Okay, let's see how Sony screws this up.
Two weekends ago, I wrote a silly little ditty about the silly little MMORPG that Sony Entertainment released called Free Realms. It was the online gaming addiction equivalent of a kiddie World of Warcraft, only Free Realms would subsist primarily on microtransactions for in-game items, as opposed to a monthly fee.
Free Realms has registered a million accounts in eighteen days.
Pick your jaws up off the floor and follow me into the jump.
Okay, free will always get people’s attention. I’m sure many of those accounts are already gathering dust. And it’s not unheard of for “free” things like this to spread like wildfire. South Korea’s Maple Story, which was released in 2003, is a perfect example of this kind of marketing strategy; they are currently touting over 50 million active accounts, all of which are “free-mium” to play, where you buy “coins” with real world currency to pay for in-game items.
It’s like going to the local middle school and giving out free baggies of heroin to the youngsters to get them hooked early. Next thing you know, you’ve got a customer base hooked for life, and that’s when you start charging them out the nose (Sorry, I’ve been watching “The Shield“ lately).
But Maple Story, which plays like a pixelated side-scrolling hack and slash-er from the Super NES, has been out for six years. This game hasn’t been out six weeks.
I don’t know, but Sony could have a real powerhouse in the works here.
And the scary thing? Free Realms is eventually heading over to the PS3, which I can see them somehow integrating the Playstation Home concept into this gargantuan. I mean, from what I played of the game, it’s seems like it’s a glorified chat room and series of mini games, so why not? I mean, it’s not like people are getting on to Home to go to the bowling alley or strategize for Warhawk.
Imagine, instead of twenty male avatars standing around a single dancing female avatar (I’m looking at you, Frawlz), that they integrate Free Realms into Home, so that the two are seamless? I mean, it sounds crazy, but I’m sure people would be much more willing to pay $5 for some unique items or weapons for an avatar that can be used in a game as opposed to just looking different while standing around in a Second Life style environment.
It’s not going to happen; I mean, Sony has worked too hard to delineate Free Realms from the Home concept. All the unique areas that Home has been coming out with; I just can’t see a bunch of kart-racing kid wizards running around the Uncharted bar or whatnot. But I can see them subtly allowing Home avatars to quietly challenge other players with their in-game trading card game decks from Free Realms.
I bet Home would be a lot more interesting a place to hang out if they scrapped Home and just turned the Home environment into Free Realms. Who actually hangs out in Home? What if you could level your avatar? Have a pet, learn spells, all in an interactive environment? Oh, and if you want to play Warhawk, you can do that too, but if no one is on at the time to strategize with, why not go gain a few levels, maybe train your pet?
Let’s face it, people are not buying PS3s for the Home area, but I can certainly see some kid harassing his parents into an early grave to buy him a PS3 so he can continue his fantastical online adventures.
It will be interesting to see how this all falls out. I’m sure they’ll just make a special Home “room” for Free Realms where people can loiter prior to going in game, but I dunno. Why would you hang out in a pointless virtual environment prior to going into a game which exists inside of another virtual environment? Especially if that other virtual environment actually has things to do?
But then again, isn’t that kind of the argument against Home in the first place?
http://www.massively.com/2009/05/15/free-realms-destroys-the-1-million-account-speed-record/
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Yeah. Home sucks and is a lost cause at this point, i think every PS3 gamer will argree with me that there really is no point to playstation home apart from walking around and dancing!
If sony put free relems or some kind of world of warcraft game onto the PSN then i would continue using Home.
TimeWarp I disagree with you and the Author; While Home is lacking in spaces and things to do atm. Sony has been working very hard to get it to the point that it is at today.
Xi; Sonys Alternate Reality Game is actually a very good start for things to do in Home. I expect many more things like this will be available for Home in the long run.
Combine that with the dozen or so spaces just off in the horizon I think Sony is well on their way to developing something useable and fun.
How does it obliterate a historic gaming benchmark?
It’s the first free to play MMO that has been distributed by a company with an actual past, thus, its not too surprising that it’s successful at generating accounts.
In 3 months it’ll have a couple of thousand die hards paying a pittance for it, and it’ll be yet another icon on the XMB bar.
