Sony undoubtedly has a more robust lineup of free-to-play games for the PlayStation 4 than the Microsoft has for the Xbox One. The PS4 will see Planetside, DC Universe Online, Warframe, and other games arrive as free, playable games at launch. Microsoft will also have free-to-play games, but developers are already complaining about how the Xbox Live policies are “totally unacceptable” for the free-to-play model.
Xbox Live policies are totally unacceptable for meaningful free-to-play games
Wargaming, makers of the wildly popular World of Tanks games aren’t sure that Xbox Live will work for these types of games, due to the restrictive certification process that prohibits developers from updating games regularly.
Speaking in an interview with Polygon, CEO Victor Kislyi explains why developers need more breathing room to update their games, especially when they are free to play.
“The good thing is with online games, sometimes if you screw up, you can do frequent updates, but one of the biggest challenges with Microsoft was the frequency of updates because of the QA process and certification process takes an extremely long time.” Kislyi says that this is “Totally unacceptable for a meaningful free-to-play. We are working with them to do quicker updates.”
Wargaming’s World of Tanks recently entered into beta on Xbox Live, after being revealed at E3 2013 for the Xbox 360. We’ll have to wait and see if Wargaming can find the same success on consoles as they’ve had on PC, but if they don’t, they’ve certainly established a clear out if the game doesn’t take on the platform.
Published: Jul 22, 2013 08:00 am