by Karen Hertzberg on May 19, 2008
When Smed Speaks, Gamers
Listen!
Very few companies in the MMO game industry can claim the level of
recognition Sony Online Entertainment enjoys from products like
EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies. Providing a keynote at this years ION
Game Conference John speaks candidly with Ten Ton Hammer to discuss Free
Realms, The Agency, and a number of other trends in the industry. Want
to learn more about what the future holds for SOE's products? Take a
look inside.
We began with discussing how the Real Money Trade
(RMT) system of Free
Realms will be effective considering they are targeting a demographic
(younger children) who typically have no means of income. "We've
designed the games from the ground up to keep farming out of the game,"
he states, "we have a wallet system which parents can give kids an
allowance on a monthly basis." He went on to describe how kids are
frequently given gift cards to things like iTunes from parents and it
provides a way to purchase products online. The business model should
work for Free Realms as well.