No MMO's on consoles? Blame Sony and MS

I think it's a huge, missed opportunity though a few are coming but next gen. me thinks will be a strong gen for console MMO's.

We shall see.

There's no denying that some of the most addictive games out there are MMOs. But if you find it frustrating that you can't have them on your beloved PS3 and Xbox 360, blame Sony and Microsoft. According to Cryptic Studios' Star Trek Online MMORPG Star Trek Online captain Craig Zinkievich, the two publishers don't understand console MMOs, making it difficult to bring the games to their respective systems.

As far as console power goes, no problemo. The PS3 and and Xbox 360 are well-equipped with the right stuff to run MMOs. The problem lies, according to Zinkievich, is that Sony and MS don't quite get the business side of console MMOs. "When it comes to the business, I'll be honest, the business part of bringing MMOs to consoles has been really sticky," Zinkievich told Eurogamer in an interview.

Trying to get Sony, trying to get Microsoft to really understand MMOs; really understand what needs to happen for MMOs, and then figure out all the business aspects of those games, has really been a difficulty for all of the MMO developers.

In fact, the only reason that Final Fantasy XI, the only MMO on the Xbox 360, was possible was because "so many exceptions were made." Zinkievich added that getting the the platform holders to understand the network technologies needed have been "the really big hangups".

For now, Cryptic hasn't announced which consoles will Star Trek Online be playable in, but the PC version is expected to come early next year.

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;3 Guess they can't find the best way to milk as much money out of those monthly fees without pissing off the devs, eh?

killab2oo5

[QUOTE="skrat_01"]*shrugs* I think MMOs could work fine on a console platform. Only if you design the MMO for the console platform. *Not* with the PC in mind. Problem is maintining such a good portion of such a small userbase as subscribers, to justify an MMOs development for the platform. And thats where things get really hairy.HuusAsking

MMO's just wouldnt work well on consoles, dont get me wrong it'd be nice to play wow in any room of my house on a big tv and with it being built to run perfectly on a console, but with MS and Sony's profiteering and hefty restrictions on user generated content it just wouldnt be the same. Then you'd have to consider controls etc.

MMO's are perfect for the PC, and thats where the audience is so why try to change it.

That's what I'd been thinking. A console MMO would work...if it was made for consoles. That would involve different mindsets than with PC MMOs.HuusAsking

Aye i agree with this, although it was'nt technically a MMO, Phantasy Star Universe was fun for a while and worked pretty well on consoles, but yeah its definitely based on a different mindset to traditional MMOs. Never played FFXI so couldnt comment on that.

I think there a couple of things at play here. I think consoles can have good MMOs I mean Final Fanasty XI came out on the PS2, and was a big hit in Japan, took longer to come out to the rest of the world, but certainly worked. The developers need to be creative when it comes to using the controller and how buttons are assigned. But the controller is only the first hurdle, the other is money.

To pay for you Live membership (Sony you don't pay) then to pay again, to play the game. Or to offer what is starting to become more standard in MMOs and that is the microtransaction model, where the game to play is free, just don't expected to finish it without buying something in the game. Then there is the way the servers need to be allocated through the services, then is it multi-platform, PC, XBox360 and PS3, and how would that happen especially the way the servers are connected are different. I think to hedge their bets they full mutli-platform, more users mean more money, or they keep their costs down, and deleop on the PC, it is tried and tested, and you don't need to worry about dealing with Sony or MS on how the backend works.

That is my opinion on why MMOs haven't made it full steam onto the console, it isn't the ability or the controller, it is the physical and legal logistics of setting it up for the console that possibly makes it more difficult.

I heard that the plug was pulled from the Xbox edition of WoW partly due to a failure of MS to compromise on the controller. Blizzard wanted a keyboard and mouse and MS said they had to stick with the joypad which Blizz found too restrictive.

I would support MS in that decision. I would love to play MMO's on a console, I would rather put in the huge amount of hours required sat on my sofa rather than at a chair infront of a desk. But I don't want to play a console sat on the sofa with a keyboard on my knee and a mouse on the seat next to me, it doesn't feel right - I've tried it when playing on my laptop.

To pay for you Live membership (Sony you don't pay) then to pay again, to play the game. Or to offer what is starting to become more standard in MMOs and that is the microtransaction model, where the game to play is free, just don't expected to finish it without buying something in the game. Then there is the way the servers need to be allocated through the services, then is it multi-platform, PC, XBox360 and PS3, and how would that happen especially the way the servers are connected are different. I think to hedge their bets they full mutli-platform, more users mean more money, or they keep their costs down, and deleop on the PC, it is tried and tested, and you don't need to worry about dealing with Sony or MS on how the backend works.

mike_on_mic

I thougth that several MMO's were being released for consoles...

IE DC Universe and Star Wars TOR (thats gonna be on consoles right? or am I wrong?)

:? The Playstation 3 has a bunch of MMO's coming for it.