Kevin Chou is an entrepreneur who has guided Kabam from a handful of people working above a dim sum restaurant in 2009 to an expected $325 million revenue, sustained profitability, and more than 650 employees worldwide by the end of 2013.
Chou has led the disruption of the video game industry by revolutionizing the way players access and pay for games.
He has secured partnerships with leading game platforms, as well as with Hollywood studio giants such as Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, MGM, and NBCUniversal to make games based on some of the world's most beloved movie franchises.
Under his leadership, Kabam has raised more than $125 million in capital from venture and strategic investors including Google, Intel, Canaan, Redpoint, Pinnacle, SK Telecom, Warner Brothers, and MGM.
Before co-founding Kabam, Chou worked at the global venture capital firm Canaan Partners, where he invested in 14 consumer technology and online media companies. He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from UC Berkeley with a BS in Business Administration.
Pocket Gamer: What were your favourite games as a kid?
Kevin Chou: Starcraft, Street Fighter 2 and Legend of Zelda.
When did you realize you wanted to make games as a career?
We saw the rise of casual games on Facebook in 2008 and we knew there was a market for core games on Facebook, then on the web, then on mobile.
What was your first role in the industry?
It's been co-founder and CEO of Kabam. It's been an amazing trajectory - zero to expected $325 million in annual revenue in less than four years.
What do you consider your first significant success?
Kabam's first game Kingdoms of Camelot, which we launched on Facebook in 2009, is still growing in popularity and it has become a $250 million franchise in less than four years.
It's the one of the top ten strategy franchises of all time.
When did the potential for mobile games become apparent to you?
Early in 2011, Kabam started to re-tool for mobile. We launched our first mobile title, Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North in 2012 and it went on to become the #1 grossing app on iOS that year.
What do you think is the most significant event in mobile gaming?
The exponential rise in popularity of smartphones and tablets.
Today 1.5 billion mobile devices are used by consumers worldwide and games have the strongest reach, engagement and monetization on all mobile platforms.
To-date, what are you most proud of? Any regrets?
I'm most proud of evolving Kabam into a leading free-to-play mobile gaming company that started as a Facebook and web gaming company.
My biggest regret is not identifying mobile platforms as a major transition in the industry sooner.
Which mobile games have you most enjoyed recently?
I play many games. My favorite non-Kabam game is Kingdom Rush. It's good to know what the competition offers, but Kabam's Fast & Furious 6: The Game keeps me racing.
What are your predictions for the future of mobile games?
Increasing quality to make mobile games comparable to console-quality in terms of gameplay, graphics, fidelity, and sound.
Tablets are the new consoles.
In which area of the industry do you hope to make a difference in future?
I hope to make gaming as important to the entertainment industry as movies and television are today.
Starting out in simple monochrome in the days of Snake and WAP, the past decade has seen the mobile games industry kaleidoscope into a glorious, multi-billion dollar sector that's driving global innovation.
So it's high time we celebrate some of the people who helped make that journey possible - something PocketGamer.biz is doing in its regular Mobile Gaming Hall of Fame feature.
If you have a suggestion for someone you think should enter our Hall of Fame, please email jonathan [dot] morris [at] steelmedia [dot] co.uk
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They create a necessary item, that without competing is laughable.
Then they proceed to market it using a gambling engine.
Nothing important is sold outright. It is all offered as a "chance to win".
This should concern any parent out there with children playing mobile apps.
There is ONE reason that Kabam are taking this business model to mobile platforms.
BECAUSE CHILDREN CAN GAMBLE ON MOBILE DEVICES USING THEIR PLAN OR ACCOUNT CREDIT WITHOUT NEEDED CREDIT CARD AUTHORITY!
Kabam are operating in a very gray and immoral area, where gambling laws have not quite caught up to the predators who operate like Kabam.
Parents : I would be very wary of allowing your children to install and play any Kabam product.
They boast free to play, but it is not free to compete. Your children do not need to be exposed to gambling before they understand the principles and repercussions.
Customer service dont work, and if it does respond its auto.
Forums , well if you adress an issue it will mostly get deleted.
