PS3 MMO

[Dodece]

A few thoughts.

Worlds of Warcraft definitely raised the bar, but its not the measure of success. In the same way a console game does not have to Have Halo level sales to be a success. A MMO developer is doing very well for themselves with a user base of a quarter million. They basically can generate a lot of money with fees. Given a base of a quarter million, and a years worth of subscription. Each subscriber basically pays two hundred dollars per game, and the net result is fifty million dollars for the first year. Thats enough to cover development costs, and operation costs with profit left over. Actually there is a lot of room in the market for developers to turn a profit.

I think there are a lot of factors as to why MMO gaming hasn't really blossomed on the console. The first is how the games are played. You have to remember these games are played with a keyboard and a mouse and it shows. With hundreds of functions every key on the keyboard can be used, and needs to be used especially when communication with fellow players is required. Tell a PC player they have to play with someone on a controller, and their first response is dismay. The first thing that jumps to their mind is that the game will be simplistic in design. The controls will neither be complex or the in game mechanics. I think they are probably right in that regard. I find it hard to believe a complex control scheme can work on a pad.

I wish I had time to go in depth about the head out the door, but I don't think the issue is actually fees playing massive games is actually cheaper then regularly buying new games. Not to mention the human interaction, and the game depth. The problem is the genre has technical hurdles to overcome to be compelling on a console.

Should be interesting to see how Conan deals with the issues. Will it be a multiplayer adventure game, or will the combat, and RPG elements have lasting depth. Can the game overcome the limitations of a controller, and how will human interaction be handled. The only answer would be using the mic, but that raises its own problems within congested areas.