A bright ray of hope for Sony: Sony Online Entertainment (opinion)

About two months ago, Sony Online Entertainment – the other games division of Sony – promised that they would retake the lead in the MMO market against the current king, Blizzard‘s World of Warcraft. And Sony’s recent unveiling of three promising titles for the PlayStation 3 and the PC (Windows) platforms might have given them more than one bag of goodies to take home.

A bright ray of hope for Sony: Sony Online Entertainment - Image 1 

Back in 1999, Sony Online Entertainment was seated firmly at first in the subscription MMO bracket with NCSoft‘s then-MMO-king EverQuest. But ever since Blizzard grabbed eight million users right off the bat for its own subscription-based cash cow, SOE has been seated way behind lately, waiting silently for a chance to retake its former crown.

That time came with the announcement of core MMO The Agency (PC and PS3), broader market MMO Free Realms (PC and PS3) and one other “war-torn era” title which remains as yet unnamed. These titles were conceptualized to place SOE back in the lead this decade, but we believe that they could probably strike more than the objectives than they had planned out originally.

Of course, the most primary of objectives that third-parties could entirely agree on is Sony Online Entertainment is finally giving reason to spend US$ 600 on a PlayStation 3 unit. Expanding the hardware base for Sony’s next-gen console has always been a driving factor for the giant.

In fact, many people have been often suggesting strategic moves for the giant to succeed for the short term, but it had been difficult to implement effective tact – or gain results after the fact. Reasoning out this major opinion is more than a chore for most, though we’ve decided to investigate into a few possible perspectives that may have been overlooked regarding SOE’s revelations.

Click on Full Article for a lengthy opinion on SOE and how it might redefine the way you think about Sony as a whole.

About two months ago, Sony Online Entertainment – the other games division of Sony – promised that they would retake the lead in the MMO market against the current king, Blizzard‘s World of Warcraft. And Sony’s recent unveiling of three promising titles for the PlayStation 3 and the PC (Windows) platforms might have given them more than one bag of goodies to take home.

A bright ray of hope for Sony: Sony Online Entertainment - Image 1 

Back in 1999, Sony Online Entertainment was seated firmly at first in the subscription MMO bracket with NCSoft‘s then-MMO-king EverQuest. But ever since Blizzard grabbed eight million users right off the bat for its own subscription-based cash cow, SOE has been seated way behind lately, waiting silently for a chance to retake its former crown.

That time came with the announcement of core MMO The Agency (PC and PS3), broader market MMO Free Realms (PC and PS3) and one other “war-torn era” title which remains as yet unnamed. These titles were conceptualized to place SOE back in the lead this decade, but we believe that they could probably strike more than the objectives than they had planned out originally.

Of course, the most primary of objectives that third-parties could entirely agree on is Sony Online Entertainment is finally giving reason to spend US$ 600 on a PlayStation 3 unit. Expanding the hardware base for Sony’s next-gen console has always been a driving factor for the giant.

In fact, many people have been often suggesting strategic moves for the giant to succeed for the short term, but it had been difficult to implement effective tact – or gain results after the fact. Reasoning out this major opinion is more than a chore for most, though we’ve decided to investigate into a few possible perspectives that may have been overlooked regarding SOE’s revelations.

The Agency for the PC and PlayStation 3 from SOE - Image 1 

Although there is not much in the way of knowing how well-received the titles are, there is a growing force supportive of SOE’s actions, and that is primarily because SOE is no longer limiting themselves to a single cultural mindset. They’re driving their titles to reach the regions that would pay plenty for an MMO. And that would be the largest continent in the world and the avid gamers happily playing within.

And NCSoft knows that such a feat is almost impossible to accomplish, especially when considering a market for the same game, The Agency, in the Western hemisphere. Their own Tabula Rasa was delayed for an additional two years for complete overhauling, after their efforts to cater the title to both the East and the West doubled over on itself.

Tabula Rasa, much like The Agency, is no longer revolving around “men in tights and broadswords,” as Smedley puts it lightly. It’s taking the MMO to the modern front to wrestle itself free from the regurgitated fantasy themes. The Agency is also taking such steps to beat World of Warcraft the same way. But bridging the cultural divide is almost a development dead man’s zone, a frontier only successfully ventured by World of Warcraft, thanks to the regions’ massive fan base for Blizzard’s Warcraft RTS series.

Creating a better appeal for Asian gamers for SOE’s MMOs, however, is their drive to completely break free from subscriptions, hoping to cash in through what is often revealed as Asia‘s most profitable business model: free-to-play gaming with microtransactions. It’s one thing that is probably holding back World of Warcraft from expanding to other countries or at least giving Blizzard a reason to expand.

SOE president John Smedley mentioned that they are expecting much of their revenue to come from microtransactions rather than subscriptions in the near future, and that one such title, Free Realms, is designed to deliver on that end. Although not much is known about The Agency‘s own business model, it could be predicted that the SOE is gearing up a win-win scenario for its once-clouded espionage MMO title.

But Free Realms, on another hand, is also setting a new pace for the oft-considered “hardcore” game giant. Tiptoeing in the same way as Nintendo, SOE has set its eyes on the younger bracket of the market, especially the female side. Casual gaming is becoming a profitable market in this game cycle, and SOE is not one to back down from a broader market.

What does this all mean for Sony? First, it’s a whole new image for the consumer electronics giant. SOE actually hired talented women to design and conceptualize Free Realms and took steps to ensure that the game was created through the perspectives of the target demographic. What they’d like to see in the game is exactly what SOE let them put in the game.

This kind of dedication to allow more people to join in on Sony’s gaming universe is a step away from their often aggressive, core approach. Instead of keeping with a “buy this because it’s cool and you know it” image, SOE is giving Sony a more touching, down-to-earth “we made this especially for you and we hope you like it” visage. Not convinced? Sony recently announced an official PlayStation blog for gamers to get in touch with Sony on a more personal level. What could be more defining than that?

And with Sony comes a lot of branding. Sony this and Sony that. Once Free Realms skyrockets, there’s no stopping people from considering a Sony-branded gaming system altogether, knowing that somehow, some time in the future, Sony will push out a title that fits perfectly for a non-gamer like them.

Now look at the picture from a much larger viewpoint and imagine when The Agency makes an incredible smash hit with Asian MMO gamers – an opportunity just ripe for the picking.

[Facts taken from TR articles, WoW articles, SOE articles, MMO articles based on Asian analysis reports, and original source lead: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/business/worldbusiness/11sony.html?_r=3&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
I categorized for MMO and PS3 because that’s where SOE lies on, but you can feel free to add or remove cats.]

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