I had a +14 window gone missing on upgrade , had issues with might gain in tournaments , so i couldent take part, missing items in inventory, troops vanished, well i could go on prizes not been payed out .. list is long.
Nothing been done or fixed or payed back.
The last straw for me was the missing +14 window , then I STOPPED use my money, not ever again , will i pay for another gem.
Known bugs and game issues, long known to the company are NOT addressed
And worst part of all ,
Kabam was hacked , so we all had to change our login, but the worst part kabam waited to tell any about it.
Fix the game or it will die out.
Chou, 33, said the idea for the startup that became Kabam came from co-founder Michael Li in a 2001 class - Engineering 110: Venture Design. If the name "Kabam" sounds like something out of the old "Batman" TV series, with its cartoon bubbles signifying punches thrown, that's no accident.
"We wanted something somewhat whimsical, that indicated action," Chou said. "We definitely did think of those old 'Batman' shows. That factored into it
LOL they named the company kabam as it indicated action,that is TOO funny.This company has to be the least active on the planet.In all seriousness i began to think they fired everyone over 12 months ago.The only NEW things that are released are the daily barrage of mystery boxes and the odd badly run,poorly executed event.A part time programmer could do that.Customer service as far as i know is 100% automated with every reply being a generic response often unrelated to your particular issue.I truly fail to see how Kabam expects to produce the profit margin they are forecasting with a product that that is for all intents and purposes,BROKEN.
Really this site says it all. Chou's '250 million dollar franchise', Kingdoms of Camelot. Not really all that astonishing that the interview is more about how proud he is at making money. You would think all his business degree's would have said something about making your customer happy! Fork out a few $15/hour customer service jobs, drop the 6 promotions a day (lol at F2P) and listen to your player base! (Oh wait... aren't those going all to China now? Something about $7 per hour is just tooooooo much to pay employees).
If Mr. Chou has time to view the 2200+ (over 6000 viewing) KOC PLAYER COUNCIL site, which include most of his largest spenders, he will find out that his game's in-game currency (gems) have undergone a GEM BAN by the majority of his players. This of course is probably something Mr. Chou would not have noticed until his quarter statement arrives, but why wait to break the bad news? One the site, he can view a Gem Ban document, which includes a few fixes that the players would like your team to take a look at. Mostly, fixing bugs and glitches and player lock-outs. A few simple fixes and the game would be functional again, players happy, and spending money. However, most the time its figuring out how to log into the game because his coder messed something up.
Will it happen? Probably not lol. Why? Because the customer is not important to Mr. Chou.
Also, make sure you all take a peek at Cal's new football stadium, "Kabam Field". Ranked worst football stadium name EVER! At a mere cost of 18 million dollars lol.
Kabam started its gem offers in game gradually. Continuing its marketing promotions slowly like a gambling site enticing people to purchase in-game currency, gems, over time and as they develop player trust they then up the anti and start targeting those players even more to protect their investment. Giving the bonuses they paid dearly for, for free to all, after a few months and the only way to hold your status is to spend even more. Whats worse the promotion, gem offers, become more frequent, often are not paid out on time, correctly, or at all without multiple tickets to support. Often Kabam support closes tickets without resolution stating general form-mail faq-type resolutions, blaming third party add ons, or stating their so busy but think it might not be an issue and a new ticket is required.... ONLY in Kabams world would this abhorred support being considered 'customer service'.
Not to mention in-game voting mechanisms (paid per vote with player might gain or gems) for new features are ignored choosing the lowest voted proposed feature to implement for monetary gain rather then player votes!
Constant releases of new items where if not purchased are not available to free-to-play players thus placing those payers at UN-recoverable disadvantage. In fact it can safely be stated that if you do not spend money in KoC you CANNOT play this game at all with any level of enjoyment when those that dedicate hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of dollars can not, how will those that play for free?
THIS GAME SHOULD be REMOVED for its free-to-play designation as those words next to this game are laughable.
