One on One with Johan

by rivercampion

I guess I do not have to introduce to readers who Johan Christenson is but just in case …Johan is the Swedish entrepreneur that founded ManagerZone, i.e. “The Brain”.

No brains here but more a devoted fan of these types of games. J There were others that have been a part of this from scratch as well.

Johan, first I want to thank you for kindly participating in this interview and taking time of your busy schedule to answer the following questions.

No problem.

As you know, we had a few recent rough weeks in MZ football. Many changes were introduced at once, a series of problems suddenly emerged and lots of complains flooded the forums.

Rough is to put it mildly! J

In issue number 89 we published an article describing some of the issues that were perceived as problems by many managers and we also published an interview to four managers on their opinion about the China merger issue and its potential consequences. We want to provide now to readers of the US ZONE with other viewpoints from a different perspective in particular with the opinion of those in charge of MZ.

1. Now that the waters are a bit calmer, do you think that the recent complaints of many managers on the emergence of multiple problems at once were just much fuss about nothing or was there some merit behind the complains?

We see ourselves not so much as provider of the game but rather a platform for the community to drive forward. Meaning that we are trying to listen to the managers for the direction of the game.

If I may start by saying, we lost that during a 12 month period, with many wrong prioritizations based on various things. We think we have found are way back slowly but surely were we are 110% focused on making the game the best it can be. With that said we are trying to be very sensitive to what happens in the forums and what is said.

To your question and what is said above – sure there were tons of merit to it. We took on a little too much at once but we so felt we needed to stir things up and get some new action into the game. We all wanted every thing we introduced with maybe the exception of China. We knew it was risky but we thought we could do it and get by. Clearly mistakes were made and too much at once is never really good. Not only did we have a hard time communicating the new functions but also all the changes that came with them. Whether that was the economics of the game or how form would work. Never mind totally new functions such as the training camp. Actually with all the changes and us working literally 18 hours a day for a long period – we almost lost track ourselves and with that comes even worse communication.

Rough on all of us but fun at this point I feel as we all took the heat for our changes but we feel we have moved the game truly forward and hopefully we can learn from these mistakes and be better next time. Pace will for sure be slower.

2. Do you view the users that complain as moaners or whiners and do you believe that the voices heard (read) in the forums represent a fair sample of most MZ users?

Well there are of course times when you feel things can be expressed differently and maybe too much. However no matter how we see it we do see it as a very important part and are ultimately thankful that we have people that truly believe and care that much about the game and will not allow us to steer it the wrong way. It has happened before and there will other times in the future were we suggest things that will not happen because we have a balance between us all.

Most of the time it is fair I think. At least I can say this that when we do listen to the majority of the forum we run into less problems with people wanting or not wanting what we do.

3. What is your overall opinion on the recent merger with MZ China? Did you expect that unforeseen problems could emerge?

Shoot, anything we do have unforeseen issues today (with almost 70 servers and as many programs that run around the clock any new introduction is a big deal). It is just a matter of what and how. There were things we should have seen but did not. For instance, the super player thing - it came up that some of us had heard it but it was a long time ago and we back then thought – well they are separate and they want to do it – let them. As that mistake now was infused with the international version we had to eat it big time of course. The guys running China and us were quite different in the thinking obviously – all I can say now is that we are very glad that we are on the same page with all the guys in china and we are slowly but surely going to see that we all can live well together in a fun football world (soccer) – we think.

4. Do you think that there will be any consequences of importance to the balance of the game because on the sudden introduction of so many additional accounts?

Well not really. In the short term yes. Such as pushing prices up on the transfer for a while… This game brings literally that many new users each month anyway so compared to that is it not that super different. However of course many leave the game as well but the infusion of new players it represents a month or two. The bigger difference is that we have made mistakes such as the super players and that some have used the top league challenge too much and gained a possible advantage that way. However from what we see so far it is not enough to truly make a difference. Actually some countries like Sweden that has been here for a long time has seen many bugs or design issues that gave advantages that were greater than that.

5. We also later on found out that managers at MZChina were playing under different rules, e.g. super-players issue, super-rich starting teams, unlimited revenue generating challenges. There was a news release on the super-players, but there are already complains about non-adherence to those rules. What, if anything, is Crew planning to do about all these issues?

I think it was to some extent covered above… but let me explain one thing that probably make some think they started super rich… well see China was divided into 34 countires… each state was a country. So that means that we had 34 top divisions and tons of division 1 and 2 teams. Now that was merged into one country and all of a sudden a division 2 team could be in division 5 and look too “rich” for that division. But see the 45000 teams that were brought over was the 45000 best and most active out of 1 million teams that ultimately had signed up. That means also the 45000 that did best and truly cared. So combine these things and it looks worse than what it really is. While some teams clearly made some money off of top league challenges – they are extremely few – at least the ones that made enough to make a slight difference.

