Trading marketplace firm Live Gamer has extended its relationship with Sony Online Entertainment, with the news that SOE will use its Live Gamer Exchange real-money trading (or RMT) platform in two upcoming MMOs.
It’s already being used in SOE’s EverQuest II, but will now be rolled out for The Agency and Free Realms. The former is an online action-shooter game, which breaks new ground for the genre by offering players the chance to customise their character’s clothes, weapons, gadgets, vehicles and other items.
Meanwhile, Free Realms is the first MMO I’ve seen described by its maker as “whimsical” - it’s a fantasy adventure game with a large catalogue of items for players to buy for their character too. SOE clearly sees the relationship with Live Gamer as the best way to explore new business models, as president John Smedley explains:
“We are actively exploring free-to-play and other revenue models, and always looking for new ways to engage and entertain gamers. Live Gamer is a proven partner that protects and supports our gamers who participate in RMT. We trust them to handle this area of the business for us so that we can focus on creating and growing our games.”
The interesting thing about The Agency and Free Realms is that they’re the first MMOs from SOE to have the concept of real-money trading built in from the design stages.
0 comments