14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at Sony Online Entertainment believes that the upcoming PlayStation 4 home console will be an excellent environment for MMO titles, giving teams more space to introduce new experiences that players will appreciate.
Larry Liberty, serving as executive producer at SOE, tells NowGamer that, “I would expect that, with all of the amazing features that have been announced for the next PlayStation, that it will be a great platform for MMOs.”
Sony Computer Entertainment is a video game development studio that’s related to the main Sony structure but has not directly participated in the development of the PlayStation 4.
SOE has created Planetside 2, one of the most successful MMOs of the last year, which uses a free-to-play structure and is offered on the PC.
The developer says that the same business model will be offered on the PlayStation 4 for future MMOs.
He adds, “We also learned about the types of content that appeal to console players. Of course, we also have a much better understanding of how to optimize for a hardware specification that is a bit less flexible than the PC.”
Sony Online Entertainment has not yet announced any projects that are linked to the PlayStation 4, but a port of Planetside 2 would certainly make sense.
The console is set to launch before the end of this year.
The free-to-play business model is very important on the PC and almost all MMOs are currently using it, apart from World of Warcraft from Blizzard, which draws in huge audiences while still asking for a subscription.
Microsoft has hinted that it will allow free-to-play experiences to launch on its own Xbox One next-gen device in order to attract a wider audience on launch.
The PlayStation 4 will include dedicated streaming services and Sony has said that it will promote user-created content sharing.