The success of this game is definitely not in enjoyment to play. A War game where the only fighting occurs when players are offline and unable to play, closer to farmville then a strategy war game for which its advertised to be. In-game features have changed significantly then when a majority of its players started playing to the degree that if you are not attacking you cannot defend in war... so nobody defends. Creating domains with thousands of active players begging for restoration of game play to some form of playability and hearing only silence from Kabam.
Kabam games are more like an online drug addiction mixed with casino methodology with rigged tables intent on bleeding players to death, like heroine. Instead of investing in those that made it rich Kabam leases rights to rename their school stadium to "Kabam Field" for 18 million... a further testament to their greed and vanity.
If you have any intelligence you will cut your loses, stand together with other players to fight for the injustices you've experienced in-game, or if you never played before... RUN far away to another game... nothing with Kabam's name to it will bring you any enjoyment unless spending money into a black hole is what you call recreational fun!
You don't have to take my word for it though, research and see for yourself.. checkout Kabam forums, player facebook pages such as kocplayercouncil, ripoffreport.com, the number of complaints at BBB in San Francisco, see what Kabam's own employees have to say about the shady unethical business practices they witness first hand at glassdoor.com, see the decline on kocmon.com, create a new account in any of their games and talk to the players in global or on other domains and you will see the truth first hand....
Please allow yourselves to check out the above link to find out what the kabam customer really thinks about the way things are being run!
If gaining popularity is gauged by dropping numbers and player dissatisfaction then yeah your popularity is soaring right now.
Its about time Mr Chou put player concerns before how much money his company is making
Kabam's first game Kingdoms of Camelot, which we launched on Facebook in 2009, is still growing in popularity and it has become a $250 million franchise in less than four years.
It's the one of the top ten strategy franchises of all time.
LMFAO.KOC still growing in popularity????? in what alternate reality is that? nearly everyone i've ever played with over the past 4 yrs has up and left.Can't see how dwindling player numbers equates to rising popularity???
I hope you remember though.. that having played a Kabam game once, 99.9% of players will never look at another game of yours..
You have been banned for the following reason:
Violations of FRoC
Date the ban will be lifted: 01-22-2014, 02:00 PM
Hey Jon Jordan, how about getting someone to actually look into this companies way of doing business? Any chance of that?
Oh and now I have written this with my real name I am likely to be banned from Kabam games for life as that is what they do to people who speak out.
Not a man or a company any reviewer / gaming site should be "bigging up" ... maybe some of the people who blog online should actually investigate a few things and write an article from a players perspective not just kiss the ass of the corporate machine.
Phil, you make a lot of great points. However, we may as players end up with nothing but a Game Company that has no players is also worth NOTHING. I think that we have a lot more power in this then most of us realize. Other than the cash they have on hand everything this company is worth is based on people continuing to play their games. Especially if they try an IPO, people will dig and dig deep to try to put a value on Kabam. It doesn't matter what Chou says, it will be worth what investors believe it is worth. As an investor, if I see posts like this (and they will data-mine every site out there) it would make me very skeptical about investing in any type of securities related to this company.
I think what we all want or would like to see is Kabam becoming a bit more gamer friendly. Otherwise I think that we all lose in the long run, players and company alike.
Hall of Fame pfffft the mere fact that you have associated the "KNIGHTMARE"of a gamers hell, with a Hall of Fame, discredits this Hall, and leaves it in the shambles his game, Kingdoms of Spend-alot aka Kingdoms of Broke-alot is in. Want to put him in a hall? may I suggest a red rubber nose and some really big shoes The Clown hall of fame is where he belongs!!!
THEY KNOW that the life span of this game is limited. That is why they have to keep re-inventing it every other month or two, with new contests, new ideas and new content, like the Throne Room and now Champions. They HAVE to create products they can SELL to continue to generate a profit. They HAVE to cater to those who SPEND and spend BIG. It is what keeps the money rolling in to make the investors happy.
It is as I posted earlier, "It is NOT about the number of players you have, but about the amount of MONEY you bring in." As long as people BUY gems and spend them on their games. These games will continue to exists. To keep it profitable, there will be more contests, higher priced items and more things added to the game. It is a perpetual machine, you have to keep adding to keep it going. (Eventually, it will break.. It is doing that now.)
