Crossfire: Sierra Squad is the “VR-Game-Changer” 2023-07-04

“Fresh technology makes fresh entertainment” 

Kay Sangkyoon Lee, Director of Crossfire: Sierra Squad 

The CROSSFIRE franchise, having more than one billion players around the world, is one of the largest video game franchises in Korea. This coming summer of 2023, Crossfire: Sierra Squad, the first VR game of Smilegate’s prominent CROSSFIRE franchise, is ready to make its entrance onto the stage. 

Crossfire: Sierra Squad was premiered last March at the GDC (Game Developers Conference) held in San Francisco, CA. The debut was a success; the game was praised for its captivating storytelling and immersive gameplay. “The VR game we’ve been eagerly waiting for.”, most popularly said by the visitors at the premiere.

We interviewed Kay Sangkyoon Lee, the director of Crossfire: Sierra Squad, to discuss how Smilegate is anticipating the future of VR games.

Q: Crossfire: Sierra Squad was greeted with positive reactions on the release of the official trailer in November 2022. Crossfire: Sierra Squad is very meaningful being the first attempt to expand the CROSSFIRE franchise to the field of VR. Were there any concerns or failures? What were the expectations and the main focus as a company?
 

Ever since I joined Smilegate in late 2016, my goal was to develop a VR game, especially a shooter game. I expressed my intention to Ina Jang, Head of Smilegate Entertainment, “I want to develop a CROSSFIRE VR game.” “A game can fail, but never should an IP.”, she replied. There was a need to build experience in the Smilegate VR studio to reduce the risk of using CROSSFIRE IP. Our VR studio made ROGAN: The Thief in the Castle and FOCUS on YOU. Both games received an award at the 2019 VRCORE Awards. The VR studio team became veterans through the experience, ready to develop a CROSSFIRE game on VR.

* IP is an acronym for “Intellectual Property”

Q: “A game can fail, but never should an IP.” That is a critical point. It must have been important to glorify the CROSSFIRE IP while expanding the universe. Mr. Lee, we noticed that you were an author before you became a game developer. Did that experience help upon writing the storyline of Crossfire: Sierra Squad?
 

The universe of CROSSFIRE is immense. Almost comparable to the size of the Marvel Universe. I cooperated with the department in charge of the CROSSFIRE universe to create my own storyline. The story of Crossfire: Sierra Squad is a prequel, having no influence on the main story of the CROSSFIRE series, which is the war between Global Risk and Black List. 

The title of the game, Crossfire: Sierra Squad, is the summary of its story. Generally, strike forces in the military are named after each consecutive alphabet based on each team’s importance. For example, it would go like Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta where Alpha is the most important team. Sierra, a team named after the alphabet S, is a rearguard unit, and the story is about this Sierra team being drawn into a critical situation.

Yes, my experience as an author did help with mapping out this side storyline that doesn’t interfere with the main theme of CROSSFIRE.

“Users want a VR game, not a VR trial”

Q: Earlier you said, “I joined Smilegate to develop a VR game.” You seem to be fully determined in your vision of VR games.
 

As a game developer, I always believed fresh technology makes fresh entertainment. For example, Call of Duty, one of the best-selling games in the world, is not as entertaining as it was in the past. Despite how good the game is, it gets boring as you repeat the same content over and over. Innovative technology is needed for fresh entertainment. When I first encountered VR games, I was confident this technology could bring a new level of entertainment. 

Q: When Crossfire: Sierra Squad was first introduced, you said, “I worked hard to make a real VR game rather than a mere VR trial.” What makes Crossfire: Sierra Squad outstanding--distinct from past VR games?
 

Past VR games focused on showing what’s interesting about the VR technology itself. An example would be a job simulator game where you role-play as a cashier scanning barcodes. After thoroughly reviewing the VR game community, I realized that users demand real games, not simple simulations. They want games that are dedicated to entertainment. Therefore, I took my time to figure out what would make Crossfire: Sierra Squad a real game. More than simply picking up and observing objects, Crossfire: Sierra Squad gives real satisfaction to users while shooting and bombing enemies. I developed this game hoping I could prove that a VR experience can provide the fundamental entertainment of a game.

Q: How was the reaction when you premiered Crossfire: Sierra Squad at the GDC last March?
 

