14 DAY TRIAL // Jean-Charles Gaudechon, an executive producer working at CCP, says that the Dust 514 shooter is a sign of how far the free-to-play genre has progressed in the last few years and the threat that it poses to AAA releases.
He tells VG247 that, “When we look at DUST 514; when you look at the depth, the fiction and everything that game has to offer, it is an incredibly rich offering that is free to download.”
The shooter, which is only offered on the PlayStation 3, allows gamers to create a character and then engage in large multiplayer matches against groups of friends or enemies.
It is also connected to the EVE Online PC-based MMO and gamers who play the two can interact.
Jean-Charles Gaudechon adds, “It’s free but it’s not a charity. But the whole point is that if you have a reason and a strong motivation for people to spend a buck, to make your experience better, nicer or X, Y, Z, then yes, we have a really strong model and a really strong product to offer.”
Dust 514 allows gamers who enjoy the experience to invest real-world money in order to get access to more cosmetic enhancements for their characters and compensate for lack of time.
CCP is adamant that at no point will it sell the kind of items that can be used to gain a competitive advantage.
Dust 514 will get a big Uprising expansion in the coming months, which is designed to enlarge the scope of the game and offer players more tools to use on the battlefield.
The development team also wants to expand the potential for interaction between the shooter and EVE Online.
It’s unclear whether CCP is also working to offer a PlayStation 4 version of Dust 514, although a number of other PS3 MMOs are making the transition.