YOU, the people who play these games, like Kingdoms of Camelot, need to decide what it is that YOU want out of the game. Forget the money you have spent, items you have lost, etc. You will probably NEVER get any of that back.. Therefore, you must decide.. What is the price point, of this game.. What is its VALUE to YOU.. When is it time to "CASH OUT", ie.. QUIT playing?
Nothing is going to change with this game, Customer Service is not going to magically resurrect itself overnight into a perfect place where all our wishes are granted. It will only get worse and worse and worse as the problems with the game increase due to the complexity of the game increasing due the companies needing to continue to add content to it to make a profit.
The articles you read about Kevin Chou, are articles about how he has taken small games into the mainstream and spurred and caused profits to soar for all these companies that started/created the plethora of games now found on Facebook and other social media sites. He has done an amazing job, but he has done it on the backs of his customers. He, himself really does not deserve the credit, but seeing as he is the CEO of the company. People are quick to give him the applause.
Mr. Chou, may be a successful entrepreneur when it comes to games like Kingdoms of Camelot, but his success is going to be short termed. One probably measured in a small number of years and then as all these games implode upon themselves, because the costs to participate and the complexity and time commitment sky rockets. These games will slowly lose favor and the customer base will dwindle.
Eventually, the games will shut down as the profitability will no longer exist and all of us players of these games will have NOTHING to show for our time, let alone the money we have invested. I can already see the shock and dismay that many will have someday, when Kabam closes Kingdoms of Camelot and other games and the hard core player, who has spent THOUSANDS of dollars, pounds, yen or whatever currency he/she uses is left with NOTHING (and you will have nothing.. This IS a virtual pixel, text world.. You cannot take it with you or hold it in your hand. "Poof" and it will be gone with the flip of a switch on the servers that host it, as they are powered off.)
Mark my words, the end will come.. We the gaming public who play these games will be the loser. If anyone THINKS that some lawsuit or other class action debacle will get them money back.. Think again, as when the end comes, the money will be far away and gone. There will be nothing for any of us, other than broken promises by Kabam, frustration and having have endured poor Customer Support.
As for Mr. Chou, he will not cry over Kabam or worry about us, the consumer. The magazine game media, et. al. will not look unfavorably on the passing of a few games on Facebook, nor upon Mr. Chou. He will move onward to some other company, become someones new CEO and figure out how he can continue to generate profits for himself and the companies he creates/leads.
It is business people.. Business exits to make MONEY, to turn a profit. Mr. Chou has just been successful, because his business model has not yet imploded upon itself, but it will. When it does, I am sure he will be far away. He won't be looking backwards, but forwards to what is ahead of him and where he can make his next big windfall.
They are VERY quick to offer you ways to spend your money, and accept your money with out a glitch. But the second something goes wrong, it takes a MONUMENTAL effort to even get them to realize that they are chasing players away!
the game has become a cash cow for kabam now true gamers leaving due to a unfair playing field, kabam is more or less slowly killing the game , no customer support, missing boxes, gems from promotions etc is this not steeling? they are taking from the people that make the games what they are still i guess as long as they make there money they dont really care
the other gripe is the script writers themselves as when they get attacked there cities port away somewhere else without them logging in proving the only way to do this is if you are an insider
the amount of cheaters is unreal where some domain alliances get programs to hit doved players and take everything while kabam does nothing
they want us to play there games how about having a level playing field to begin with get rid of the cheats get rid of your thrones and champions if you dont no one is going to keep spending money on this game forever with these things we will all need a degree just to play it your code writers need to do things in laymen terms not there terms
most players doing these games dont have vast amounts of money to spend and for that they get punished that is not a fair game the only players left will be the cheats and your own employees so come on play fair kabam afetr all 30million players spending $20 a month is more than 500 players spending $100 a month thats what you are looking at stop being greedy
My biggest complaints are:
That 353 was never asked to be a test domain.
With so many glitches why do they always introduce new things, (TR, Champions) with out fixing any of the previous stuff.
Shop items are expensive.
Kabam rewards the $$$ spenders and squats on the ones who spend little or none at all.