Way above our expectations. I remember someone said at the premiere, “Thanks for making a VR game like this.” The VR game industry is starting to grow faster, but its market size is only 1% of the entire gaming industry for now. This tells me VR gamers are craving a better VR game, and Crossfire: Sierra Squad is the game they have been waiting for. Afterall, there aren’t many VR games that one could call a real game. A real game like Crossfire: Sierra Squad? They love it.

Q: Recently there is a rising trend of sophisticated AI (artificial intelligence) led by ChatGPT. There are 17 types of enemies operated on such complex AI. What did you focus on while designing the AI in the game, and what’s something users can find entertaining playing against these enemies?
 

Targets or enemies in past VR shooter games were simple dummy-like zombies because the experience of shooting in VR space itself was interesting enough. Still, it would be way more interesting if the enemies use strategies to defeat the player such as having a strategically formatted deployment, surrounding the player to give pressure, and charging when the player is out of ammo. However, not many VR games were able to implement this. I think what’s mostly important in portraying an action is the interaction between the players and their hostiles. 

Not saying we used ChatGPT (laughter), but the enemies in Crossfire: Sierra Squad do have sophisticated AI that is fun to interact with. Now, the enemies are intelligent. The enemies will have psychological warfare with the player. When the player aims at the enemies, they catch the player’s action and take cover while also trying to deceive the player. Predictable AI loses its purpose of being interesting. Therefore, I designed the AI to be as unpredictable as possible. These unpredictable enemies also have diverse types, and players will enjoy coming up with different strategies to find the weakness of enemies.
 

Q: A memorable comment from the official trailer of Crossfire: Sierra Squad on YouTube was “cinematic”. I think the keyword “cinematic” also resembles the entire CROSSFIRE franchise. What characteristic does Crossfire: Sierra Squad have that makes it “cinematic”?   



I saw the comment too. I think what the commenter meant by “cinematic” is that our game has the visual quality of a movie. Actually, our art staffs are veterans of the game industry. Their artistic talent played a huge part in making our game’s visual quality like a movie.

Q: CROSSFIRE is a representative IP of Smilegate, and the new series Crossfire: Sierra Squad expanded the universe with a subplot. What did you prioritize on storytelling in terms of expanding the universe?
 

I prioritized neat storytelling. I made a storyline that relates and yields to the original story of CROSSFIRE. Further, I made sure my story won’t collide with future plans of expanding the universe. Ultimately, I wanted to make a short, simple, and neat story that also focuses on the fundamental amusement of the shooter game genre.

Q: An important factor that affects the success of a VR game is the quality and accessibility of the VR machine the game is playable on. I think that was an important reason why PlayStation 5 was selected as the platform partner for Crossfire: Sierra Squad. What’s the merit of using PlayStation 5 VR?
 

The launch dates of PlayStation VR 2 and Crossfire: Sierra Squad were aligned neatly. From the perspective of business, PlayStation would be a great partner for the global expansion of the CROSSFIRE franchise. CROSSFIRE is the world’s top IP, but the current major consumers are China and South East Asia. The VR game industry, on the other hand, is mostly based in Western Europe and Northern America. I signed the partnership with PlayStation thinking it would give us competitiveness in the Northern American region, and I think it was the right choice.
 

Q: According to “Games Marketing Insights for 2022” by Meta (Formerly Facebook), South Korea had a larger proportion of VR gaming compared to those in the United States, United Kingdom, etc. We can clearly see the high expectations Korea has for VR games. Still, VR games have a long way to go. What’s something that we have to overcome for the growth of the VR game industry from the perspective of a developer?
 

VR gamers in Korea have a common psychological barrier. There are only few games to play with costly VR equipment. They question whether it is rational to buy such expensive VR equipment to play one game. In order for the VR game industry to grow, there must be more well-made contents. The more VR games of quality there are, the more users will purchase VR equipment to play, which will grow the industry. In that aspect, I have hopes that Crossfire: Sierra Squad might play a part in expanding the VR game market.

Q: The International Data Corporation predicted that the VR game industry will be a Blue Ocean as the industry is expected to grow over 25% by 2026. Mr. Lee, how do you predict the VR game industry?
 

