In this in-depth discussion about Web3 gaming and Delabs Games’ new release Rumble Racing Star, we speak with Quinn Kwon, Head of Business Strategy at Delabs Games. Hosted by Ryan Gallagher from Outsider Gaming, this conversation promises an insightful look into the intersection of blockchain technology and the gaming industry.
South Korean developer Delabs Games is creating waves in the industry, especially in the Web3 sector. They are a spinoff of the well-known mobile gaming studio 433 Creative Labs, and as such, they have access to the studio’s deep knowledge of the mobile gaming industry and a reputation of producing hit mobile games. Their CEO formerly worked for Nexon, a major player in the gaming business, giving them an advantage.
Rumble Racing Star, their crowning achievement, is a casual racing game that just finished a closed beta to widespread acclaim. This interview is a rare chance to learn about the game and the developer’s ambitions before the open beta in October.
As Quinn describes Delabs Games’ strategy for Web3 games, the conversation takes a fascinating turn. Delabs Games is on a mission to change the dynamic between game developers and their players by moving away from the dominant “play to earn” approach. Their goal is to build a more open and cooperative system where players may have a say in the development of a game and have ownership over virtual property.
In this deep dive into Rumble Racing Star, Quinn explains how the game works and stresses the importance of the game’s characters, lawnmowers (the game’s special karts), and goods. The racing experience is elevated by allowing players to strategize which characters, lawnmowers, and goodies to use.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are also discussed and included into the game to demonstrate DeLabs Games’ participation in the wider Web3 community. The game’s depth and possibility for player interaction are enhanced through collaborations with NFT projects, the incorporation of NFT characters, and plans for user-generated material.
So read on to dive even deeper into the world of Web3 gaming, NFT integration, and the future of Rumble Racing Star…
Ryan
So, my name is Ryan Gallagher, and we’re here with the Outsider Gaming podcast on board. Today we have Quinn Kwon who is part of
deLabs games, and she is the spokesperson and the head of strategy for this gaming company. And as I understand it, they have a new racing game that’s coming out. So, we’re here to learn more about that. So, thanks for joining, Quinn.
Quinn
Thank you, Ryan, for the intro. Hi, I’m Quinn. I’m head of business strategy here at DeLabs games. I guess I can start maybe with an introduction of games.
Ryan
Sure. That’d be perfect. Yeah.
Quinn
So, games were a game development studio based in South Korea, and right now we’re building three different web3 games. We’re a subsidiary of a bigger mobile gaming company in South Korea, which is called four, three, three Creative Labs. So, this company has been running for like 13 years. We’ve had a bunch of blockbuster mobile games. So, we’re really like experts in the mobile scene. Our CEO also before founding four, three, three, and then DeLabs, he used to be also a CEO at Nexon. So back in the day when Maplestory started, Kartrider, our producer for Rumble Racing Star, which is the racing title, the producer used to be a producer for Crazy Racing Kartrider, which is one of the biggest racing titles here in South Korea. Yeah. So more about the games we’re building. We’re building three different titles. One is Rumble Racing Star, a Casual Racing Game, and then we have two other titles lined up, one is called Space Frontier, which is a survival crafting RPG. And then we have another character collection action RPG called Metabolt Twitch’s kind of anime style theme. So, we have those three games lined up right now.
Ryan
Very nice. And are those three games all in like the creation stage or what is, what is the status of those three right now?
Quinn
Yeah. So, Rumble Racing star we just finished our closed beta two weeks ago. So, we had it open for one week. We had a bunch of events going on. We had a lot of people come in, so we had 10k pre-pre-registered users and then we had over like 40 K races actually raced in the game as well as there’s the match called mode called friendly match mode where, which is more of a community like driven like you play with your friends’ kind of thing. So, there were a bunch of races played for that as well. So, we just finished up the closed beta. We’re gathering data, fixing bugs and preparing for open beta, which is coming in October. Awesome. And the other two games are actually more still in the development stage. We had some alpha builds in house. But for more public things, they’re all coming down the line.
Ryan
Very cool. So, I guess with these games and with your mobile games in the past, who are the people that are playing and most interested in these games?