I made 1 complaint with an alt once, (about a year ago), never heard from them other than I needed to change my browser and delete scripts... which I did and still had the problem. I quit that domain and kept my original doing what I have always been doing.
#1 problem: customer service is horrid... when they answer at all. they make you wait a week for an automoted response... i mean thats beyond ridiculous... whether or not you have a problem with cash you paid them or anything else. usually they ignore anything but cash related tickets anyways.
#2 problem: they call it a beta after 4 years, when in reality its their cash cow and they are trying to have as little liability as possible.
#3 problem: they dont address proper issues with game and fix stuff noone cares about. noone wants to spend gems on upgrades, take that crap out or refund when it glitches and uses your gems.
#4 problem: the forums are extremely censored and non productive. kabam employees rarely even post on them, just players called knights who get perks for promoting the game and deleting any negative posts, however truthful they may be.
#5 problem: there is no phone number to talk to kabam support about game issues, gameplay problems, stability, troubleshooting etc
#6 problem they dont clearly explain the rules of the game. any game ive played in my whole life has rules upon rules clearly posted, kabam doesnt even know how their own battle algorithms work and therefore cant explain the proper rules to the players. they constantly roll new stuff out with no announcement and we are expected to not only know its there, but figure out everything about it ourselves.
#7 problem: kabam blames any problem we may have on third party addons, (userscripts for greasemonkey through firefox) when this is clearly not causing any problems 99% of the time. they give monotonous automated responses from cust service and blame use of scripts... without the use of which, their game would have very few players, and probably none that spend.
#8 problem: they are very biased with big spenders in this game (people who spend over $500 /month) and give them alot of perks like bonus special offers not offered to most of the other players and special cards and things of that like. if they got a vip buyers club of sorts, theres definitely no excuse calling this game a beta... i mean come on.
#9 problem: theres nothing players can do immediately to get results except posting here or on the better business bureau, and only then if you are really wronged... this company should have to be much more accountable for their actions in general, and much more responsive . if there was another similar game hosted by another game company i would leave kabam in a heartbeat, its literally the worst customer experience ive ever had, and ive purchased alot of used cars ;)
#10 problem: its a damn game and im supposed to be here to have fun, but instead i end up always having something that kabam does wrong and pulls me off my fun for something like this
Support is no existent.
Hundreds of bugs not adressed.
Censorship in Forum is very unbearable.
The game in the last two years is no more fun.
It's only a waste of time and money.
I am still trying to work out why Kabam is trying to kill its own game ????
With all the changes people are leaving the game due to costs and 99.9% of the time the crap you get isn't worth the cost.
I am talking from other that have spent in the game as I spend nothing here and would rather leave the game rather pay tp play a game that now has that many faults its incredible.
The new changes with the Champ is was really a money making idea some one came up with I would say, or some one you have working for you has come up with a plan on how to kill the game real fast.
I did like the game and the friends I have made over many years only to slowly see them leave the game.
I have notified you also with complaints that have happened with game play, lost gems, lost items etc and every time I get the same result or reply "You have used them or purchased some thing" I did message back on a few occasions but never got a reply about things I had brought, like the time I had purchased some DI and when I messaged back and ask "why would I buy a DI when I have 12 in my inventory ??"
So maybe its just a computer generated reply we all get.
Lets just look at the game fix the problems and untill you can get it right dont do any more updates to the game or add crap that we all know will only cost us and will never work because it will need a patch to fix a hole it had in a patch.
Dear adeofcamelot,
You have received an infraction at Kabam Community Forums.
Reason: Non-Constructive Posting
-------
Please refrain from spamming the Kabam forum with the same topic over and over.
This infraction is worth 1 point(s) and may result in restricted access until it expires. Serious infractions will never expire.
All the best,
Kabam Community Forum
I enjoyed the early years when it was simple, and one of the few that appreciated the introduction of the TR. However these days it seems to be not a war game, but one that is focused on gambling with the continuous bombardment of special offers and chances of winning unique items. It is obvious that its main goal is to generating money from those that are easily addicted to gambling. I swear the odds are better at the racetrack.
