An Interview with John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment

John Smedley talks about Free Realms and family based MMOG's

My first MMORPG was Star Wars Galaxies.  Before SWG, I had stuck mostly to competitive First Person Shooter games because in my college days playing and working on fantasy based MUD's, I knew the MMORPG could be a dangerous thing when it comes to time investments. 

Growing up as an uber Star Wars nerd, playing with action figures probably for a few years longer than I should have, I just couldn't pass up the chance to play a persistent world Star Wars themed game after keeping my distance from Everquest and other fantasy MMORPG's. I played SWG from launch until the day the NGE was released.  It was a move that essentially demonized John Smedley among the MMORPG "Vocal Minority".   That was almost three years ago now and I know first hand that in business you always have to try new things.  Sometimes ideas work.  Sometimes they don't.   

I can tell that John Smedley has an eye on the future and is not only passionate about what he does, but he's good at what he does.   In the past, "Smed" has assembled some of the greatest MMORPG development teams we have ever seen bringing in some of the industry's best talent, including Brad McQuaid for Everquest and Rich Vogel and Raph Koster on Star Wars Galaxies.

Moving foward here in 2008, Smed continues his tradition of breakthrough MMORPG's in the form of Free Realms.  Free Realms is a family oriented MMORPG which has potential to reach subscriber figures well into the millions.   Why? Because it's a game, like Everquest and like Star Wars Galaxies that is not trying to be like everyone else or going after the same marketshare as everyone else.  Free realms is also an MMOG that is not afraid to try doing something completely new and different.

Currently, there is not a 3D MMOG that brings the entire family together in a single world suitable for the whole family, yet entertaining enough to lure in an entirely new generation of MMORPG players.  With Free Realms, SOE is moving into a new MMORPG frontier that very few have dared to explore.   I had a chance to ask John Smedley about Free Realms and this potentially new MMOG audience.

Check out the Free Realms trailer from E3

Here is our interview with John Smedley:



Zergwatch: While the market is saturated with online communities and casual social games for families and children, most are 2D web based games like Club Penguin, Habbo and Webkinz World.  Free Realms will be the first casual 3D MMOG released by one of the larger publishers.  How will Sony approach entering a new market where nobody else has really been before in this capacity?

John: At SOE we’re trying to significantly raise the bar on the quality level for a Free MMO. We want a great game that is extremely high quality, but very accessible… so that’s what we’re focused on with Free Realms. It’s a big bet, but every day when I log into Free Realms it’s one I know is a very smart bet.

Zergwatch: Nobody has has been successful in building an MMOG that parents and young children  enjoy playing together.  Right now Dad plays his fantasy MMORPG, Mom plays Diner Dash, the young kids have Webkinz and the older kids have Club Penguin.  None of those games have any crossover potential.   How do you plan to bring those groups together and keep them all equally interested for the long term with Free Realms?

John: Well, it might be different in my house than in other people’s… but I play all kinds of online games with my kids. People think I’m just saying that, but Saturday’s and Sundays in my house are a mad scramble between basketball games, soccer games, football games.. and online games. When we’re not out doing some kind of kids sports activity, we’re playing games together for probably 8 hours a day on the weekends. It’s the thing dad does with the kids (my wife sadly doesn’t like video games.. she prefers board games). Free Realms is a dream to me because we’re focusing on making activities for parents and kids to play together. Many MMO’s out there are for a bit older audience. Free Realms is going to hopefully have a wider appeal.

Zergwatch: Besides doing quests, what would you say are the most exciting activities parents can perform together with their children within Free Realms?

John: Well we’re really focused on in-world mini games and activities. Things like Soccer, car racing, destruction derby.. that kind of thing. But in Free Realms, these things are going to be actually directly in the world. It’s really cool and I think parents and kids will have a blast together.

Zergwatch: Legends of Norrath was a great step in the MMOG space.  Unfortunately, the game is still geared towards people who enjoy the whole fantasy/RPG/MMORPG genre.  Is anything in the works to take the LoN platform into Free Realms or any other games targeted at the younger "Yugi-Oh" audience?

John: We have some big plans in this area for Free Realms.. something completely new and very cool (hint.. it’s not a card game). I’m a huge Magic the Gathering Online player myself, so the idea of collectible things is something I very much want us to focus on as a company.

Zergwatch: I read there are plans eventually for a Playstation version of Free Realms.  Will players (the kids) with the PS2/3 version of the game be able to play on the same servers with mom and dad who most likely would play it on the PC or will there be a split screen option?

John: There will be a PS3 version of Free Realms.. and our goal is to let people on the PS3 and the PC play in the same world. We don’t have plans for a split screen option at the moment, but that could change if there is a demand for it.

Zergwatch: A forward thinking industry trend appears to be creating MMOG's on console platforms.  Do you think moving forward, the industry will be more focused on planting their flags in the console MMOG space, essentially leaving PC MMORPG players left playing out what could eventually be the last of the PC MMORPG's after this next batch of "Nextgen" PC MMO's have been released or do you still see a new round of new PC based MMO's over the next 5-6 years?

John: We see a huge opportunity to bring the great gameplay that MMO’s bring to the table over to the PlayStation 3 (can’t speak for others in our space but from what I’ve heard they plan to do the same thing). We think it’s a very large installed base of customers who like to play online games. I do think you’ll see some console only MMOs in the future, but our plans are to do games that bridge both the PC and the PS3.

Zergwatch: Some of my favorite SOE console games were the Champions of Norrath series.  Are there any plans for future Norrath adventures for the PS3?

John: Those are some of our favorites too! We are looking at what we’re going to do in those franchises on a constant basis.. but I don’t have anything to announce.

Zergwatch: Last month, internal restructuring was announced that moved SOE from Sony Pictures to SCE, a move that made sense at so many levels.   Does this move add any short term benefits to the production capabilities of either SCE or SOE?  Why was SOE under the motion picture branch to begin with?

John: This move is very exciting to SOE. We get access to some awesome technology, and more importantly we get to work with some of the best game makers in the business. We were under SPE just due to the fact that they purchased our company Verant back in 2000.

Zergwatch: As the relationship between SCE and SOE grows closer and the line between the two begins to blur, do you forsee both companies eventually becoming one?

John: Well, we’re now a part of the SCE family and we report in to Kaz Hirai.. that’s a pretty close relationship!

Zergwatch: That's about it as far as asking questions go.  If there's anything you'd like to add, please feel free.  NHL playoff picks?  How did you do in the Sony Final Four tournament?   Hillary, Obama or McCain?

John: Politics – hmm.. well, I think I will take the 5th on that one.. but there are some pretty interesting choices. I got to meet Barak Obama a few months back and that was a pretty cool experience.. but there are a lot of things to think about in this election. I can honestly say I haven’t made up my mind yet. I will say this is the coolest election in my lifetime. I’m a bit of a political junkie and I’m guilty of watching too much cable news. I am really enjoying talking about it with my kids, particularly my older two who are learning about it in school. It’s literally the dinner table discussion every single night.

On the Final Four.. that championship game was incredible. I was watching it at a bar with some friends from SOE and had a great time… but I wasn’t part of the pool.. I just don’t follow it closely enough to have had any chance of doing well.