Why Can't MMOs Release On 360?

by Matt Miller on March 24, 2010 at 06:06 PM

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Cryptic's Champions Online is just the latest MMO that will never see the light of day on the Xbox 360. What is preventing these titles from reaching the gamers who want to play them?

Early press coverage of Champions Online, including our first-look feature on the game in Game Informer's March 2008 feature (#179) detailed plans for Champions Online to come out on Microsoft's 360 console. At the time of our visit to Cryptic, the game was already up and running on networked 360s and PCs, and our earliest playtime with the game was on a 360 controller.

Despite these positive signs of potential life in the console MMO scene, the console port appears to have died on the vine. In a post on Cryptic's forums from March 22nd, and originally reported by Team Xbox, Cryptic Team poster Jackalope indicated 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." Long-time readers of the Cryptic forums will recognize Jackalope as the online pseudonym of Jack Emmert, Cryptic co-founder and CCO, a position that certainly lends the claim some weight.

Champions Online will be the most recent of several MMOs that have failed to materialize for a Microsoft console. True Fantasy Live Online (Level-5), Marvel Universe Online (Cryptic and Marvel), Age of Conan (Funcom), and Huxley (Webzen) were all games originally planned for release on either the original Xbox or 360, but none of them have ever arrived.

Several anonymous sources in the development community over the last two years have communicated to Game Informer that the continuing absence of MMOs on the 360 comes down to a disagreement between developers and Microsoft over subscription fees. If these reports are to be believed, Microsoft has often sought significant chunks of the subscription costs that MMOs utilize to maintain and profit off of an MMO. The same sources have indicated that Final Fantasy XI, the one exception to the 360 MMO draught, was implemented prior to these new subscription fee policies by Microsoft.

Some might argue that Microsoft's approach seems self-defeating – if a strong MMO contender were to appear on Xbox Live, wouldn't it boost Xbox Live subscription numbers enough that a cut of the subscription fees would be unnecessary? Of course, the blame may not lie entirely with Microsoft. There is the possibility that numerous developers have all been problematic to work with. No matter where the fault lies, something is going wrong somewhere, and gamers are the ones missing out on the console MMO experience.

While preparing this article, we contacted Microsoft for comment on the apparent problems in implementing MMOs on the 360. We'll be sure to update this story if we hear back.

In the meantime, what's your take? Is the cancellation of Champions Online on 360 a disappointment? If that game and other MMOs showed up on 360, would you play them?

Comments

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by interpunct Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:10 PM

oh then this explains a lot... sorry for those who own a 360 but I have a PS3 and a PC so I don't know what to really say.
by James Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:10 PM

Microsoft owns greed seems to be their own flaw in this case. Why ever develop an MMO for them if they are going to take a chunk of the profit when the game can do fine on PC.
by bioshocker Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:14 PM

IMO, an MMO can't really work on a console, you have to have a keyboard and mouse for it to work. I couldn't imagine playing an MMO with a console controller, so I'm going to stick with WoW, lol.
by **BANNED** Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:21 PM

How is APB coming to 360 then? or are we going to see that die aswell. Good one MS.
by TheDarkestReign Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:30 PM

Dear God! You mean, your asking for Microsoft to actually give us a benefit for paying for online pay when they can make us pay already? Heaven forbid. :P

Also, for those of you who say that MMO's cannot be made for a console, may I suggest the release of Halo Wars in response to how RTS's just couldn't be made for consoles? How about FFXI, which was an MMO. (PS3 has Mag, which is an FPSMMO)
by salvation10954 Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:32 PM

this just shows why ps3 is better good article but xbox fan boys are gonna be pissed
by christian Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:33 PM

it doesn't surprise me that microsoft would want a cut in the profit. when they like to charge for every little thing that they can think of, why wouldn't they want a cut? personally i think they should stop being so greedy when it comes to some things and they might be able to boost sales and get more people to buy their products.
by new traditionalist Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:36 PM

this game may be fun, but it doesn't look right to me. the colors are... meh.
by IG-88 Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:37 PM

Maybe, maybe not.
by Perfect.Disaster Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:39 PM

Has GI forgotten about Capcoms Monster Hunter Frontier? It is a MMO and it will be releasing on June 24 2010 in Japan with Keiji Inafune hinting at of a western release.

www.andriasang.com/.../monster_hunter_overseas
by wynd.and.fury Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:46 PM

It would have been nice to try this out on 360 or Mac for that matter
by russianmule Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:51 PM

360 sucks !!!! Where's granturismo 5?
by Dogfonos Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:52 PM

ffxi was quite the success on the 360...and yet square enix is having such a hard time coming to terms with microsoft about ffxiv. If things don't change, microsoft will be left behind with the ps3 getting all the MMOs
by mkfan123 Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:52 PM

maybe
by natsamtre Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:53 PM

I would love to see a well constructed mmo on the 360, and depending on the subscription fee, I would most likely play it.
by warzone447 Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 06:54 PM

i agree, this is annoying, that MMOs arent releasing on the 360...then again it doesnt really matter to me because i have a ps3 too. so im not complaining.
by BlackHeartedWolf Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 07:00 PM

Why exactly is this a surprise? I mean they already demand money for players to play host for games across 'their' system so why would you think game developers would be exempt? I mean seriously it's MS, what else do you expect?
by Ed Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 07:04 PM

The PS3 has quite a few MMO's in development right now. One of them, called The Agency, is developed under Sony. So when console MMO's become massively popular on the PS3, which we all know they will, Microsoft is going to wish they had made it work. I honestly think Sony is going to be the first to really have a breakout hit MMO on a current gen console.
by Zachy_the Great! Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 07:08 PM

Honestly, it's really rather depressing. I mean don't get me wrong, understandable by all means, but there is also a community out there that only play the 360, and by all means that's it. Fortunately for me I own all the systems, but with my computer not being exactly the newest, and not exactly the best computer system around. I personally just think it'd be quite nice to play a MMO on the 360 rather then the Ps3. That's just my opinion.
by Duke E. Pyle Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 07:17 PM

@interpunct.......... How bout saying Nothing, since you seem like a braggart saying how you own PS3s and PCs. You arent the only one and this is about the 360.

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Why Can't MMOs Release On 360?

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