A business needs to generate income, a good business fines that balance between providing a quality product and price. I no longer view the game as a quality product and in return I do not spend any of my dollars.
Over the years, this game has evolved from a game that was simple, easy to understand and grasp, to a game that is complex and costly in money AND in time spent just PLAYING the game. As many have described, the game has problems and issues. It is full of coding errors and operational errors. Things just do not always work properly. Kabam, brushes all this away and expects the player base to accept the game as it is. After all, the game is being developed under the guise of being a "Beta" game. Therefore, from their standpoint, it is okay if it has "issues".
As the complexity of the games have evolved, so to has with it a myriad of problems that frustrate those who continue to play these games. It is no wonder that Kabam support is pitiful and non-existent. The games are so full of issues that their customer support department cannot keep up. It has been far out-stripped of it's ability to help the customer base of all the games that Kabam operates. Piss poor games, decrees, piss poor service. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.
As these games have evolved, no longer can a person be considered competitive or equal within the confines of the game unless that person spends a considerable amount of money. Money, the harbinger of evil. Every day, Kabam hosts contests and places items for sale within the "Shop" for players to purchase.
To entice the players to purchase these items in the shop, Kabam will offer the "chance to win" a "coveted" item from the shop. However, Kabam will not guarantee that a player will actually be awarded this "coveted" item. The odds are typically not in a person's favor and a player is really betting or gambling that they will be awarded the "coveted" item. Some players may get lucky and spend a minimal amount of game currency and get the "coveted" item, while others may spend hundreds of dollars in game currency and NEVER be awarded the "coveted" item.
I believe this is all part of the plan of Kabam. Release or make the odds of winning at the onset of a contest greater, so that people win the items. As the player base sees their friends or other players winning these items, they also then hopefully come to the shop and spend game currency to try and get the items as well.
This is by design, a good thing.. Generate excitement, get people into the shop.. Sadly, I believe that once the initial rush to purchase items is over, Kabam then decreases the odds of winning, so that the players have to spend more game currency, thus purchase more game currency in order to get the "coveted" item. It is a deceptive business practice that has divided the player base into those who "HAVE" and those who, "HAVE NOT". I based this on my own personal experiences and even responses I have gotten back from Customer Support, when I inquired about a contest and the odds of be awarded a particular item.
I can honestly say that I am no longer satisfied with the direction that this game is headed. No longer are the needs or wants of the customer being met. These games exist only to boost the profits of Kabam and perhaps, boost Mr. Chou. Granted, he has been successful and he has generated a substantial income for his investors, but I do not believe the market will continue to sustain such a game as Kingdoms of Camelot and games like it.
The lack of GOOD Customer Support and the issues and problems are taking a toll. Unfortunately, these issues are not his concern, as profit is all he is after. He summed it all up in an interview that he gave.
“The key isn’t about how many users you have. It’s about how much money you are making.”
Now, I know that IS the idea behind the ownership of this game. It HAS to make money and it HAS to be profitable, or why continue it? Again, as the game has matured into the current state it is in. The player base has dropped considerably. There is a websites a person can visit that tracks the player base on a daily basis. We, as the players of Kingdoms of Camelot, can see the numbers of people who log in or have logged in. We know the statistics of the game. We see it slowly dwindling, we would like it to go back the other way, as many of us have invested a considerable amount of money into this game.
Unfortunately, I personally, do not see that happening. I think over the next 6 to 12 months, we will see a further decrease in the player base, with a corresponding increase in what it will "cost" those of us who wish to continue to play Kabam games. With all the problems that this game has, compounded with the complexity that is now being built into it. At some point, I as a player and in a way an "Investor" in Kabam, am reaching a point of deciding what the value for my time and money really is within Kabam and Kingdom of Camelot.
Like any good investor, if there is no value, or one does not feel that they are getting their monies worth or the return they expect. Then they stop investing and spending. Sadly, this game and others being run by Kabam, will eventually implode upon themselves and those investors, will lose their investment.
Worse, in the end, it will be the consumers who will lose the most. We will have lost our time, money and effort that we have expended. It is sad that the gaming public is not made more aware of how some of these games are being run and operated. In the case of Kingdoms of Camelot, it was a better game in the beginning than it is today.
