Both Star Trek Online and Champions Online were originally developed with the goal of eventually releasing versions of the games to console platforms. If you’ve played Champions Online, you may have noticed that it has had strong Xbox 360 controller support since the beta phases, a side-effect of this long-term production focus. Now Cryptic Studios, home of the developers behind both games, has officially confirmed that neither game will be coming to consoles any time soon.
The first announcement came in the form of a forum post for Champions Online by Cryptic co-founder Jack Emmert, stating that “100% of our focus is on making the current PC product the best it can be. There are no current plans for a console version of Champions.” More recently, Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich was interviewed by VideoGamer.com and had sad news for Star Trek Online as well, saying, “It’s pretty much in the same boat as the Champions console version right now.” Stating that the technology was there, but that it was “a little difficult to make that final leap on the business side of things,” Zinkievich confirmed that the console projects for Champions Online and Star Trek Online are now on the back burner.
It really seems like this market is going under-utilised at the moment, but as MMOs are an expensive gamble to begin with, I can understand why companies, especially publishers, are likely balking at the idea of pushing into mostly unexplored territory.
That sucks. Really the online thing that will get me away from WoW is a good console MMO. Mainly because most of my friends have a 360, but not a descent gaming PC.
Also, leaning back on a couch is a bit more fun than leaning forward on a office chair for the long hours that you put into an MMO. Not to mention voice chat within party would be nice too so long as its easy to mute people.
April 12th, 2010 at 8:22 pmQuote
Forgot to add…
April 12th, 2010 at 8:24 pmThats why I am REALLY looking forward to Dust 514 (?). While Eve may not be my style, I love the directions they took it with the real economy, etc. I really want to see what they do with an shooter-mmo.
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I don’t think it’s the developers or publishers causing the problems — it’s Microsoft and Sony not having any type of models to handle massively multiplayer games yet. (I’ll leave you to debate whether 256 for MAG is “massively multiplayer” or not.) Added to that, console players are more accustomed to the microtransaction model and, wihle I can certainly afford XBL *and* MMO subscriptions, not everyone will be willing to pay for both on the 360. (Currently MMO players only need Silver (free) membership but I’ll go out on a limb and say most who want massively multiplayer also want standard multiplayer, which is Gold membership.)
April 12th, 2010 at 10:37 pmQuote
That’s a good point, Scott. I wonder if Microsoft would be willing to work out a discount with an MMO publisher, such that a player didn’t have to pay full price on both the Gold account and the subscription. It would still be more than just a Gold account, but maybe just enough less than paying for both to attract players. That said, I’m not sure Microsoft NEEDS to do that in order to get people to play MMOs on Xbox Live, we’ll see.
April 13th, 2010 at 6:38 amQuote
That’s just the thing: you’re not playing MMO’s “on Xbox Live” you’re simply using XBL’s matchmaking to forward you onto the MMO servers. Kinda like Gamespy Arcade. That’s why Gold isn’t required for MMO’s since you’re not actually using the XBL services. That’s also why two subscriptions would be required if you’re a Gold member, since you’re paying one for the XBL Gold services, and the other to the MMO developers.
We’ll see how CCP fares with DUST 514, though again, I’m debating how “massively multiplayer” that is. But if they nickel and dime with the microtransactions or require spending money to progress/succeed that will be a huge problem.
CCP’s other problem is that bottom line — DUST 514 is “just another shooter” on a platform overrun with shooters and competing in a space occupied by the Bad Company’s, Call of Duty’s and Halo’s. Similar to MMO Tourism, on consoles we have a habit of dropping the last big game in favor of the New Shiny but CCP will presumably require player retention, so they’ll have to really impress with gameplay and always coming out with new stuff. Easier said than done with console development time + certification time.
April 13th, 2010 at 10:26 amQuote