SOE on F2P philosophy and EverQuest Next silence
It's no surprise at this point that Sony Online Entertainment has snuggled up to the free-to-play model and made it its love monkey. Even so, it's interesting to hear from the studio's president just how much SOE is committed to this business model for the future.
Gamasutra caught up with John Smedley, who emphasized that the studio is confident that this model is right for the studio -- and the industry: "You're much more focused on the player themselves and listening to what they tell you. When you're at retail, there are two transactions. You are selling your game to the retailer and also selling to the public. Now it's just us putting our games out there and saying 'bring it on.'"
When asked about it, Smedley indicated that EverQuest Next would hew to F2P as well. He also said players shouldn't worry that they haven't heard much about this new title because the secrecy is intentional. "We want to get it right," Smedley said. "That's the pillar of our company and we are going to get it right. We're also making the next generation of MMOs, not an evolution -- and everyone says that, but in this case, we're zigging every other company's zag. Everybody's making WoW 1.5. We're doing something else."
