Cartoon Network taking time with multiplayer game

By Paul Hyman

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - They are two ends of the video game spectrum: the tiny, personal-sized casual game on one end and, on the other, the complex, massive multiplayer online game (MMOG) which can support thousands of players simultaneously. Rarely, if ever, do the twain meet. Until now.

The Cartoon Network is about to release a video game oxymoron ... what it calls a "casual MMOG." And it may just be the first of a trend.

Back in April 2006, Disney's "Toontown" had captured only 0.9% of the MMOG market since its launch in June, 2003, but that was enough to convince rival Cartoon Network to cook up an MMOG of its own that it planned to release this spring.

But here it is, the spring of 2008, and the release of Cartoon Network's "FusionFall" MMOG has been delayed twice, first to this summer, and now to this fall, for reasons no one at Cartoon Network chooses to discuss.

"Let's just say that MMOs are very deep, very large games that are ready when they are ready," says Chris Waldron, the game's executive producer. "They take a lot of testing, a lot of polish, and that's what we're going through."

Indeed, Cartoon Network is under a lot of pressure to "get it right" and to clearly differentiate "FusionFall" from the competition in what some describe as a very cluttered, perhaps over-saturated MMOG market.

"When we started building 'FusionFall,' 'Toontown' was the only kids MMO," notes Waldron. "Since then, we've seen a proliferation of MMOs targeting the same young demographic as ours, including 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' 'RuneScape,' and even social games like 'Club Penguin' and 'Habbo Hotel.' So, yeah, it's getting crowded out there and there are many more in the works so it's getting even more crowded. But I honestly believe that ours is a different kind of game."

Which is why Paul Condolora is calling 'FusionFall' a "casual MMOG, one that's easy to get into, very accessible, and doesn't require the time commitment that some of the more hardcore MMOGs demand." Condolora is senior VP and general manager of Cartoon Network New Media.