I agree that the VR game industry is Blue Ocean. If you have ever tried playing a VR game, you will realize that it is an experience on a whole different level compared to the games before. However, the price of VR equipment needs to be cut down for everyone to enjoy VR games. It’s a matter of technology, and technology is a matter of time. Primal VR equipment displayed a pixelated screen. The screen would show a virtual reality, but the user is aware that the eyes are looking at a screen. Now with the 4k resolution available, users can feel more vivid. This was the improvement of ten years, and the next advancement is going to be faster. I’m waiting for that time to come.

Q: When I think about VR games, it reminds me of Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One. How much time will it take to experience that level of immersion? I would also like to hear about how Smilegate will open the future of VR games starting with Crossfire: Sierra Squad.
 

I watched Ready Player One too, and for now, it will stay cinematic (laughter). Unless ChatGPT becomes capable of making games on its own, it would be extremely difficult to create a multiplayer game with countlessly diverse contents just like in the movie. I wouldn’t say impossible at this rate of advancement in technology. Maybe in a few decades? 

As a game developer, I believe I am an artist fundamentally. That’s why I am obsessed with perfection. My current vision with Crossfire: Sierra Squad is to spread the message, “Finally a fine VR shooter game that’s worth trying!”. I hope Crossfire: Sierra Squad helps the expansion of the VR game industry. Personally, I’m happy that I achieved my goal of developing a VR shooter game. This is only the first shooter game from the Smilegate VR studio, and we will continue to challenge ourselves based on this experience. Throughout this experience, I learned how challenging but entertaining it is to make a shooter game.

Q: What was something that was most challenging but entertaining during development?
 

Everything we went through during development was new. When we were testing the prototype, we noticed something was wrong with shooting the guns, but we couldn’t define what the problem was. After repeated experiments and examinations, we discovered that the timing of the gun being fired visually and the sound of the blast was misaligned, and only 0.05 seconds of misalignment came across as awkward. Likewise, the most challenging but entertaining parts of the development were the numerous experiments we conducted to give the player a real-life-like experience. A few of our team became geeks for guns making Crossfire: Sierra Squad (laughter).

Q: What was your happiest moment making Crossfire: Sierra Squad?
 

My happiest moment was when Crossfire: Sierra Squad was premiered at the GDC. During the development, the game improved by 10% each week first few weeks, but it was difficult to improve the game by 1% the more the game was close to finishing. The hardest part was improving the game by 1~2% near the deadline, and we lost our confidence. “Are we releasing a game that is barely a 90 when our goal was a 100?” We were depressed and in doubt. Opposed to our concerns, the visitors at the GDC loved our game. We felt proud and gained our confidence again. We still feel pressured to make the game a 100 with the remaining time, but we are going to release the game in perfect shape. 

Something that was interesting at the GDC was that so many visitors from the Northern American region didn’t know how to operate a gun. Most men from Korea have basic knowledge of firearms like changing magazines because they all have been in the military. In contrast, many foreign visitors said they never touched a gun in their entire life. The difference was fresh to me. Hence, our new goal is to include all spectrums of people: from those who know well how to interact with a gun to those who have never touched a gun. I want everyone to be satisfied with the experience of Crossfire: Sierra Squad.
 

Q: What are your dreams and goals as a game developer and an artist?
 

Jacques Lacan, a philosopher I admire, introduced the concept of “objet a”, which in artistic terms can be explained as the lacking desire an artist could not obtain from an object. When an artist attempts to make an artwork out of an object, will the work be 100% ideal? It’s not possible. The artist’s desire will remain in the ideal object, and the artist will never be satisfied with the artwork.

My dream as a game developer and an artist is to create a game that I can fill up with 100% of my desire in it, not leaving any “objet a”. I know it’s nearly impossible, and I will have to be devoted. One day, I want to make a game that doesn’t leave any unsatisfied desires, but only relief inside me. Not sure if that time will ever come (laughter).

Q: Any words for those waiting for Crossfire: Sierra Squad to be released?
 

It’s difficult to say that every single part of our game would be perfect since it’s our VR studio’s first shooter game. Yet, I can assure you that the action of shooting against the enemies is satisfying. Please try out the fresh entertainment Crossfire: Sierra Squad provides with fresh technology.