Sony Online (SOE) to release FREE-to-play MMO title!!!

[Domination]

Sony Online Entertainment has announced at the Austin Game Conference that one of their next releases will be an experiment in following an alternative revenue stream. Traditionally, it has stuck to the model of charging for the base game at retail for titles such as the EverQuest series and Star Wars Galaxies, as well as receiving income from subscriptions, but, according to SOE president John Smedley's AGC keynote, its next title will adopt a model pioneered by Korean and Chinese MMOs of allowing users to play the game for free.

The alternate method of monetizing the game's user base comes from fees charged not for the base title, but for extra services such as powerful items or bonus levels. Sony has already experimented with item merchandising through its Station Exchange auction service, which allows users to legitimately pay one another in real money for in-game items and characters. Prior to that, such dealings were confined to black-market dealings and were officially frowned upon by the company.

The new game's model will come about "as a powerful way of getting people in" when it comes to online games, commented SOE president John Smedley when announcing the game, the title of which has yet to be revealed. By eliminating the mandatory subscription fee, Sony hopes to attract a wider audience who would not normally play online games, and thus build up a large enough user base to support the optional marketplace.

Little is known about the new game, save for Smedley's comment, as reported to the Dow Jones Newswire, that "We're going to be launching this one very quickly." The title is set to debut in fall 2006 for unspecified platforms, a comparatively short time from any prospective announcement for the notoriously labor-intensive MMORPG genre.

Source (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=7002)

Wooo!!! If this is true, or what I think it is, this is going to attract millions. Think about it for a second: MMORPGs for free.

[rpgamer_2k5]

Interesting. I guess, I'll be playing my first MMORPG at fall 2006 and earn some money as well. ;)

[Sendok]

nice to see, but guild wars is also free to play online.

[The_One]

Well, that'd be true. If they support that Station Exchange service with this free game, then gamers can potentially reap in quite a bit of profit from just playing games... Heh.

Personally, though, there's been loads of Free MMORPG's out there, so it's no surprise Sony is doing the same.

[D3adcell]

I don't think it will actually be for free, as then they would make no profit. Like they said, pay money to level up. That would not be something I enoyed to do. Or they may have a free trial with limited things you can do. It's not going to be as free as you wish it to be.

[Infernal]

You dont need to make people pay to play just to make a profit. Think about it, battle.net is free, their supported just from that advertisment at the top of the screen, and saying that companies "sponsor" their tournaments. Now if they put advertisments in the game, that are updated frequently, make it so people can buy special items, and run their own exchange store, they can make plenty of money and also target a wider audience.

[n1n9tean]

I hate MMORPGs. They can do no good.

[woundingchaney]

I hate MMORPGs. They can do no good.


I dont hate them its just that too many revolve around the notion of requiring hours upon hours of play time to advance the story.

[Domination]

I don't think it will actually be for free, as then they would make no profit. Like they said, pay money to level up. That would not be something I enoyed to do. Or they may have a free trial with limited things you can do. It's not going to be as free as you wish it to be.

You're losing me. What they are talking about is really no different from purchasing downloadable content. What makes that anymore 'free' than this? If you can play the game dispite available upgrades that you can choose to pay for, then playing the game online is still free without them.

nice to see, but guild wars is also free to play online.

That wasn't really where I was getting at. Sony is experimenting this time. This could mean ALL MMOs if it goes well.

[woundingchaney]

That wasn't really where I was getting at. Sony is experimenting this time. This could mean ALL MMOs if it goes well.


I dont think it could ever go well enough for all MMOs to be free but, I like to see the movement towards this.

[dead718]

You're losing me. What they are talking about is really no different from purchasing downloadable content. What makes that anymore 'free' than this? If you can play the game dispite available upgrades that you can choose to pay for, then playing the game online is still free without them.



That wasn't really where I was getting at. Sony is experimenting this time. This could mean ALL MMOs if it goes well.


Ahem!!!

This is my first time posting on the Sony boards, for I am more of a Nintendo fan and my first 384 of 386 posts have been on Nintendo boards. Refrain from making stupid fanboyish, bashing remarks.

Anyhow, I see where d3adcell is coming from on this one. Let's take a look at a popular X-Live game like Halo 2. Now I haven't played this game aside from a 5 minute demo up at the Osan PX a few months back, so these may be crude examples.

Let's say that Halo 2 was a "free" online game. However, you weren't aloud to use any High-level weaponry unless you payed. You also were restricted to ten maps. There was also a max number of users aloud, but you could get on if you payed no matter what. So let's say that there are 220,000 out of 100,000 players on...

That's free, but would it be that fun. (Would you even be able to play)

This may even be true for the revolution. Online games will be free, but when will developers like EA start milking the feature and charging for it. Nothing there days is completely free, whether you realize it or not.

Thank you.

[rpgamer_2k5]

Huh o_O

That post above is confusing me. Why the bold text?

