features that you wanted, but didn't work out? Or you are trying?

Jeff Lyndon: We are very happy with our development progress. The game is looking awesome! There are a number of features that were in the original design that are not yet in the game, but we expected that the game design would evolve during development.

We are constantly critically assessing ourselves and the game. The end result is that the game is more fun and more playable than the original design. For example, we originally planned to have a gym to allow players to improve their stats by playing single-player mini-games. After focus testing, we decided to drop it since our players wanted to play the game for the glory of futebol as part of a team (not for the endless individual grinding).