But what started like a entertainment, has become a nuisance race to clean customer pockets.
Many of us still playing this game because is not a choice to do something about, but kabam become almost a fraud.
Customer service is almost nonexistent, but if u get a response, kabam never admit a wrong doing.
Their last excuse is third parties add-on.
But kabam is very aware of the use of third parties add-on, because with out them, this game will be impossible to play, and so on kabam will have not businesses.
At this moment the game has get into a new phase of the same recipe: "more features that will ask for more money and will clog the game."
My opinion is that this companies, need to be held accountable for their services. They aren't a social game or social service to the community, they are a companies running a businesses, that most time go along with their tricky and questionable businesses practices.
Customer Support for this product is almost non-existant. It is even common for you to receive a no-reply email stating that it has taken them too long to look at your issue, so they are closing the submission without investigating.
Kabam could almost be accused of deliberately creating a clumsy interface and extremely monotonous grind in the free-to-play avenue, basically forcing people to use 3rd-party automation or need 20 hours a day PC time to function competitively in the game. This is then used as a convenient out-clause for any in-game issues. Customer Support just respond "your third party add-ons are to blame".
Most recent example of this is a failed release of new content which collapsed the four test servers. Kabam shut down these four servers and performed a rollback. This rollback deleted any actions performed in the three hour window it covered. There was a promotion on to "win" (I use "win" because none of the premium content is actually available to purchase in game - Kabam sell their customers CHANCE TO WIN on all premium content) premium items, that disappeared due to the failed release and subsequent rollback. Customer Support blamed all missing inventory on 3rd-party add-ons despite this.
The game itself has become much less a social strategy game than an arms race fueled by an endless stream of "chance to win" promotions. Kabam have turned the enjoyment of warefare into an arms race, where he who invests the most in what is essentially an online casino is the best.
Skill and strategy very much play a secondary role now. The game is all about who has the most powerful items, the latest release of which has been rushed through release and is already being marketed despite numerous identified bugs, several major game-affecting glitches. It appears to this customer the only functioning component of a feature necessary for Kabam to release is it's marketability. The monetisation of features has taken over completely from the customer enjoyment aspect necessary in any online game.
On top of this Kabam are now exploiting the use of volunteer player liasons and moderators in their forums. It is a very rare occassion an actual Kabam employee responds to any issue in any thread. When they do their words are very non-comittal. They seem very reluctant to admit things are not working.
It is very convenient for Kabam to keep this 300 million dollar revenue gaining game in Beta. It voids Kabam of all responsibilities to safeguard their customers vested interest in the product. Combined with the non-existant customer support, and convenient answer for every issue being a "Beta" product doesn't cover as "your add-ons did it", Kabam have created a very lucrative, all-income-no-concern product.
I would not recommend a Kabam game to anyone thinking of playing. The business model applied to Kingdoms of Camelot is standard practice at Kabam.
They deliberately create balance-altering content, and then proceed to bend the laws of supply and demand to suit their income targets any given day.
Kabam refuse to be transparent in their persuit of profit. Almost all premium content, and indeed most of the crucial in-game creation is all sold as a game of chance. Basically Kabam have turned a PvP social strategy game into an online casino. It will be a great day when market exploitation such as this is covered by gambling laws, and companies like Kabam will be made to announce chance of success in all aspects of their products.
Players begged for servers to be combined because game play has declined so much....instead the company, merged a couple of domains, had issues, and tabled the merge for at least 2 months and then brought out what amounts to a second throne room with the expectation that players will again drop hundreds if not thousands of dollars into investing in the game.
However....
1. Customer service generally is TERRIBLE.
2. Forums are a joke. Censorship by the moderators is common. They ask for feedback and if the feedback is not what is desired, it may be deleted.
