Hi beloved PS Blog readers – we hope you have been enjoying our series of articles here. We have some big news about DUST 514 coming out this week and wanted to write a more personal note about it here, to you.
The development of DUST 514 has been an amazing experience, as we at CCP pioneer new frontiers for console games in collaboration with Sony. It has really been a process of exploring and breaking new ground – running an MMO service that needs constant updates on a console, microtransactions on a console, connecting an MMO on console to an MMO on PC in a real time shared universe and the Marketplace between the two – and there’s even more to come. Today, I’m writing about one more of those things – DUST 514 will be free to play on PlayStation 3!
This news means DUST 514 is the first ever game built from the ground up as a free to play MMOFPS on console, exclusively on the PlayStation 3. Thanks to how Sony has set up the PlayStation Network – and the innovations they have been making on it together with us – Sony’s console platform is the only one able to support this kind of game as a service and business model.
The development of DUST and CCP’s engagement with Sony has been ongoing since before E3 2011 last year, when we announced our partnership. Over that time, we’ve seen the rise of free to play and microtransaction based games in the Western markets on PC, web and mobile (they’ve been popular in Asia for some time – one of the reasons DUST development is based out of China, an interesting story in itself, for another time) – but consoles have only taken baby steps throughout this generation in this regard, with some patches and DLC and demos, until today.
Just to be totally clear, DUST 514 will be a free to play game, without any cover charge. We debated the cover charge idea for a while, kind of as a hybrid between the old business model (having to purchase a game) and this new one (free to play). As we watched the market evolve, gamers choices in free to play games evolve, our own tastes in free to play evolve and developing what’s needed to support it in collaboration with Sony, this just became the obvious way to go – no cover charge, completely free to play. It’s the right time.
To put it very simply, we think it’s an awesome, amazing opportunity to evolve how console games are made and offered to players, and we believe you’ll agree.
We know you’re eager for more, and we’ll be coming out with tons of info at our annual FanFest convention in Iceland, which starts on March 22. We’ll have first hands-on, while also unveiling details about how we are rolling out DUST 514, videos, interviews (answers to many of your burning questions – we’re watching the comments, reading the forums, listening!), and much more. Sony has hooked up amazing prizes for our DUST 514 tournament at FanFest, we can’t wait to see the battles!
Thanks for coming on this journey with us, it’s one unlike any other, and we’re just getting warmed up. We cannot be more excited for you all to play DUST 514, and being able to make that a reality for free on PS3.
Stay tuned for more very soon!
This kinda came out of the blue so that was what the psn maintenance had to be?
So this game is coming out Tuesday?
eagle, they wouldnt do an 11 hour maintenance just for a game.
…waits patiently for the catch…
I dont like this kind of stuff… it all comes down to whoever has put the most money into the game, that determines who the “better” player is.
Free is good…
So since this is apparently going to be a download only game (You cant not charge for a blu-ray), How much HDD Space am i going to have to clear out to accommodate my new addiction?
Like others said, where did this come from? Great to here but kinda abrupt with no significant buzz leading up to it. Excited about this game though and very interested to see how it performs and what it means for the industry as a whole moving forward.
Any possible release date on the Vita version?
Yep. If it just means a competition on who spends more money, then meh. Looks beautiful though.
i’ll keep my eyes on this one..
but i cant help but remember what i’ve always been told over and over and over again throughout my life..
“if its too good to be true, it probably is” and “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”…
so, as someone else mentioned.. whats the catch?
microtransactions? tons of DLC but pay only? how’s this company (ccpgames) making money?
There’s no catch, the game is free to play and that means access to all contents (i.e. multiplayer, PVP, corporations, the grand sandbox, etc).