Comments on: Sony Reveal Details For Free Realm

By: heartless_

heartless_ — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:26:27 +0000

It’s amazing how SOE oversells a kids game at these fairly hardcore gaming conferences (yes, I know ION isn’t exactly a hardcore MMO conference). I think SOE is in knee-deep mud, sinking fast, and the only way to save face now is to produce games that will be a flash in the pan for six months while barely scraping an existence from the bottom of the money barrel.

As much as I despise SOE, and not just for the SWG debacle, I can’t help feel that the MMO industry is losing one of its larger developers and that sort of makes me sad. SOE is really all over the place now, but at the same time in the same “make money off everything” business mode, but with nothing on the table that actually makes decent money. Yes, SOE is profitable, but at what cost? Sustainability? I see nothing coming from SOE that gives me faith they will exist as a company ten years from now.

I think Free Realms and The Agency will herald SOE’s decline into a publisher role who operates some relics on the side.

By: Lukasz

Lukasz — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:04:58 +0000

Perfect. Let the hunt begin!

By: Noc

Noc — Sat, 17 May 2008 15:08:43 +0000

Sonyland . . . where it’s Christmas all year long.

By: dan^

dan^ — Sat, 17 May 2008 04:50:24 +0000

Is that Alyson Hannigan in the first screenshot?

By: Larington

Larington — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:23:56 +0000

SOE has a bad habit of starting with a great concept and then somehow, somewhere along the line, forgetting that original concept and negatively impacting the game as a result… Lets see if they do it with this one as well…

By: Leelad

Leelad — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:32:22 +0000

SWG, :(

By: Rook

Rook — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:11:15 +0000

I’d free her realm… I mean… sounds pretty cool actually. I think Sony Online has been on a bit of a role lately what with this and The Agency.

9-14 y.o.? I guess my restraining order still applies :(

By: NotArobot

NotArobot — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:21:23 +0000

Hmmm, I’d be all over this if it actually came out. I have two small kids, they both love video games, and I wouldn’t mind introducing them to an MMO like this, especially if it’s free-ish.

Some people might be thinking to themselves, “Why would a dad want to get his kids addicted to an MMO?” The answer? LEVERAGE! The kids might be a bit more inclined to pick up after themselves if their MMO privileges hang in the balance. :)

By: Kanakotka

Kanakotka — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:08:10 +0000

I have been fondling around with the games for quite a while, and if “free” or “family(aka children’s game)” is togethered with “mmorpg” it is prone to fail. This puts both minus factors to an MMO together. Will they cancel eachother out?