Quinn
So, I think since we’re going onto the web. So far, we’ve had a lot of attention, and I think most of our community that is built around Rumble Racing Star is an audience more familiar with Web3, and we haven’t really. Put out, I guess, a lot of marketing efforts because those things usually come when we actually open it to the public for open beta and grand launch. So, for those we really expect more just the traditional gaming audience to come in and play. But so far, a lot of our community members are more from the Web3 side because we also did some NFT Mint Labs Adventure Pass. So, a lot of people in our community are adventure pass holders and we did a lot of collaborations with NFT projects, so we have a lot of people coming in from those as well. So far, it’s been a lot of Web3 audience coming in and playing our game, engaging with our community.
Ryan
Cool. And so, just for background, I’ve talked to a couple different people within the Web3 space, and it seems like there’s a lot of people like within that community, which is kind of like almost like an echo chamber, like everyone is down with it within that community. And then outside of it, it seems like people are still trying to understand what it means for their gaming experience. Because I think, you know, I would have a lot of questions and I’ve only learned about the Web3 gaming space through these interviews. So, I feel like average gamers still have a lot of questions. What do you think people would want to know about Web3 and that intersection with specifically rumble racing?
Quinn
So, I think just in general, I think it might be helpful to talk a little bit about why, like we at DeLabs games kind of started making Web3 games and like we’re aware that a lot of the games before have been played to earn. It was more about driving people in with this attractive economic model and then kind of having people see that fail like. For the past few years. I think a lot of games have been about that, like the P2P model and that’s where kind of the Web3 gaming scene started. But what we saw like at d Lab games actually our CEO, Jim Quan, he is he used to be a psychology professor and I think like games are really tied to psychology and we kind of talk about this in house, but in the gaming scene, what we saw that users were tired of was like the free to play model, which was monetizing users like super heavily. And that’s big. Also, especially in the mMORPG space, that’s big in Korea and we’ve seen a lot of that happen and we’ve seen users really get tired of that experience. But what we saw in blockchain was kind of a different way to approach the interaction between the gaming studio and the users in that it could create an interesting alignment. So, we don’t monetize the users as heavily and as easily as these MMORPGs and like these free to play games in the mobile space have done in the past. But we try to grow the user base with the user and with the community, like really engaging. In the transparent way which the blockchain like layer really enables. And having that both the psychology of ownership, of being able to own assets that you purchase like to play in the game and be able to sell that later.
Quinn
If you’re leaving or kind of have your interactions with the game be able to be monetized, I think that’s one thing. And being able to own those assets is one thing. And then the second thing is actually having the community really participate and engage deeply and have that voice heard and kind of your engagement and like user generated content, like all these things can come together. And if we find the right way to be able to reward these users, algorithmically through the blockchain, that really creates an interesting alignment between the company and the users. So that’s what we saw kind of in the blockchain space. And with Rumble Racing Star, I think we’re really trying to approach this in a community driven way. So, we’re trying to build a platform where different communities can come in and do friendly competition as well as create content. And with that engagement, thrive as a community driven game where the engagement and like the direction, can be driven more by the community and they can be rewarded in the right way for that. So, I think Rumble Racing started as a casual game with that social nature of playing with your friends. Interacting like through racing can really bring that experience.
Ryan
Very cool. Yes. Do you guys have like, I don’t know if you’ve released any gameplay or any didn’t see any or like prior to this call but didn’t know? Do you have any gameplay released or any teasers yet out there?
Quinn
Yeah, for Rumble Racing Star we have a bunch of gameplay videos, so we’re in closed beta. We had some streamers come in as well. We have some videos that we film in-house that we post on our YouTube, Twitter. And then there should also be content from other streamers and content creators who participated in our closed beta.
Ryan
Nice. I’m going to have to check that out. I’m always interested in racing games. I feel like, you know, my friends, we still play Mario Kart and I mean stuff like that is, it’s always fun. It’s kind of like a timeless sort of game. So yeah, I think as far as, as far as working in the Web3 space with that, I guess you would see a lot of users will have different assets, I’m sure maybe like different, you know, cars, wheels, you know. Take me through what that looks like a little bit within that game. You know, what are the parts where users will have input and then other parts where they won’t?