@timewarp
are u butthurt that you rshit box 360 has no game worth playing?????????? shit box 360 owner what is there on crap LIVE except mii rip off avatrs NXE. shit box 360 owners are frustrated that they have no games on that RROD BOX 3 FIX ME
The past record holder for a free-to-play online game was Runes of Magic, which took two months to reach a million.
I’m definately a “quality over quantity” kind of guy, but this is still amazing and disturbing all at the same time.
And if you love Home for the Playstation, then god bless. It’s working as intended for you.
the reason that free realms grew so fast is because the game is put on miniclip.com
Ok so is the point of this article to talk about free realms or mindlessly bash home?
Honestly, about halfway through the article you drop the subject and just go on talking about how useless and shitty Home is. This is some shitty journalism.
You guys almost make HipHopGamer seem intellectual.
Home rocks, screw the haters
You are WAY off about Home. I think it’s great. And I’m a person who before Home came out, I was talking crap about it, thinking it was the stupidest thing I ever heard of…….why would I need something like Home on my video game system I thought. Well as soon as I was invited to the closed beta last year my attitude changed. I really enjoyed it right off the bat. And now, with all the great additions that have been put into Home, like the EA sports complex, the very “mmo-quest-like” Xi, and many other great areas and casual games to play with the TONS of people who are in Home at any given time, I absolutely LOVE it, and use it every single day…..sometimes multiple times a day. In fact I use Home as much as I play any of my favorite games like Killzone 2 and Motorstorm Pacific Rift.
I was totally wrong about Home, and so are you, and everyone else who just goes around the internet bashing it for absolutely no reason at all. If you enjoy socializing with other gamers, then Home is awesome. If you enjoy plying casual games with other gamers, Home is awesome. And if you like meeting other gamers that you have things in common with every day, and adding them to your friends list, then Home is awesome. There are really no negative aspects to Home. Except males hitting on any female avatar in sight, LOL. But guy gamers have been doing that in any game that has a girl playing with a headset online for YEARS, so there’s really nothing new going on there.
it seems the only people who hate home are people who dont play with it. qwhen i got the treasure trophy in RE5, and it gave me the treasure chest, i was hooked. most of my friends play on home, and its funny how if someone has no idea about home, and play it for the firs time, theyre like, “this is awesome” but some one who doesnt ever play it is like, this sucks
Home could be so much more, if Sony had any sense, they would create a Casino are, and let people play poker/blackjack etc using real money on gambling etc instead of stupid clothing.
Simularly, they could create and arcade area. By going to third party companies and ask them to release old arcade games like street fighter etc for 10p a go. Just like an arcade. This would be an income for both sony and the third party (capcom).
It could be so much more than what it is at the mo.
MEh just look at this barner it’s clear the guys who write in here are just your average small town white nintendo fanbois always hating on Sony.
So, just out of curiosity… how many of you bitching about how much home sucks have done any development work? How many of you have ever developed something to be shown to the world? Before you slag off something that YOU don’t personally care for, think before you speak, and remember that there are not only those that enjoy it, but lots and lots of people that have and are putting hour upon hour of work into it.
Neon. Lol.
Kana. they needed to work harder. Its obvious that there is something wrong with home if this many people hate it with such a passion. I’m not trying to pick at your development rant because i do believe that there is something good to be said about those that have poured large amounts of their time into a project that may be scrutenized by the community, but that still doesnt mean that they are exempt from getting burned when what they made sucks pretty bad.
and i totally think this will pull a good few in to the PS3 fanbase, regardless of whether the game is amazing or not. people love a free game, even if theyve got to get a 500 dollar gaming system to do it.
How many of you have ever developed something to be shown to the world?
Well, working on this site, I can certainly understand that concept. What do you think this article is?
I know what you’re saying and respect your opinion. There are just a lot of disappointed people out there with Home. I want it to be awesome, but it’s just falling flat right now.
Had a chance to catch the pop/rock band The Dares perform their original theme song for Free Realms at Sony’s E3 Booth yesterday, and they sounded great! After their performance, the band was also given an award by Guinness World Records for being the first band to perform live simultaneously on stage and in virtual space within the game at Snow Hill. Very cool idea for E3, and the game is wonderful too. Register and play FR here if you haven’t already http://www.freerealms.com