Jagex: Platform Holders Were Opposed to 'Universal Community'

August 26, 2011 -

Speaking at the recent Edinburgh Interactive conference, Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard said that Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo all opposed the idea of the company's MMO Runescape letting players interact with other players on rival platforms.

"Some console owners wanted us to charge five Euros for Runescape. What? It would be crazy to charge for Runescape on consoles," he said. "But Sony was ahead of the game, they said they get it. They understand free. But all three said, 'okay, but, we won’t let our console play online with any other'."

"They said, ‘we cannot let the Microsoft community play with the Sony community’. Okay fine then, we said, we just won’t do it," he continued. "We’re not going to frame [as in, segregate] our community into boxes just for a few million more customers. Of course I’d love a few million more customers, but I just wouldn’t do it. Not at the expense of fracturing it, because you almost become the disease you’re trying to solve."

Gerhard went on to say that the game will have a universal community, that it is well positioned to ship across multiple platforms, and that the game would remain free-to-play.

Source: Develop by way of MCV UK

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Comments

Re: Jagex: Platform Holders Were Opposed to 'Universal ...

Submitted by Mr.Tastix on Fri, 08/26/2011 - 18:23.

I'm not entirely sure what Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are worried about.

I can talk to a Sony player right now, via my computer. Does that mean that Sony is losing a customer due to computers? No, it doesn't.

My point is that just because a person playing a PS3 can talk with a person playing on an Xbox 360 doesn't mean they're going to want to automatically change consoles. In fact, a "universal community" would probably be welcomed by many gamers as they could then talk to friends who have different consoles than they do.

Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are basically giving up what could be a good investment simply because their egos are too big to let competitors customers in.

----

Randi Tastix - http://randomtastic.com

Re: Jagex: Platform Holders Were Opposed to 'Universal ...

Submitted by E. Zachary Knight on Fri, 08/26/2011 - 11:42.

Glad they are sticking to their guns. I think it is important to hold a community together.

As a Flash game developer, we plan on releasing our games on Facebook, Google + (when it becomes available for "common" developers), Kongregate and our own sites. We would not want to fracture those communities either. It is bad business.

E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower

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Michael Chandra: I... Don't get one thing. If you do not want your employee to do X, why do you tell them it's advice or a wish? Give them a damn order.10/20/2014 - 6:48am

james_fudge: A leak that had me worried about being swatted by Lizard Squad.10/20/2014 - 6:03am

james_fudge: It should be noted that the author leaked the GJP group names online10/20/2014 - 6:03am

MechaTama31: I mean, of the groups being bullied here, which of the two would you refer to collectively as "nerds"?10/19/2014 - 11:30pm

MechaTama31: But that's the thing, it doesn't sound to me like he is advocating bullying, it sounds like he is accusing the SJWs of bullying the "nerds", who I can only assume refers to the GGers.10/19/2014 - 11:21pm

Andrew Eisen: Interesting read. Unfortunately, too vague to form an opinion on but at least now I know what faefrost was talking about in James' editorial.10/19/2014 - 10:39pm

Neo_DrKefka: Breaking GameJournoPros organized a blacklist of former Destructoid writer Allistar Pinsof for investigating fraud in IndieGoGo campaign http://blogjob.com/oneangrygamer/2014/10/gamergate-destructoid-corruption-and-ruined-careers/10/19/2014 - 8:57pm

Neo_DrKefka: Only good thing I seen come out of the Biddle incident was the fact a professional fighter offered to give 10k to an anti bullying charity for a round in the ring with Biddle.10/19/2014 - 7:49pm

Neo_DrKefka: Even after all the interviews she is still on twitter making fun of people with disabilities (Autism) yet she is a part of the crowd that is on the so called right side of history...10/19/2014 - 7:48pm

Neo_DrKefka: Which #GameGate supports are constantly being harassed and bullied. Brianna Wu who I told everyone she was trolling GamerGate weeks ago with her passive aggressive threats was looking for that crazy person in the crowd.10/19/2014 - 7:47pm

Neo_DrKefka: I believe the problem #GamerGate has with Sam Biddle is he is apart of this blogging group that in a way hates or detests its readers. Also being apart of the crowd that claims its on the right side of history isn't helping when he is advocating bullying10/19/2014 - 7:45pm

MechaTama31: Of course, I'm looking at these tweets in isolation, I don't know a thing about the guy.10/19/2014 - 7:06pm

MechaTama31: If anything, the sarcastic implication seems to be that the SJW crowd is bringing back the bullying of nerds. But it's the GGers who are out for his blood? I'm lost...10/19/2014 - 7:01pm

MechaTama31: I don't really get this Sam Biddle thing. The reaction to his tweets seems to be taking them at face value, but... they're tongue in cheek. Right?10/19/2014 - 7:00pm

Andrew Eisen: I have it. The problem, so far as I can tell, is neither of them allow me to overlay my webcam feed or text links to my Extra-Life fundraising page.10/19/2014 - 4:08pm

quiknkold: and yes, its free10/19/2014 - 4:05pm

quiknkold: should grab Hauppauge capture. has mic support and can upload directly to youtube10/19/2014 - 4:05pm

Andrew Eisen: The former.10/19/2014 - 4:00pm

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