GPS BN: How do you monetize PK?
AG: We are experimenting with several different ways of doing this. There are several popular models for monetizing a game like ours - in-game advertising, making a premium version available, using micro transactions to allow the player to buy certain unique items for real money, etc. We think we've figured out the direction we want to go, but we're not quite ready to announce anything officially.

GPS BN: Looking at the current state of the art in terms of mobile technologies (iPhone, Android), what do you think is still missing to improve the game experience: battery life, GPS precision, maps?
AG: Battery life is a bit of a challenge. Since Parallel Kingdom tends to draw on several of the phone's capabilities like GPS and the wireless network, it tends to use a lot of power compared to other, less functional applications. As far as precision goes, we're actually pretty happy with the GPS and the maps. Another technology we use is Global Chat. We were one of the first mobile apps to have this capability but the game has grown to the point where we are considering expanding this to several more customized chatrooms.

Eventually we would like to involve some video and compass/directional capabilities but we're waiting until we can figure out a good way to integrate this into the game. We never want to add something just because we can - it has to enhance the gameplay somehow. Still, it would be really cool to look around with the built-in video camera in the iPhone and see your in-game buildings or nearby creatures show up as 3d models in the video.

JB: We are the most excited about having more devices and wider distribution. There are 4 billion cell phones active in the world. We've built our technology carefully so we can support multiple client platforms. We are excited to see this space in two years as more and more smart phones and data plans become the de-facto standard. iPhone fad or not, that is when the mobile gaming space will truly become alive.

GPS BN: Moving forward, how do you see the future of PK and your company?
AG: The average iPhone app is downloaded, played for about 15 minutes and never touched again. That includes both paid and free apps. Parallel Kingdom couldn't be more different in that respect. Those that download and enjoy our game, generally become very dedicated players. They chat, they make real friends, some play for hours at a time, and most play for months before they even consider trying other games. We still have many players from our first version that began a year ago. This is really where our confidence comes from - our players. We know that if we can continue to make them happy and keep them interested while continuing to gain exposure, we'll do very well.

JB: It’s about delivering quality entertainment. We've seen our PK users love what we've build, and we also see so many more opportunities. It’s up to the developer like us to truly build innovative quality entertainment that people love and are delighted to pay for. At PerBlue we are building amazing technology combined with marketing and business sense so we hope to build a very profitable company in this mobile space. And also just as important, those of us who work at PerBlue love what we do. We've all taken pay cuts to be able to do this. We care about our players, our products and our future. We're sure going to make it count.