Russell Williams, CEO of Flying Lab Software (Pirates of the Burning Sea), recently sat down with me to talk about his future console game and the reason why MMO developers have such a hard time getting their games onto the Xbox 360 and PlayStation platforms. Williams deduced that the issue is all contained within the quick-paced “mindset” of hardware manufacturers and the astoundingly large royalty payments that are expected from them.
The problem is you get in this mindset of ‘I want it all to be done in two years’ and that’s extremely difficult unless you’re doing the exact same thing that you’ve done before. I think…with MMOs, [hardware manufactuers] need to realize how big these projects are.
The other thing is that manufacturers need to find the right pricing models so we can be on Xbox Live, so we can play on PSN and not give a ton of money in royalties. It makes sense for the singe-player SKU, or a multiplayer SKU like Call of Duty because that’s not the reoccurring model that our entire business is predicated upon…I know at one point we had to get three times as many users [to sign up and pay] to break even [on the investment.]
Williams didn’t talk numbers, but I wonder exactly how much Microsoft or Sony asks of its developers for MMO content? I’ve seen publishers or developers talk about the issue forever, and it seems like hardware manufacturers aren’t exactly getting the point as to why we only see rehashed MMO content on consoles. Why would a developer create a new game, and then contend with the fees? It’s much easier just to port Final Fantasy XI or recreate Phantasy Star Online.
The full interview with Russell Williams will be available later in the day.
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Contest:
7:58 AM on 08.17.2008
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Need a 4th? Show those sea battles from the new Empire game.
Pretty easy decision to make, right there.
The Xbox 360 has supported USB keyboards from day 1, and both FFXI and PSU make extensive use of that capability.
HAHA!
You, my friend, speak the truth
On consoles, and more so on Xbox Live, I'd hate to have to pay £40 a year and more on top of purchasing a game, for one freaking game. Sorry, but that's fucking crazy and the day I stop buying games and play my collection instead.
As far as I'm concern, no game is even worth investing in on a month basis, after buying the retail copy of said game. If MMOs went the Guild Wars route though (buy the game and play online for free), and had more variety beyond hack n slash epics, then I'm sure many of us would invest in them.
And the game that might tempt me into the MMO scene, is The Agency on PS3, the one game I want a PS3 for. Because its not more hokum boring fantasy shit, I'm tempted more. So why can't MMOs offer more variety? That is the eternal question, one only the korean developers seem to be answering. The koreans also understand that allowing more free play makes more sense.
Pirates of the Burning Sea was a cool game, but when on the same system as WoW, it was always gonna struggle. Had it been molded as a single player game first it could survive on console.
a) costs. cost to run & maintain the servers. cost of security & fallbacks. cost to provide help & support. cost to provide upgrades.
b) value. many console gamers are irritated that they have to pay even $3 a month for XBL ($40/13 months). Almost none would be willing to shell out the standard $15 a month to play just one game online.
c) controls. controllers are great for action/platform/sports/fighting/racing/RPG games. But the amount of inventory management & real time nature of most MMOs make using a controller either crippled or non-functional.