14 DAY TRIAL // John Smedley, the leader of Sony Online Entertainment, believes that all those who are playing the MMO Planetside 2 are equally important to the future of the game, regardless of whether they are paying in order to play or not.
The developer tells PC Gamer that, “And the way we see it is that the 90% of players who don’t pay are making the game fun for the 10% that do. So we look at the world in terms of how many people are playing the game, and not in terms of how many are paying. The players are content for one another, so the free players are just as important as the ones who are paying.”
According to the executive, Planetside 2 will mix free-to-play and paid subscriptions for years to come in order to give gamers as many options as possible when engaging with the MMO.
At the moment, about 10 percent of those who are playing the shooter-focused game are paying in order to get access to more options or to some weapons without grinding resources.
“We definitely made the right call, and we like what we’re doing. I think free-to-play is pure for one simple reason: people can vote right away,” Smedley adds.
The game needs to have a large player base in order to populate the game world and make sure that there are enough gamers to make the events interesting.
At the same time, subscribers are needed in order for Sony Online Entertainment to get revenue and invest in more content for Planetside 2, including extra planets in the long term and more weapons and customization options during the coming months.
The MMO was launched in late November and Smedley has since stated that it is now more successful than any other game in the SOE stable.