After launching in 2009 and gathering 17 million registered users on the PC, Sony Online Entertainment’s Free Realms will be finding its way to Sony’s PlayStation 3 console via a free download from the PlayStation Store on March 29. Free Realms is a free-to-play casual massively multiplayer online game with a strong family-friendly tilt. Free Realms is a relatively free-form MMOG with a light fantasy influence, which gathers together questing, multiplayer mini games, item collecting, and more. This title, while free to play, monetizes premium content through the freemium model. To gain access to the premium content, according to Stephen Bokkes, lead designer for Free Realms, a player will need to “Upgrade to a membership and get unlimited access to all job levels, as well as additional premium content and features.”
Free Realms is not the PlayStation 3′s first exposure to the “MMOGs on consoles” idea. That honor goes to the comic book-centric DC Universe, which arrived on the console and PC for simultaneous release in January to mixed reviews but commercial success. Nor will it be the last, even after Free Realms goes live. Magic: The Gathering Tactics, a free-to-play online strategy game on the PC, will be brought to the PS3 later in 2011.
According to separate reports, cross-platform play between the PC and PS3 versions of Free Realms will not be available due to logistical challenges that make that objective impractical.
[Source: Video Game Writers]