Quinn
Um, yeah. So, I guess we are separating. I think it would be helpful to start with just the gameplay itself and like the nature of it and what kind of elements there are. So first, there are characters which have their own unique skills. So, when you race, you have to fill up the skill gauge and you’ll be able to use the skill. And they all have unique skills. So, you choose your character based on what kind of skill and like what kind of track as well, what kind of game. And then we have the lawnmowers, which we are a lawn mower racing game. So, our karts are lawn mowers. So, lawn mowers have different stats, and you can choose them. Some of the lawn mowers are going to be NFTs. So, if you get these lawn mowers, they’re going to be tradable and mintable and then they will also have a special upgrade functionality that is going to come out as well. So those are the main NFTs because in a racing game, I think the biggest aspect is the kart definitely. And then we have a bunch of items that you get on the track. So, like I think you can imagine Mario Kart. So, what we really focus on, like for the game itself is being able to strategize between choosing the character and the kart and that combination as well as like the combination of that with the items you use and like depending on which track you race on. So having to strategize that is important. More on the side where users will be able to put in input. So, some things that we’re doing in terms of that. So, one thing we do is we’ve integrated with a lot of NFTs.
Quinn
So, we have official partnerships with a lot of the big projects, and we’re actually integrating their characters into the game. And for holders of some of those projects, they’ll be able to use their NFT as different aspects and you’ll be able to unlock that specific character as well as use your own one in your license plate as decals, as flags, things like that. So, kind of bringing in that community side of things into our game. And we’re also thinking of doing some lighter partnerships with the different, different NFTs so that we can really have that initial level of interoperability with different NFTs that are out in the market. Um, and with the, I guess, user participation part. We’re kind of in the stages of testing this out, seeing what exact system would work best for this. But we’re really trying to create a system where our active participants can really have a say in, for example, the next update or which event mode they would like to see, which item we’re thinking of creating, these kinds of items we want to really hear from the community. So, we’re trying to start that community driven initiative of engaging with us and how the game development direction is going. More down the line. We really want to do that in a more transparent way using blockchain. We’re kind of in the testing grounds for that right now.
Ryan
Definitely. Yeah. I think it seems like a lot is possible as far as everyone I’ve talked to in Web3 is like saying all this is possible, but it’s really like you said about the feedback you get for that specific game, right? Because some things, it just doesn’t make sense for the game, or it doesn’t make sense for the people. Like if people want to spend more time, less time, you need different tools for content generation, you know, how much is it worth, how much time is worth for them to spend on creating or, you know, adding feedback and things like that. So, it’s important to, you know, like what you’re saying. Test, test, test, test I guess beforehand and really gauge what people are liking. While you were talking, I was checking out the trailer and then I was going to try to share my screen so people watching this could see I’m going to see if this works over here. Let’s see.
Ryan
Bring this up. That’s not going to let me. Too bad.
Quinn
So.
Ryan
Yeah, I needed a grant permission and it’s asking me to close Skype and do it all over again, so.
Quinn
Oh, no. I can see your screen, though.
Ryan
Oh, can you?
Quinn
Um, it’s not playing. I see the YouTube screen.
Ryan
Well, maybe. Maybe it will. It will work. But, yeah, I was checking this out. I thought it was. It was funny. The characters and the carts that you guys have. Hopefully people can also see this while we’re recording. And if you can’t, they have the game trailer under DeLabs games, you know it’s called Rumble Racing Star. And you’ll see it says official, uh, official trailer. But yeah, I mean, this would fall in line with, with a game that I could see myself playing. I feel like personally I, I play games that are kind of simple and, you know, I mean, that’s why I still have like a GameCube and I still have to play games like, like I said, Mario Kart, super strikers, um, Mortal Kombat, like, pretty simple, but also, like, you play with your friends, Um, a lot of times, like. Friends will come over and, you know, we’ll do something like that. So, I feel like those types of games are always up my alley at least. What about you, Quinn? Are you a gamer or like, do you have any favorite games that you personally play?
