"Would be nice to see some truly creative ideas"

(27.06.2007, 14:28:55) Hattrick is one of the browser games that made it. From being a small local Swedish project with about 2,000 users in 1998 it became a big player and is now scratching the 1,000,000 players mark.

Galaxy-News: Hattrick is one of the most successful browser games there is. When did you start working for it?


Johan: I've been with Hattrick since 1998, I started out as a user in the game which at that time had 1800 users locally in Sweden. I got involved in the development of the game, and we launched Hattrick internationally in 2000 and after that it has kept growing into something very big and

lovable.



Galaxy-News: What was your aim when you first started it?



Johan: There wasn't a big outspoken aim for the game in terms of number of users or languages and so on. It was a creative project based on fun and the joy of trying out game design ideas and technology, but obviously we realized the site had potential because users got very passionate about the game, much the way we felt about it. The million user mark was always an abstract dream that we would jokingly point towards when we got questions like this, and now we are actually very close to achieving this - Hattrick now has 990 000 active users worldwide.



Galaxy-News: Do you think the market changed in the last years? If yes, in how far?



Johan: There are many more games out now, and you can see that there are now projects around that have more financial motivations than maybe the games that started out five years or more years ago. The letdown is maybe that most new games are still derivates of the older games, it would be nice to see some truly creative ideas in this market.



Galaxy-News: Has it been harder to compete with the bigger companies?



Johan: No, not really. I don't see many of them as competitors, at least not when it comes to making other browser based games. Of course they do compete for user's time, for example with PC-based online games such as

WoW, social network sites, etc.



Galaxy-News: Please describe Hattrick and it's main features.



Johan: Hattrick is a football manager game world. You own and manage a fictional football club, building it from a grassroots team to something big and succesful. The game itself is quite strategic and long-term, most users plays for years and years. But you can also get quick satisfaction, creating youth leagues for your friends or just hanging out in the great community of football lovers.



Galaxy-News: What makes Hattrick different from other manager games?



Johan: Hattrick is less about instant gratification. It also has a fantastic community. It's free, you can't pay money to get any advantages in the game.



Galaxy-News: How many people work for Hattrick and what are your plans for the next years?



Johan: About 15 people work with Hattrick, from developers to customer service staff. We have a lot of work to do in the next few years, we will slowly improve the game functionality, making it deeper and more balanced. But

we try not to talk too much about new features until they are decided on and we know we can deliver them.



Galaxy-News: Thanks a lot for your time. This is space for additional comments and to say good bye to our readers. Bye and good luck!



Johan: Thanks for reading and please give Hattrick a try, everyone!

Autor: Redaktion

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#1 Hattrick

(24.05.2009, 15:15:00) The free simulation game we like best is Hattrick, an online, browser-based, football management game (MMOG) developed in Sweden. Currently the game contains 124 different countries, each with its own league pyramid, and 47 different language versions (since October 3, 2008).

"In Hattrick beheer je een eigen voetbalclub"

(22.10.2007, 07:13:24) Hattrick is een populair spel met grote naambekendheid, in Nederland en internationaal. Van een klein Zweeds project tot een internationaal bedrijf met tegen de 1,000,000 actieve spelers. We stellen een aantal vragen aan Matthias Niesink, de Nederlandse admin van Hattrick.