Regarding the super players – well in addition to hope that they retire as soon as possible we will simply make sure there are not a part of international competition. All of the owners have agreed to this.

6. And what about the more practical issue of the mere server capacity and manpower to handle problems with so many users and limited resources, any plans?

Yes! This is our main focus actually. That and make sure the game looks and feels like quality inside as well. Smaller issues on pages and more that are wrong will be hopefully corrected.

We have a number of things we are working on over the next few weeks. We hope to be able to first get rid of any delays during league match days as far as matches goes. Also at 15000 logged in – well we all know the game is just way too slow. We must first reach 15k when we all feel very good about being in the game. Then we hope to be able to push that same to 20k.

At first the next three weeks will entail taking care of 2-3 major things that are on our list to be taken care of. I do not want to come across that we have a magic bullet here but we will go through each thing to make sure we reach it.

7. On the development of new features for the game many of us perceive clear problems on the sequence: idea, development, implementation and communication with users. First, do you agree with this observation? and Are you planning to change the modus operandi if so how?

Well while I would like to sound totally agreeing here I would say that we do not do as good of a job as we can when it comes to communication. Most stuff we have implemented was talked through well ahead on the forums and actually voted on more or less. There were details that came up and I think it is more there we made the mistakes. Training camp and the league structure, as you remember, was talked about like crazy before we even started to develop. Together we fould a good way. However along the way came other things that were affected and or we had to make decisions on.

All in all I would even say that we have gotten at least a notch better. Maybe it says how bad it was. But this time around I think that with the fact that we worked so hard and so many hours for long – that took it out of us – and also with all the changes each person knew their thing but not everybody else’s so we never got great summarizes out there that went through it all. Each news item was good but nobody got a grip of the big picture…

Either way – we will be even more conscious about it from now on.

8. On a completely different note, gave us some context on how the idea of developing this great game came about? Who had the idea and how everything started and grew?

It was really a bunch of guys at the Blekinge Institute of Technology that gave me the idea that this could be a good and fun thing. They had developed a platform to build games on where you instantly could push the game to mobile, web and digital TV platforms. I was there meeting with them to see if it was of interest to work on. Funny enough, to show off their software they had built a rudimentary manager game. It was funny as they demoed it I got more and more interested in what can one do with a manager game on the web. So long story short one of those guys (Marcus Majewski) went on with me to start this long journey. We got a couple of other really great guys to sign up and help us get started.

9. What are your plans for the future of MZ Inc., both on the gaming end and on the business end? Are the headquarters of MZ going to stay in Sweden? are you planning to open additional operating centers around the world?

We are a very small company. We are less than 10 employees. However we do have a few people around the world that help us in one way or the other (that are not GA:s). For now we really just want to focus on the game. Frankly trying to set up things abroad took a huge toll. I am still not sure it was our best bet but we did it and I am glad we have things in a few places that make it easier today to be local with payment systems and more. I think now it could be an advantage as we got the work load under control.

We will not focus solely on the game. One part of that is to make it a game where the world plays football or hockey. So one part is to setup more countries and with that try to be as accommodating as we can. However we will never again lose our focus off the game. The game (and I mean game play, quality and more that makes the game as good as it can be) can be much better and we know it and we will truly try to take that challenge on. The game also means being able to work with XA:s and make everything smooth there as those are the people that make the game tick. One week without that and no game. So we will try to balance that and also get tools and designs that makes it easier and better to run the game.

So a simple answer – we would if it would feel correct at that time. Right now we will focus on the game as it can be better in all the ways listed above.

10. I understand that MZ is just one more piece of a bigger international gaming company or business enterprise. What is Global Fun AB, who owns it? Do you have a ‘final goal’ and if so once you reach it and MZ and the other games continue growing and business blooming would you consider selling?

Contrary to what many believe – we are not rolling in money from the game. The running of the game has been way more costly than just about anybody can imagine. So we have had a few investors initially that have helped us cover what we cannot cover. Also along the way there have been a few others with gaming interests, where GlobalFun is one of them. They make mobile games and can be bought in many of the worlds carriers.

We who work at ManagerZone really have done it for the fun of it. Most still could easily go work elsewhere for much more money. However they ask themselves - would I love it? We have always wanted it to be something we can live off of. Imagine doing what you love every day? Well this has been tougher than we maybe thought initially but nonetheless a ton of fun.

I want to thank you for kindly participating in this interview we know you are a very busy man and your time is very valuable.

It is me who should thank you and everybody else reading this! We value your time in this game and we hope you enjoy the changes that we will go through and at the same time we thank for your patience while do go through changes. It is always tough.

Johan