Future Sony MMOs Will Be On Consoles

The MTV Multiplayer Blog interviewed John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment, about the future of MMOs. He discusses some of SOE's current projects and comments that they'll be focusing on consoles for all of their upcoming MMOs. "I would say that we would be one of the early adopters on [bringing MMOs to consoles], and we plan on becoming one of the dominant players in the MMO space on consoles." Sony's plans may include games for their hand-held console, the PSP. Smedley goes on to talk about bringing existing, popular franchises into MMO development, and remarks, "It's pretty safe to say that 'EverQuest' has not seen its last game."

Comments

Who cares and good riddance.

[rufusdufus]

See these charts:
http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html
http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart2.html

Notice the arcs of SOE's products. This company is washed out. And no wonder; the way they jerk their players around is unbelievable. This company is run by sociopaths.

Re:goodluckwiththat

[Hairy Heron]

Yep it's not like anyone played FFXI or anything.

Console controllers for long-term playing?

[compumike]

Maybe it's just me, but for something that I'll be playing even for more than half an hour, I really prefer a PC mouse/keyboard (and sometimes joystick) to a console controller. Since these MMOs tend to focus on people who are going to be playing for a long time very frequently, I hope they've considered that effect. I'd get very uncomfortable with any of the popular console controls (Wii/Xbox) and just don't find them particularly effective. Additionally, text chat seems to be an important part of MMOs.

This isn't a show-stopper, as I'm sure they could adapt conventional PC controls, but I'm still not sure if it's a step in the right direction or not.

Re:Console controllers for long-term playing?

[RightSaidFred99]

I think it is a showstopper. MMO requires keyboard/mouse - period. Or at least, a standard console controller won't cut it.

Re:Console controllers for long-term playing?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Your point is fair, console controls are substantially inferior for certain purposes(RTS is the worst, FPS is pretty bad, MMO isn't much better than FPS). However, it should be noted that the all contemporary consoles have USB ports, and all but the 360 have bluetooth(except maybe the most cut down ps3, I can't keep them straight). USB HID and/or bluetooth peripheral support would be trivial enough to add, and USB or bluetooth peripherals are ubiquitous and cheap.

The consoles have absorbed enough PC that controller suckitude is optional.

Re:Console controllers for long-term playing?

[Hairy Heron]

FPS is pretty bad,

And yet apparently 10s of millions of people seem to manage playing them just fine on consoles. I think the issue is a personal failing on your own part in light of this. BTW I play FPS on both PCs and consoles and have no issues with either and never understand when people complain about this.

Re:Console controllers for long-term playing?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I'm not looking to start a flamewar over matters of taste; but I will note that autoaim is considered a cheat on the PC, and a feature on the console. Go figure.

Re:Console controllers for long-term playing?

[Darinbob]

It's because you are special, with double jointed fingers able to wrap around a tiny controller and manipulate 2 joysticks simultaneously while pressing left+triangle+B. Just because I can't do it doesn't mean I'm lame, and just because you can do it doesn't mean everyone else can.

Consoles have a completely different viewpoint from PCs. On my PC I am currently playing a game that is more than ten years old. Is anyone on an XBox pulling out dusty boxes from their closets to replay them? Anyone on a console alt-tabbing out of an MMO to check their email? Consoles basically grew up around kids, designed for families who can't afford computers or understand them, whereas computer games are designed for people who already have computers. Consoles are all about having the latest gizmos, with corporate controlled games; PCs have a good market with independent and smaller game makers (though getting rarer), and most people don't buy a new one or upgrade every two years. Consoles are designed around the idea of playing on the couch or living room floor usually, and PCs and PC games are designed around a desk and chair.

When consoles are able to do what PCs can do, then they will essentially be the same as a PC - ie, add a mouse and keyboard and internet and hard drives and DVDs and a monitor, then you've essentially got a home computer.

Smedley and the rest of SOE haven't a clue

[Anonymous Coward]

SOE is one of those companies that bought their way into a market, lost the people who could produce quality products, and now flounder about trying to find relevance. Their games completely miss the point in that they don't give gamers today what they're looking for. EverQuest 2 was a product that would have been rather successful if it had come years earlier. SWG was a product that, while having its own problems, originally delivered what gamers were looking for. What did they do? They patched the game until there were no remnants of the original game and lo and behold, the player base evaporated. Vanguard is a joke; who the hell wants MORE of a grind in MMORPGs?

SOE is irrelevant as a gaming company. Maybe they can push some shovelware on the PSP and PS3 and earn themselves some income, but some serious changes would need to happen in order for them to ever produce a game that can affect a market the way EverQuest did.

The hurdles, they be many

[The Living Fractal]

- Modding community ... can they exist w/consoles?

- Alt-tab to a helpful wiki-based site for game
help? Can it be done on consoles?

- Game forums, still computer based? I guess that's ok...

- I assume communication will be done via voice? I shudder at the thought of hearing 11 year old immature idiots on the /trade channels. Keyboards and text chat had better be an option or I /quit.

- Can the consoles handle 50 people in the same scene at once all casting spells and generally being insane fucks? If not, give up until they can, because I don't want to see my FPS drop right when I get into the thick of things.

- My PS3 controller has ten buttons. That should be plenty to create a deep control scheme, if done right. That's the hurdle here: doing it right.

if they address this stuff I think it could be pretty sweet to be able to sit on my comfortable couch and play a MMO on my PS3. (yea yea I know, I can play an mmo on my big screen right now by using a computer anyway, but shush, we're not talking to you computer owning types here ;P)

SWG was the start.

[Beer_Smurf]

To those that witnessed the dumbing down and destruction of Star Wars Galaxies, this is not news.

The MMO business model is not sustainable

[bluefoxlucid]

You cannot grow and sustain the MMO business model in a free market without an economy. An MMO typically requires a continuous subscription, or allows free play for a one-time fee but then puts the financial burden on the service provider. As more MMOs enter the market, more avenues for paying out money become open to the player; this means more $30/mo bills (or however much, $10 even), and thus less interest in joining more MMOs (hmm I've got WoW, everquest, UO, FFXI, etc etc etc... 15 MMOs I'm paying $450/mo total wow! I'm tapped!)

Somehow SecondLife manages on one-time membership fees, I'm unsure exactly how they keep a revenue stream. What I am sure of is that they do need a constant revenue stream, which means a constant influx of new players or a way to get money from current players or someone else; so does everyone else. This means, as far as pay-per-month subscriptions go, creating an endless stream of independent MMOs will not scale, and eventually the worlds will be mostly empty save for a few popular ones and thus only a few can make money.

Seriously, $50/month, I can buy a whole new Wii or Gamecube game each month. Why do I want to spend $150/mo to have FFXI, WoW, UO, Matrix Online, Pirates Online, whatever the hell else? And then see a new one I want too, and join that? Eventually I have to leave one game, or stop joining new games!

Re:The MMO business model is not sustainable

[Anonymous Coward]

Uhmmm, cancel your account. I have a wow account an EQ account and a LOTRO account but never all 3 at once. If you want to try another cancel the first one first. Your characters do not get deleted and you can always reactivate later if you want to.

You seriously couldn't figure this one out?

Re:The MMO business model is not sustainable

[GrumblyStuff]

Waitwaitwait... SecondLife is a game now? When did this happen?!

I thought it was a place for furies, virtualized company storefronts, and flying digital penises.

Re:I'm a PC gamer

[zippthorne]

Yeah, but what most people forget about is that the keyboard+mouse combo has an implied third component.

A desk.

You gonna put your console in the office, now?