Quinn
I do. I am a pretty big casual gamer. I don’t like hardcore games, but I love Mario Kart. If you love Mario Kart, you’ll love our game. Rumble Racing Star is pretty similar in terms of the nature. It’s very different in terms of character variety and item variety. So, I think it’ll be a really fun, different experience, but kind of in the same alley. I really like Stardew Valley. That’s one of my favorite games. I’ve been playing Tears of the Kingdom a lot recently. I’ve been obsessed. So that’s one of my favorite games right now as of the moment. But I’ve played a lot of games on the Switch.
Ryan
Yeah, I have the Switch as well. I’ve never played Stardew Valley. I’ve heard people really like that one. It’s like a popular title. And then the Tears of the Kingdom game is super popular and I feel like, I don’t know if this is true, but is there a tie between Web3 and user generated content and Tears of the Kingdom? I heard there was because I didn’t play the game. I was interested in it, but I heard there was some user generated content in that game. Is that correct?
Quinn
Yeah, definitely. I mean, there are some aspects I got inspiration from Tears of the Kingdom. In Tears of the Kingdom, you can like, put together different parts. For example, you have wheels, you have fans, you have wooden planks, and you just put them together in different ways so that you create your own vehicle, you create those kinds of things. So, there’s like a crafting system that’s involved. So, people have been super creative with Tears of the Kingdom. They give you a lot of different things like basic materials. And then people just create these, like, gigantic weapons that kill all the monsters and these, like, amazing vehicles that, like, let you go anywhere. So, I’ve been also having fun watching those videos on YouTube, but also inspirational for our survival and crafting game, which is a space adventure. So that’s also a crafting game. So, there are definitely some aspects of Tears of the Kingdom that can really be similarly used for our crafting games. So.
Ryan
That’s cool.
Quinn
That’s been really interesting to see.
Ryan
And for that, that crafting game…. remind me what that’s called? And when do you think that would be available for normal users to start checking out.
Quinn
Yeah. So, it’s a space themed survival crafting RPG called Space Frontier. So, the whole story is about trying to survive in a space-like environment, so you have your own home ground planet, and then there’s multiple planets that all have different environments. So, you go mine and collect materials and then you craft different things both on your home planet and like in those planets in order to survive. And this one, we are looking to have a closed beta by the end of this year. So, people will be able to pre-register for the closed beta.
Ryan
And so, if gamers want to try that or get involved somehow, what would be the best way for whether it be, you know, rumble racing or this new space frontier game, what would be the best way for them to reach out to you guys?
Quinn
Yeah. For Rumble Racing Star actually, we will have an open beta in October. So, I think that would be pretty soon. We’ll have a pre-registration link available for that pretty soon. But in order to get all this information, we have a DeLabs games Twitter, and then we have a Rumble racing star Twitter, and then we have a rumble racing star discord. So, these would be the best places to get information regarding Rumble Racing Star. And then for Space Frontier as well, following DeLabs games Twitter, you’ll be able to get the fastest information there.
Ryan
Sweet Yeah, Thanks! I mean I could definitely think of some of the writers for Outsider Gaming that would want to try that so definitely let me know when that registration link is up because I’ll send it in our slack chat of writers and I’m sure a couple guys and girls will want to get involved.
Quinn
Sounds good. It’ll be fun to play together in-house with the friendly match mode.
Ryan
So, I guess going back to a little bit of your background. Where are you based right now? And kind of how you got involved with games and all of this, you know, cool game creation stuff.
Quinn
Yeah. For me personally. Well, first, I’m based in South Korea. Most of our staff work in-house, so we are all in the same building. And then for me personally, I come from a development background, so I did software development just in the traditional web2 space. In the beginning, I’ve always wanted to make games, so as side projects, I would make these like mini casual, like hyper casual games on my own because I also like, I really like drawing as well. So, I’ve always had an interest in gaming and like casual gaming. And then, I kind of saw that blockchain was becoming popular, so I wanted to explore that field. So, I went into blockchain development. So, I was in a startup doing Defi, so I did some Defi development. So that’s where I got some familiarity, familiarity with the blockchain tech stuff. But then, I mean, I always wanted to explore my passion in gaming. So, I think that’s how the transition was kind of natural. Although now I’m not doing development anymore. I wanted to see more of a bigger picture of what’s going on as a business. So, I moved into strategy, but I also like to take care of some of the technical decision making here as well.
