SOE president sees more MMOs on PS3

32 Comments by Alexander Sliwinski May 13th 2008 1:45PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Online, Business

In an interview with the Seattle Times, Sony Online Entertainment head, John Smedley, sees a future for MMOs on the PS3. He tells the paper that MMOs are going to be a "real strong selling point for the PS3" and uses The Agency as an example. More collaboration between the online and console divisions makes sense now that SOE reports to Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Smedley believes that MMOs will reach a 50/50 ratio between men and women over the next decade. He believes some of these games will be "as big as hit movies." Funny thing is that there's already a few out there, like World of Warcraft -- too bad that one only belongs to Blizzard.

[Via GameDaily]

Tags: smedley, soe, the-agency, theagency

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Go White Sox and Go other Team: May 13th 2008; 1:55PM

It will be interesting to see if Sony can get MMO's to appeal to the console crowd. They are definitely trying. NC Soft plus thier 1st party developer studios.

I dont have the time or the patience for MMO's.

Phranctoast: May 13th 2008; 1:58PM

Its nice to see an MMO thats not fantasy genre based for once.

I personally don't like MMO's due to time restraints.

One thing that does seem obvious though, is there can't be too many games in this genre at one time for any given system. They need to be careful as to not overcrowd the area, and MMO's don't seem like the game type where you would be playing more than one at any given time.....but what do I know. I don't have the time for them, but some people could have way too much time.

Kodros: May 13th 2008; 3:19PM

Most MMOs these days don't require that much time. The days of EQ1 where logging in and getting something done would take hours is long gone.

Bleu: May 13th 2008; 4:07PM

I wanted to play an MMO for a while. My pc is not strong enough for everquest or WOW. Agency here I come.

J.Goodwin: May 13th 2008; 2:00PM

Hit movies like Speed Racer.

FrankTheCrank: May 13th 2008; 2:06PM

Dude...I saw that last weekend....whoa, killer visuals. Story not so hot, a little bit too campy in a 1960's Batman sort of way, but man those visuals...out of this world!

J.Goodwin: May 13th 2008; 2:07PM

The box office receipts are telling me that you may have been the only one in the theater :D

FrankTheCrank: May 13th 2008; 2:15PM

Yeah, I was expecting more people. I think there were about 20 people in that theater. Ouch!

NATO_Duke: May 13th 2008; 2:02PM

I dont really have MMO time to spare either, but I think its good business for Sony to make a solid entry into the genre. I think that MMO players are pretty dedicated to their game and if you make a good one they should be willing to buy a console for it.

FrankTheCrank: May 13th 2008; 2:02PM

Huh? MMO? Wut?

How about some games, like now.

Sony needs to shut up about the future and start putting out some killer shit.

Whether it's Killzone 2, Little Big Planet or HOME, it's always about what's over the horizon. F that shit. Let's get this show on the road folks.

I can't buy what I can't play now.

LameDuck: May 13th 2008; 4:42PM

When they keep preaching that 10 year plan, I didn't think they ment that is how long it would take to get games. *rimshot*

Serously though, I agree with you. I don't care about Home. I barely like the current load of games. Give us something that makes up for all the BS you've been pushing and actually give the system some compelling features.

Screw it. I'm going to go play my SNES. Call me when the "Year of teh PSTripple!" is over.

Daniel: May 13th 2008; 2:03PM

I'd love to see more story elements built into MMOs. Give me a reason to advance besides "to get this armor or that weapon". I guess that's my beef with most online parts of games these days. I'd love them to give more reward in the online portion of shooters. I guess "kill that guy more times than he kills you" gets old after a while. I want a REASON to kill that guy or to capture that base, etc.

Vcize: May 13th 2008; 2:21PM

Achievements :P

Daniel: May 13th 2008; 2:29PM

Achievements are a cop-out.

Take Warhawk for instance. Why could they not have mini story-driven cut-scenes at certain rank advancements that give you further insight as to why these opposing factions are at war? It would also give a reason to continue beyond the typical customization options? That could further increase the longevity of the title.

Kodros: May 13th 2008; 3:24PM

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that not many people care why the two sides are fighting in Warhawk. Just jump in and play is what that game is meant for. UT3 tries to shoehorn in a story and it fails big time.

why not the LS2LS7?: May 13th 2008; 2:08PM

Yeah, whatevs. This is just some guy plugging a product class he already has a lot of on hand.

These type of exercises in rope-pushing don't usually turn out well.

PojoMofo: May 13th 2008; 2:12PM

mark my words....

The Agency will completely destory APB

Esat Dedezade: May 13th 2008; 2:47PM

Wow thats awesome. I'm really excited about The Agency now.

Can you maybe post a mini review of your hands-on experience with both games? I'm really jealous that you managed to play them both, how and where did you do get to play them!

It's times like this that I wish I had contacts in the gaming industry.

/saturated with sarcasm.

Buckshot: May 13th 2008; 2:21PM

Smedley is the same asshat the destroyed Star Wars Galaxies and Vanguard, he is not to be trusted.

JJ: May 13th 2008; 2:35PM

Well to be honest...Lucasarts destroyed SWG and Vanguard, great concept but the original design team left of a LOT of implementation to be desired...their network code was garbage.

Otherwise its a fine game

Wes: May 13th 2008; 3:25PM

@SoulBlade
No, Sony Online killed SWG. Its a shadow of its former self. Its down from like 12 classes to 4. They made one of the 4 start classes 'jedi' so you no longer have to go through jedi training/missions to 'earn' that class and your force powers.

Now its just...boom, your a jedddiiiiiiiii cause you clicked the jedi button when making your charrrracter! Congrats! No effort required!