3. Known bugs and game issues, long known to the company are NOT addressed
4. Items that are bought and paid for are routinely missing and NOT replaced.
5. Players can hack the game and those people are still allowed to play with no repercussions
6. Cheats abound and just like the bugs, are ignored.
7. Some servers were turned into test servers ( code is regularly tinkered with during live gaming....and new features items are popped in with no explanation as to how these items are anticipated to work. People in these test servers were given no notification, no option to be excluded, then or now, and we have suffered additional losses of $ items, we miss out on events and sales, and are offered no compensation for the service we involuntarily provide.
This company laid off their original developers so little of what is NOW released, works or makes much sense in the game itself. The continuity is lacking and there is little left that makes this game attractive.
So what now.....
Most of us have stayed the course, in spite of lousy treatment, hoping that a new direction will turn this game back into what we all once enjoyed. I question how long this game will remain viable for both players and investors alike. The fact is Mr. Chou.... YOU have added nothing to my gaming experience and the ONLY reason most of us have stuck it out this long is to see whether ANYONE will attempt to fix this farce of a game, and because the of the friends we have made here.
* Customer Service non-existent (as detailed in previous posts)
*Paying players not receiving what they pay for with promotions.
*Players totally ignored with complaints and suggestions.
*Forum posts being deleted with genuine concerns. and posters being banned for making the forums look bad.
* Knight's (forum mediators) using their position in the company to have players of the game banned for attacking them in game..this is a total misuse of ones position.
* Kabam making 4 domains TEST (Silo) domains without the players consent.. where we still have to pay full amounts for shop products, on a glitchy broken game used for so called testing.
*Features rolled out to general domains while still having multiple problems on test domains..
These are just some of the problems with the KOC game..
Would i recommend this game or any Kabam game..NO..But in saying that I will continue to fight for a better game while it is still operating..though i do see the writing on the wall, I have invested $kk into my game.. Would I do so again..NO..
So players and investors..Read the comments, check out forums, read comments posted to other sites.. before investing..
And Mr. Chou personally, I think you should hand back your "Hall of Fame" and overhaul your company and set things right with your customers and players..
Great vision for the game is only as sustainable as the ability to inject those ideas into a reliable operating format.
The in-game glitches are increasing exponentially and have reached the point where monetary investment of customers is disappearing faster than Kevin Chou can say "camelot". Customers expect product or service for their investment. When nothing is expected in return for monetary contribution, its called charity.
Has Kevin registered KOC as a charitable organization when its customers weren't looking? I don't think so.
Glitches, missing items, disappearing items, dreadful lag and an ever-increasing number of "down for maintenance" messages would be marginally tolerable if customer service was taken seriously. The majority of players have received the classic "We believe your issue has been resolved" form letter about an issue that was never even addressed, let alone resolved.
Attempting to give the customer a sense of empowerment, kabam has elicited feeback and voting on current game features and potential future ones. The only thing worse than giving a customer a false sense of empowerment is to give it to them then blatantly remove it.
Veteran customers are leaving the game faster than you can say "Merlin's gone wild."
"Explosive rise"? I think not. Imploding, sinking ship is a more likely sentiment.
Anchors away.
There is considerable speculation at the moment that the level of CS is SO low because the game is about to join the ranks of other kabam games and be discontinued - with a pre demise last fling on sales items to glean the most possible income prior to it's closure.
We are awaiting the comment or assistance from Kabam's customer service (assuming there is anybody employed there).
Its time they start thinking about there Customers not there wallet an how to empy there players Very Dis pleased
From what I see, they're making as much cash as they can, as quickly as they can with no eye on the long term. They release new game features without testing and rather than work on ironing out the bugs, they concentrate on marketing the hell out of the product.
Check out their forums... you'll see an overwhelming number of complaints. Their forum moderators can't delete the posts fast enough to keep the complaints from over running nearly every thread in existence.
Buyer beware!
Good luck with an IPO.. if I were an investor I'd steer clear of this group, they really don't have a clue how to keep customers.
Looking for new game any ideas of a better company to play under ?? any advise is welcomed
I guess what's more significant is when the 'odd complaint' starts impact the company's reputation; especially in the context of the company's rumoured decision to try to IPO in 2014.
It's something we'll be keeping our eye on. After all, games-as-a-service only work if the games and the service elements are both high quality.