Results of 2021: Elena Burda and Dmitry Gritsenko from Plarium Ukraine about the main thing for the year

We continue to summarize the results of 2021 together with top managers and experts of the gaming industry (and related ones). Next up is an interview with Elena Burda and Dmitry Gritsenko, General Manager and Product Director at Plarium Ukraine.Elena Burda and Dmitry Gritsenko

How did 2021 go for the company?

Elena: 2021 was a busy year. We continued to develop Raid: Shadow Legends, released the Mech Arena action shooter and started developing a new project.

As a company, we also continued to adapt to the conditions of remote work. We calibrated the processes and analyzed what challenges and opportunities this format brings for us. We expanded the geography of the search for candidates and began to cooperate with talents from other countries.

Dmitry: I will tell you more about the launch of Mech Arena. This is a team-based PvP shooter in which the player controls large mechs (walking mechanical robots). The global release took place in August, at the same time we received the coolest features from Apple and Google, during which more than 5 million players came.

Mech Arena is our first experiment in the action genre. It is very interesting to receive feedback from a new audience and test fresh game techniques. The project has become a big challenge for the team in terms of game design, architecture, matchmaking and server infrastructure. We wanted to create the feeling of massive, but fast mechs, and at the same time give the player the opportunity to assemble a robot for himself. Combinations of unique abilities of fur and weapons allowed us to find our own style of play and not be limited to shootouts in the style of “whose armor is thicker”. At the end of the year we will add more pilots to choose from.

There were also pitfalls. For example, we had to develop an anti-cheat system relevant to the shooter. But we are successfully coping with such tasks.

Also in 2021, our team entered the cloud for the first time on a full scale. Continuing the theme of Mech Arena, I note that we have started using Google Cloud for all combat servers of the game. This provided easy scaling of the load and helped to get rid of delays in combat.

What event or trend of 2021 do you consider central within your niche?

ELENA: If the main challenge of last year was the transition of the entire company to remote operation, then 2021 brought a new trend — a hybrid working environment. This format has opened up new opportunities, but it has also become a test of strength for the management team. We had to form communication with the team and the company in a different way, otherwise maintain interaction and organize work processes taking into account different work formats.

Dmitry: And the issue of maintaining the team spirit has also become important. How to create a sense of game development in a remote work environment?

In the office, an artist with burning eyes can show a game designer the concept of a hefty armored mech. They will decide together what kind of abilka he should have, and then they will go to the programmer to think about how to implement it. In this way, the guys charge each other with cool ideas, maintain morale, inspire the team to reach new heights and simply create a fan atmosphere, which is necessary for the development of a good game.

But in lockdown conditions, it is much more difficult to form such an atmosphere. Video calls are a completely different story. It is not surprising that many guys tried to gather in teams. Therefore, when it became possible, we organized meetings at the company level. Also now employees can optionally come to work in the office.

What will be the stake in the development of the company in 2022?

Elena: Next year, Plarium Ukraine will continue to expand its geography by hiring employees from other countries. We will also think about opening new offices.

As in previous years, the main thing for us is the people who work with our projects, their interaction and involvement in the common cause. This is what allows us to make successful games. We will continue to do what we love: create projects and enrich the experience of players interacting with our products.

Dmitry: We also have a lot of plans related directly to the games. For example, Raid: Shadow Legends has been running for two years, but we are not slowing down. Recently we added the Hydra update — a giant clan boss with different heads appeared in the game. A lot of updates and large-scale events are planned for next year, but we can’t talk about them yet.

Mech Arena is more difficult. The project is very young, and there are a lot of ideas on how to develop it. And you need to choose the best ones. I want clans, events, large-scale tournaments, tons of new mechs and weapons, maps, the release of the game on PC and much more. We will try to do as much as possible.

We are also gradually recruiting a team for a new project. I can’t tell you the details yet, but I can already see that the game will be amazing.