The changes implemented by Sony Online made every fan of SWG cry out in angony in their parents' basements.

In regards to Vanguard, the original development team were all fired on release day as Sony came in and bought out the company that made Vanguard. Then fired the employees, then rehired some of them.

So effectively, they nuked the team who would have fixed the bugs and made the game more complete, bug-free and start to live up to its concept.

Instead, they are still releasing game updates and its still not right a year after release and here come Age of Conan, War Hammer and WotLK to put the final nails in Vanguard and steal the little marketshare it had.

Sony Online has done a decent job with the FF mmorpg though. FF11. Mind you, I left FF11 after 2-3 months cause the gameplay was just too slow-paced, boring and unbalanced.

I think the day I left was when I spent 6 hours with a looking for group flag on with no party then found a party with two ninjas + two damage dealers who just kept using the 'attack me!' tool followed by the 'dodge' tool to miss every attack.

As a white-mage, I didn't need to heal and wasn't needed in my own party :o. Just being in the group doing nothing though I gained enough exp to level that day... though I didn't do anything. Just buffed and sat there in csae I was needed...

JJ: May 13th 2008; 3:36PM

Well wes in regards to SWG... i know the game was killed... i played it from beta all the way until "NGE" but here's the thing, Its not soley SOny Online's fault... its a Lucasarts property, NOTHING happened in the game unless Lucas arts OK'd it.

Thus why i say LA killed SWG, they essentially ok'd the revamping of the whole systems from skill based to level based and broke the whole damn works in the process.

AS for VG, that game was buggy from the start and probably would of never been released unless SOE bought it... dont forget even MS turned down publishing rights for it.

I think Brad had too broad a vision and no way to back it up, i recall some of the original devs saying as much, lots of vision lack of implementation and all that jazz.

Either way the game probably wouldnt still be on Life support if SOE hadn't bought it out.

SoulBlade: May 13th 2008; 2:26PM

Gee... guaranteed HDD, large capacity format, less restrictive network... yea sounds about right. But... I don't care about MMOs and if I did, would still probably play them on a PC.

Ghostbuddy: May 13th 2008; 2:43PM

The Xbox 360 is going to have Huxley, APD, and champions online. It already has superior ports of FFXI and Phantasy Stars universe.

So I can't see MMOs being a selling point for the ps3.
When it has two in the oven, and none on the table.

I mean, the Agency looks mediocre. Saw some video footage of it. AI was really dumb. Character models were last gen. Huxley looks a lot better. Due to the UE3. Faster gameplay. Vehicles. Massive clan battles in that is going to be awesome.

APD is going to be interesting. The most innovative MMO in a long time. Its basically GTA online. Development for the game is being lead by the man behind the first GTA. Seriously, go take a look at that games character customization. Its awesome looking. The games going to be completely centered around PvP. Everything from the gang wars, to robberies.

I mean, I guess we can't say for sure which consoles MMO lineup will be better. But from where I am standing, the 360s lineup looks more appealing. But thats just me.

NATO_Duke: May 13th 2008; 3:03PM

I think by APD you mean APB. My understanding was that in April they said they would consider placing that game on the PS3 as well as the 360. As far as Huxley, it isn't exactly on the table yet, as there is no release date. I don't know about your claims of superior ports of FFXI and Phantasy Stars universe, as I have yet to play those on non-360 consoles.

I think you are passing judgment on Sony's games too early.

Noshino: May 13th 2008; 3:27PM

Huxley, I have seen a few videos, nothing special

APB, sorry to burst your bubble, but I think this title is going multiplatform

Champions, ok, this one is a maybe

"It already has superior ports of FFXI and Phantasy Stars universe."

You are comparing the 360 versions against the PS2 versions....hell, you are as good at comparing as GameTrailers...

J.Goodwin: May 13th 2008; 3:36PM

I really wouldn't point to either FFXI or PSU as anything of value...particularly since they are ports of PS2 titles.

I'm not here to fight a console war with no weapons, I'm here to ridicule MMOs, and the people who play them.

Phinehas: May 13th 2008; 3:29PM

More MMOs on the PS3? Maybe we should wait to see how *one* MMO on the PS3 works out before we start painting rosy pictures?

LameDuck: May 13th 2008; 4:49PM

To Sony and MS:

Know them free-to-play/pay-for-items MMORPGs? Like MapleStory and such. Here is a plan:

1. Pay for port.
2. Offer on download service.
3. ???
4. PROFIT!!!

What do I know thought.

umm....hello???: May 13th 2008; 6:25PM

I would've loved to play FFXI, it's one of the few FinalFantasy games I haven't played yet...screw paying a monthly fee for MMOs. and that goes for Huxley and any other MMO--on ANY console.

Rask: May 13th 2008; 11:04PM

ROFL. Given that SoE is a studio dedicated to the MMORPG(done in my best Yahtzee impersonation) that buy up just about every free-floating IP under teh sun, no wonder the PS3 will be getting some of the love.

Me, I'm burned out on the MMO's. After 10 years of Everquest/WoW/DAOC etc etc..., I've come back to console gaming and I'm not looking back.

t_m: May 14th 2008; 10:34AM

I can't believe the console market isn't flooded with MMOs already. They are PERFECT for consoles, and perfect for making money.

For MS, Sony and Nintendo, by far the best thing about the current generation (and the thing they are all trying to exploit) is that they have each crafted a "closed Net" where they have a monopoly on content (be it music, movies, games, tv or whatever) and they can keep raking in the profit with very little outlay.

Getting console gamers addicted on EverCrack must be the stuff of their wet dreams...

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