Why No MMOs on Consoles?
Tons of MMOs are in development for PC, but where are the console versions? Pirates of the Burning Sea producer Joe Ludwig detailed several reasons why we don’t see MMOs on consoles.
His first point is that platform holders would demand a cut of the revenue, which he points out to be between 25 and 35%. “With one more player getting a piece the revenues shrink for both the publisher and the developer and it becomes harder to turn a profit from a ‘modest success’,” he writes on his blog.
He also mentions that while there are about 19 million Xbox 360s worldwide, as well as the countless numbers of Wiis and PS3s, there are closer to ten times that number of PC equipped with graphics processor, making the PC install base larger and more lucrative than consoles.
Ludwig also points out the lack of a built-in keyboard, long certification time for patches and long development times as the reason behind the absence of MMOs on consoles.