GameSpy: Octopi has become SOE Tucson. Can you tell us about the events that led up to this acquisition?
Dan Kopycienski: We had been talking to Sony for a while about possibly doing some distribution with us, starting a partnership there. Those guys have great experience with larger games; they have a lot of customers. We were still kind of out on our own. We were doing well, but it would have been really nice to have that experienced partner.

Then it just evolved from there as we started talking. We told them our plans, what we were looking to do in the future, and it lined up with what they were doing there. It turned out to be a pretty good match.
GameSpy: So now that you're part of this much larger company, what do you expect will change?
Dan Kopycienski: I think we're going to get a lot more support. Just the resources we have now, for instance.
GameSpy: Marketing? Technical?
Dan Kopycienski: I think across the board. SOE Denver has a ton of experience and has done really well with their trading card games. I think there's a lot of synergies between the companies. I'm looking forward to not only really continuing with PoxNora, adding more features, getting more people playing, increasing marketing and PR, but also what we can do in the future with new titles.
The new expansion introduces 70 new runes and increases the rune dock size to 30.

GameSpy: How large is SOE Tucson and the PoxNora development team?
Dan Kopycienski: The whole studio is 17 people.
GameSpy: Will they be working on PoxNora for the foreseeable future, or have some moved on to one of these new titles?
Dan Kopycienski: We've been speccing some things out, but everyone is working on PoxNora right now. As we decide on additional titles and additional products, we'll be growing the staff.
GameSpy: Do you expect that future titles will follow the same models of collectible gaming and strategy gaming?
Dan Kopycienski: Well, I'm a huge fan of strategy gaming, so I wouldn't be surprised. But nothing's concrete right now.
GameSpy: How important for Octopi was it to get the support of Penny Arcade when the game first launched?
Dan Kopycienski: We were very flattered when we saw that article about our game. I think the quote was something along the lines of, "if we were to make a game, this is the kind of game we'd make." To read that, that's a huge compliment. Those guys are just avid gamers, and a lot of gamers visit their website, so it was awesome. I think that day was the first time our servers crashed.
GameSpy: When I was recently browsing your forums, I saw SOE President John Smedley introduced himself to your community, saying that he was a long-time Magic: The Gathering player and loved PoxNora. He then went on to say that he thinks the game would be a great fit on the PlayStation 3. What do you think about that?
Dan Kopycienski: I think that's awesome. I've been a PlayStation 3 owner for a while, and I'm looking forward to doing that.
GameSpy: So we can count on PoxNora coming to the PlayStation Network?
Dan Kopycienski: That is definitely on the table. If John wants it done, and I want it done, I think we should do it. PoxNora would be perfect for the PlayStation Network, I think it would be a great success.