[Infernal]

Gees some of you are acting like theres no way there will be a free MMO. There already are free MMO's guys... so its definately not like its to good to be true. And in these free MMO's no they dont max out the users, prohibit you from going to certain areas, or make it so you need to pay real money for your items. All they do is advertise in game and make it so you can buy "extra content". What their proposing is that they use their marketing service, and sell their own items, some people cant play games 24/7 and some people are just lazy and willing to buy items instead of find them in a game. By taking these people sony allows them to buy items for real money, and another thing they do is sell bonus items and maybe areas in the game as well, by bonus items I dont mean like, "damn I reached level 5, gotta break out a 20 and get new equipment", I mean like, "hmm I could get the normal equipment or pay a few bucks and get that 1 extra defense". Or something like a pumpkin halloween costume they could sell as bonus.

[Domination]

Ahem!!!

This is my first time posting on the Sony boards, for I am more of a Nintendo fan and my first 384 of 386 posts have been on Nintendo boards. Refrain from making stupid fanboyish, bashing remarks.

Anyhow, I see where d3adcell is coming from on this one. Let's take a look at a popular X-Live game like Halo 2. Now I haven't played this game aside from a 5 minute demo up at the Osan PX a few months back, so these may be crude examples.

Let's say that Halo 2 was a "free" online game. However, you weren't aloud to use any High-level weaponry unless you payed. You also were restricted to ten maps. There was also a max number of users aloud, but you could get on if you payed no matter what. So let's say that there are 220,000 out of 100,000 players on...

That's free, but would it be that fun. (Would you even be able to play)

This may even be true for the revolution. Online games will be free, but when will developers like EA start milking the feature and charging for it. Nothing there days is completely free, whether you realize it or not.

Thank you.


Ok, let me think for a second. ..... Yes it is. http://community.the-underdogs.org/smiley/happy/biglaugh2.gif

No, but seriously, it is. If all you have to do is purchase the network adapter or a PlayStation Slim, you don't have to pay anything else after that to play online. If you can choose whether or not to purchase upgrades for your games without any obligation with online already being available to you for free, then that still makes playing online free for you so long as you stick to the minimum.

What you do have to pay for, though, is the internet, but that's not apart of Sony. :)

[Domination]

I dont think it could ever go well enough for all MMOs to be free but, I like to see the movement towards this.

Who would have thought all the other games would be free? This little Sony Exchange thing has blown up greater than what they thought and it seems to be losing no steam. If they offered these games for free, it could become much more popular than it already is. I don't know it you know this or not, but the MMOs are Sony's most popular franchises online that stays packed. This is one of the reasons Exchanged has taken off so fast.

[Generic Wheaties]

nice to see, but guild wars is also free to play online.

Guild Wars isn't an MMORPG, even Arena Net says it isn't. Do you have it? I haven't touched the game in a month, but it'd be fun to play with you sometime.

This is awesome, I always loved MMORPGs but their always spendy. I just love the whole concept of em'.

[woundingchaney]

Who would have thought all the other games would be free? This little Sony Exchange thing has blown up greater than what they thought and it seems to be losing no steam. If they offered these games for free, it could become much more popular than it already is. I don't know it you know this or not, but the MMOs are Sony's most popular franchises online that stays packed. This is one of the reasons Exchanged has taken off so fast.

Yeah I know Dom.

Still great news that maybe the genre is heading in that direction, Im just not going to be overly optimistic :-)

[Saibo]

wow, me wonders what platform it will be on :P. I never played a MMORPG before, hopefully this game has a great art direction.

[Darkon]

I dont hate them its just that too many revolve around the notion of requiring hours upon hours of play time to advance the story.

MMORPGs have stories? a porn director can come up with better stories then most MMORPGs

whoever came up with MMORPGs should be shot

[Domination]

wow, me wonders what platform it will be on :P. I never played a MMORPG before, hopefully this game has a great art direction.


Well, just to be technical about it, Sony said their next online server would support all the previous online consoles. This game is said to be just a quick project that will be ready by late 2006 to test the waters. Since it's an MMO with the PS2 and PSP having a 10 year life cycle, that could easily mean more than one type of console. With what I am hearing, it doesn't sound too impossible that it could turn up as a PS3 title neither. Only time will time, but if Exchange works out the way they are hoping, this could really end the fee for MMOs. I'm hoping it does cause I am really looking forward to getting my hands on that DC MMO they are working on. :)

[Domination]

MMORPGs have stories? a porn director can come up with better stories then most MMORPGs

whoever came up with MMORPGs should be shot

I believe that would be Sony, if I am not mistaking. http://community.the-underdogs.org/smiley/armed/icon_kill.gif

But hey, it worked didn't it?

[venomv]

I believe that would be Sony, if I am not mistaking. http://community.the-underdogs.org/smiley/armed/icon_kill.gif

But hey, it worked didn't it?

The first financialy successful mmorpg was Ultima Online made by EA/Origin

[D3adcell]

Well from my first read I assumed it meant that you wouldn't even pay an initial cost for the game. Say you just downloaded it to a hard drive or something or got the disc in OPM or something. But an MMO takes many updates and moderators etc. Blizzards games are free but you saw how that went with all the hackers etc in Diablo and Diablo 2.