Ryan
Cool. Yeah, it’s great to have that background. When I work on Outsider Gaming, I have, you know, a gaming background a little like just like I said, very casual gaming. But my background is more journalism, writing, editing, that kind of stuff. So, it definitely helps, you know, when I’m working with the writers, while I’m not the one always writing, it’s still nice to be able to go check someone’s work or help them out in some way if I can. You know, it really is helpful, too, I’m sure, for you to bring that background perspective to your management or strategy job.
Quinn
Yeah, for sure. And I think especially like in the blockchain space, since the technology part has been like the big focus. I think it is especially important to be able to keep up with that technology and where it’s going and be able to apply that.
Ryan
Yeah. I’m located in New Jersey, and I work with some other people. We have a colleague in Chicago, another colleague in Philadelphia. But mostly all of the teams I work with are in Germany and Europe, in the Middle East. So, all over the world, really. So, it’s nice to be able to kind of bounce ideas off everyone. And like you said, you end up getting a lot of creativity that way when you know, you end up getting new ideas about what to write about, you know, what to focus on. And obviously new interview opportunities like this pop up. So very, very cool.
Quinn
Yeah, it must be nice also to kind of hear perspectives from all over the world.
Ryan
Yeah. I Guess. Is that for you and Delabs games and your games coming up? Do you think most people know you in South Korea only or do you think you’re getting kind of an audience all over the world at this point?
Quinn
I think actually we are less known in South Korea. We’re more known outside of here because first of all, I guess like regulation wise, South Korea is not super friendly to games that are related to like blockchain. So, blockchain games are actually illegal here. So, it’s kind of hard to build a native audience here. So, we’re putting more effort globally to build an audience.
Ryan
That’s crazy. Why? Why are they illegal there? Or what is the point of that?
Quinn
I think I guess just the way that money is distributed, it’s not going through legal means and there’s a lot of ways to take advantage of that. The Korean government has been a bit conservative in terms of plot.
Quinn
And especially after experiencing incidents like last year. But I think with some Korean blockchain companies, really like making big issues like in this space, I think they’re trying to be a lot more careful. Hm.
Ryan
Yeah, I’m trying to, I guess. I guess it’s completely legal here in the US. Don’t know. I guess I just don’t know the status of where there are regulations and where there are not. I know. I mean, with the whole, like, crypto crash and all of that. You know that dude and all this kind of commotion. I don’t know if there’s been more regulation added. Maybe you know better than me, but I’m not really sure about it here in the US.
Quinn
US, I don’t think blockchain gaming is illegal, but I know that some of the big gaming platforms actually think this is more of a global thing, are not friendly to blockchain games. Steam I think is still pretty conservative. Google Play Store just released their new regulation, which opened up a lot of possibilities actually. And I think the Apple Store is still a bit conservative.
Ryan
Like the only reason I could think like, I guess there’s two ways to look at it. Like if governments don’t want it, I guess it kind of makes sense because it’s their currency that could be devalued in a sense if some other currency becomes more valuable, I guess. And then the other way to look at it is I guess they would be trying to protect users from losing money or committing fraud or something like that. Those are the only two reasons I would think. So. It’s interesting, though. Very, very touchy.
Ryan
So, guess that’s funny. Like, how can you create that game in South Korea? If it’s illegal to play the game.
Quinn
It’s illegal to service it. So, we can just block out South Korean users.
Ryan
HaHa that’s one way.
Quinn
Um, so building the game is not illegal. Servicing it in Korea and marketing it in Korea would be illegal. So, we’re trying to, we’re looking at ways to. Be able to also service in South Korea. Guess it’s all about actually looking through all the fine details of which parts are regulated so that we don’t touch those parts. We’re still in discussions with our legal team regarding that. But just in the general sense, crypto games (play to earn) are banned in South Korea.
Ryan
Yeah. So, I guess if anything you would just have to release a, worst case scenario is you just release a version for South Korea that’s literally just racing, not play to earn or nothing to do with crypto.
Quinn
Yeah, that would also be another option to go around that. But thankfully 433 and a lot of the people like at Delabs actually have experience and like our experts have servicing global games. So okay, it’s not too big of an issue right now.
