Official Playstation Mag UK has reported that SOE president John Smedley has hinted at a PlayStation future for free-to-play shooter Planetside 2 saying, “SOE has proven we can bring our games to the PS3″. He also mentioned, “70% of our revenue comes from PS3,” suggesting I should stop thinking of the dev/pub as ‘those PC guys’.
When asked what console manufacturers need to do to accommodate free-to-play more in the future, Smedley responded by saying, “We’re in a unique position. We have two operating free-to-play games on PS3 right now – DC Universe and Free Realms. Actually, 70% of our revenue comes from PS3. So we’re uniquely placed having helped to build the PlayStation Network in the first place. PSN has the ability right now to handle free-to-play games, and it does so very well”.
He also sees the free-to-play model becoming more prominent on PlayStation, “The way I see it in the future… There seems to be this argument going round that we’re going to see the last of consoles – and to me there’s this very simple delineation. For me my computer is in my office at home, and my TV is in my living room. Consoles are a different type of gaming for me, and I play different games on different devices – but I think the free-to-play model works awesomly on consoles and I think you’re going to see more of it as time goes on. It’s going to be much more prevalent on consoles”.
When asked about the chance of the PC MMO shooter Planetside 2 heading to PS3 (think Dust 514 with more colours) he responded, “What I’d say is – SOE has proven that we can bring our games to the PS3, and it’s fair to say that we’ve got some other stuff out there cooking. I can’t tell you what platforms it’s for, but we’re really excited about it”.
