Interview with Vladimir Kurochkin, President of The Abyss
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Vladimir Kurochkin: “The Abyss will constantly innovate and contribute to the development of the global video game industry.”
The Abyss starts a series of interviews to introduce you to the team’s core members that will give you an idea of what they do, and who they are. In our first interview we introduce Vladimir Kurochkin, President of The Abyss.
Q: Vladimir, how long have you been into all this video games stuff? What games left the biggest impression?
Vladimir Kurochkin (V.K.): Well, it all comes from the early childhood. I’m a gamer with a life-long experience, dating from the mid-1990s, when 8-bit game consoles still dominated the local market. However, the turning point came in the first half of 2000s. It was the time when Ultima Online entered my life and has almost entirely changed it. I wanted to buy a CD-copy with my own money, and I decided that it was the right time to start getting my own income. In the age of 12 I started writing term papers for college students, and the first order brought me $20. I was totally amazed by the digital universe that offered Ultima Online. Here I could be whoever or/and whatever I wanted to be. I could communicate with elder guys without giving away my true age. Soon we’ve built our own game community with its own servers and a newspaper called British News (after lord British, one of the games’ main characters). I wrote articles for this newspaper earning money for upgrading my character. It was a magnificent period for all of us, and even 17 years after this friendship still lives on.
Q: OK, so these were your first steps in the video game business? What happened next?
V.K.: In 2008, I joined Destiny.Games, the freshly-created, yet very promising, video game company. My first position was a community manager at Botva Online MMO game. From that time onwards I have been deeply engaged in almost all the projects run by the company.
Q: Which of them were the most exciting?
V.K.: The joint projects with our Chinese partners were the most exciting, because they delivered an Asian market experience at its best. We have established a subsidiary company, called Destiny.China, for launching our games in China, and for distributing the Chinese game projects in CIS region. The legendary MMORPG Weapons of the Gods and The City of Transformers have become our key game projects at that time.
Q: How The Abyss was born?
V.K.: The idea of The Abyss belongs to project’s Founder, Konstantin Boyko-Romanovsky, with whom we’ve been working hand in hand for 10 years so far. He is a true visionary creator and a credible business leader. The basic idea was to build a digital distribution platform that utilizes blockchain technology allowing to introduce some exclusive features. The Abyss was born in the right moment of time, and has become an answer to the growing market demands, helping to fill the existing gaps. It is a unique and innovative project. Even our token sale model, DAICO, was new to the market, and we were the first to implement it.
Q: What are the key benefits that The Abyss and blockchain can bring to the market?
V.K.: The global video game market is dominated by a few major players, like Steam, GOG, Kongregate, etc., that have enough power to dictate and impose their conditions to gamers and developers. The Abyss is the next generation game platform that offers multiple services, that will help game developers to reduce their marketing costs and to deliver their products to the mass users with lesser time and financial resources spent. And what is extremely important, it also offers lots of opportunities to earn money while playing or creating video games. Our multilevel referral program will revolutionize the entire industry. Additionally, The Abyss allows to enjoy all the benefits of blockchain and cryptocurrency, that will remain the major economic trends in for many years to come.
Q: Where do you see The Abyss in 3–5 years?
V.K.: The Abyss will be one of the notable and well respected players in the video game industry known for constantly innovating and bringing new ideas, and providing the state-of-the-art services that meet the growing market demands.
Q: What are the key achievements of The Abyss so far?
V.K.: We created the company that has a very inspiring and challenging mission — to revolutionize the video game distribution industry. We have a very strong and creative team that has successfully completed the DAICO overcoming all the challenges. We have already taken steps in building up of our product — the digital distribution platform that will contribute to the development of the global video game industry. The Abyss is a young project and much is yet to be done, but we are the ones that will challenge the market monopoly that game developers are suffering from.
Q: What is The Abyss currently working on, and what are the plans for the near future?
V.K.: After completing the DAICO process, our team has already delivered several major milestones and the development process is proceeding in accordance with the existing plan.
We’re working really hard to cover all the aspects. Much efforts are being spent on seeking and hiring the talented programmers, developers and other professionals, as well as integrating the most advanced technologies and services to the platform.
We continue negotiating new partnerships and are looking for new business opportunities that will help to bring positive changes to the video game industry.
Q: What video games you would like to see on The Abyss?
V.K.: The games that combine captivating stories with an outstanding graphics. And all others that will meet our requirements.
Q: What games you personally used to play?
V.K.: I love various types of games, with MMOs being my favorite. I wish I had more free time for playing.
Q: What inspires you in your everyday work?
V.K.: The feeling of a continuous and unstoppable progress. This feeling of moving forward is really inspiring.
Q: What game character you can compare yourself to, and why?
V.K.: I feel like an Iron Man, the character that fights all the evil, while remaining ironic and good-humored.
Q: What was the most rewarding moment in The Abyss for you personally?
V.K.: The day The Abyss token sale has been successfully finished was the most rewarding. It marked both the end of the great work that has been done and the beginning of the new stage of the project development.
Q: And what was the toughest moment?
V.K.: The early stage of project development was the toughest period in terms of development and doing business. It was difficult to deliver our vision of the future of the video game industry, and to explain the very concept of a blockchain powered digital distribution game platform. It was tough but it is gone already. The future is bright.
Q: OK, that’s it. Thanks for the interview, Vladimir!
V.K.: You’re welcome.