Ryan
Good. Awesome. All right. Well, what else can I ask you? I mean, we talked about the rumble racing star. We know that is coming for an open beta. You said in October of this year. So, like I said, definitely let us know because I know we have our writers and editors definitely, like, love to try new games. Oh, and the other question I had, I guess was all these games are mobile games, correct?
Quinn
So, Rumble Racing Star is actually coming to PC first. So, we have our data on PC. So, it’s a PC game. We’re probably going to also have it on mobile. Pushing down the line. Space Frontier and Metabolts are probably going to be cool, but we’re also discussing whether we want to go cross platform, which one to go first.
Ryan
It was going to be my next question, I mean, for me personally, I have a Switch. I guess I could play on my computer or my laptop. But yeah, I just was going to see if you had any plans or aspirations to bring it to any sort of console in the future.
Quinn
We haven’t really discussed the console. I think that would have to be a lot later down the line and if there is a lot of demand for it. Yeah, that could also be an option, but we’re not really thinking about that right at the moment. Also, especially because the game itself is actually free to play and we have some like in-app purchase elements. And I think for console, it’s usually packaged games where you pay and then start integrating the blockchain layers would also be another difficulty.
Ryan
It’s definitely, I guess, going to be a hindrance for Web3 gaming when it comes to consoles. Guess you’re pretty much separated from most consoles at that point when you’re creating a game like that. Right?
Quinn
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a web3 game that you can play on a console. I actually haven’t thought about that. But yeah.
Ryan
I guess if you did, you would release the very basic version, you know, just racing or just, you know, the campaign in the, in that the frontier game, you know, and then hopefully you would I guess you would hope that users would try to do things and then you would have a message saying like, oh, this is only available on PC or mobile or whatever. So, I guess that would be a way to do it, but maybe it’s not worth it for you guys.
Quinn
Yeah, I think maybe once the game really does well and there is a lot of demand, I think that’s a possibility we can explore then. But I think right now I think it makes more sense for us to focus our efforts on PC and mobile.
Ryan
All right. Well, is there anything else that you wanted to kind of shout out or anything else you’re working on or anything you’re excited about? Any type of person that’s playing the game or anything you want users to know if they come to this interview.
Quinn
I do have one last thing that’s coming up for us. So, there’s going to be Career Blockchain Week, which is one of the biggest blockchain conferences in the world. It’s the first week of September and our founder Joonmo will be speaking at the conference. He’ll be a moderator for one of the panels. And then we actually have a side event here in our office. So, if anyone’s in Korea, I think it would be awesome to come visit. We’ll have drinks, we’ll have our racing game there for people to play. So, it’ll be a lot of fun and a lot of prizes, so.
Ryan
Cool. All right. Well, yeah, I’ll have to add that when we publish the article and the interview about this. To add a little note, when is that event?
Quinn
So, the event is actually on the 7th of September.
Ryan
Nice. Very nice.
Quinn
If anyone in your audience is in Korea, it’ll be a lot of fun.
Ryan
I’m sure someone is. Well, we’ll have to have them reach out to us. But let them know and maybe ask them more about how we get around the blockchain ban.
Ryan
All right. Well, that’s pretty much all the questions that I had. Thought it was a pretty cool conversation. Definitely learned a lot. So, yeah, best of luck to you guys. And can’t wait to hear more when the game is released and when I can give it a try.
Quinn
Sounds good. It was great talking to you. And thank you for making time for this interview.
Ryan
Absolutely.
Conclusion
Our conversation with Quinn Kwon, the Head of Business Strategy at DeLabs Games, has illuminated the exciting possibilities of Web3 gaming and their flagship title, Rumble Racing Star. The gaming community is looking forward to the open beta release in October and the potential of this innovative venture.
As we delve deeper into the realm of Web3 gaming, Rumble Racing Star stands out as a paradigm of what can be achieved when people, platforms, and ideas come together. Keep reading for further information on this thrilling expedition into the games industry’s bright future.
We appreciate Quinn Kwon so much for her time and effort in answering our questions and providing us with valuable information. For our readers, we hope this in-depth look into Web3 gaming and its enormous potential has been both informative and entertaining. The game industry is constantly expanding, so keep your engines running and your sights set on the horizon.