"The initial concept was inspired by Death Stranding" - Wuthering Waves devs discuss its development, challenges, and future plans [Exclusive]

Wuthering Waves has quickly taken the gacha gaming genre by storm. The open-world RPG published by Kuro Games features a striking combat system, unique mechanics, and an interesting world to explore which has piqued the interests of players all around the world. Despite the initial struggles and criticisms the game has faced, it has garnered exceptional revenue for Kuro Games and is set to be a mainstay in the gacha gaming genre.

Sportskeeda Esports recently had the opportunity to speak with Dong, the senior producer of Wuthering Waves, about the game's development, early inspirations, and its future.

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Wuthering Waves senior producer, Dong, talks about the Echo system, worldbuilding, and issues with localization

Q: Did you expect Wuthering Waves to start off with such immense success in a short time?

Dong: Even before the game launched, we had already garnered significant attention from players, achieving over 30 million pre-registrations. We are delighted that the game has continued this momentum after its launch. After launch, we received over 30 million downloads, topping the daily download charts in over 100 regions.

We also achieved top positions on the daily bestseller charts in multiple regions. What makes us even happier is that many players have given positive reviews about our game after its release. Kuro has always valued community feedback, and the recognition from players means a lot to us.

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Q: Despite the game's popularity, there has been plenty of criticism due to bugs and errors. How has the team been able to navigate through the tough times?

Dong: On the one hand, we work hard to technically solve all bugs or errors encountered. The team's common goal is to create a better gaming experience for players. We will continue to pay attention to players' feedback, and everyone is welcome to leave us messages through customer service or Discord.

On the other hand, our development and optimization in various aspects will be announced to all players regularly in the form of R&D logs. We believe that only frank and transparent communication and bravely facing our shortcomings are the most direct ways to improve the quality of the game.

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Q: There are a lot of localization issues in the game right now. What is the team doing to fix this particular issue?

Dong: The simultaneous global release is a brand new challenge for us. We didn’t have much experience in global releases, and one manifestation of this is the insufficient quality of the localization at launch. However, our localization quality has already improved compared to the initial launch period, and are gradually enhancing it mainly through two approaches.

Firstly, we have expanded the size of our localization team. Secondly, we have optimized the localization workflow, focusing more on in-game localization. There's one thing for sure we will continue to invest in localization, leveraging internal potential while collaborating with industry experts who have extensive expertise to bring a better localized gaming experience to players worldwide.

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Q: What was the first idea or concept that sparked the development of Wuthering Waves?

Dong: The initial concept for our game was inspired by Death Stranding. Our goal was to create a post-apocalyptic world where players can experience the fusion of new and old civilizations.

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Q: What were some of the key things that the team wanted to achieve with Wuthering Waves compared to Punishing: Gray Raven?

Dong: Punishing: Gray Raven is a game we continue to develop as well. We have expectations for both Punishing: Gray Raven and Wuthering Waves. For us, the difference between Punishing: Gray Raven and Wuthering Waves lies in their genres.

Wuthering Waves is an open-world game with more gameplay variety and stories. This means we hope Wuthering Waves can attract a broader player base and provide us with more market insights on a global scale.

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Q: Is there a concrete roadmap that the team is currently following for the development of Wuthering Waves? Is it possible to share an approximate roadmap for the story content and map expansions?

Dong: We certainly have short-term, mid-term, and long-term plans for future game development. However, due to confidentiality, please allow us to respond with "stay tuned" regarding the specific storyline or map roadmap.

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Q: What were some of the inspirations for the unique Echo system in Wuthering Waves?

Dong: The Echo system is one of our core gameplay features. In fact, everyone just thought at first that it would be a very cool thing to be able to absorb monsters and use them for your own, so we put him into the game. After many rounds of testing later, we found that players can also feel the potential of this system. In the future, the Echo system will also be an absolute focus, and we will further bring a variety of summonable Echoes to players.

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Q: How will the world-building and lore look in the future as we have currently only seen one of the six regions in the game right now?

Dong: For future world-building, we are unable to elaborate further to avoid spoilers. However, the story of Wuthering Waves definitely extends beyond Huanglong. As the story unfolds, players can expect to explore more regions with different visual styles and customs and delve deeper into the secrets behind Solaris-3 and Rover (the main character).

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Q: Has the success of Wuthering Waves allowed the team to possibly publish new games in the distant future?

Dong: Currently, we will continue to focus on our two operational games. Our primary mission at the moment is to continuously provide better game content, experiences, and services for players of Wuthering Waves and Punishing: Gray Raven. However, in the future, we will not rule out any possibilities.

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Q: The amount of effort put into Wuthering Waves is incredible. The graphics, OST, storytelling, combat mechanics, and repeatable content are a treat for the fans in this genre. Would you consider Wuthering Waves as Kuro Games' most ambitious project ever?

Dong: From an investment perspective, Wuthering Waves is the most ambitious project Kuro has ever undertaken. In terms of the project's significance, we are doing many things that have no precedent in Kuro's history, requiring us to navigate the solution step by step. It is Kuro's first open-world game, the first game developed using the UE4 engine, and the first game to be globally released, simultaneously.

With Wuthering Waves, we aim to accumulate sufficient experience in game production, industrialization, and global distribution through its long-term operation, to support the company's future strategic development.

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