Smedley said DC Universe Online is the largest revenue generator across PS3 and PS4 combined, even though the game is free to play.
That is a pretty amazing, given how DC Universe Online stumbled almost immediately after a hot launch.
Then again, the article says that the PlayStation people are just starting to embrace free to play, so there isn’t much competition. (Warframe is the top on PS4 alone, and I wonder where PlanetSide 2 stands?) And the game itself was designed around playing with a controller, one of my primary complaints about the game when I tried it on the PC. It is very much a console title.
I suppose there is some irony in that DC Universe Online was something of the last stand for subscriptions at SOE back in early 2011, with Smed making a pretty strong statement about what customers of a subscription game should expect. By the end of 2011, the move to free to play was in full swing at SOE. Now, in this article, it is all about free and harnessing the user base for content and not depending on subscriptions. The article closes with:
SOE continues to evolve as a company. The days of charging a subscription for online games are part of its history.
Well, except for that one subscription they still have.
Once known as Station Access…
SOE All Access is still a thing, and as good of a deal as it seems these days compared to the past, you still pretty much have to subscribe to get the fullest out of games like EverQuest or EverQuest II. So call it mostly part of SOE’s history.
The Ancient Gaming Noob 
I actually have really enjoyed being able to use a 360 controller with mmos, or any game that doesn’t require precise aim. It works surprisingly well with GW2 using a program called Pinnacle as the programming software. I just find mouse and kb to leave arms and fingers achy after a few hrs gameplay whereas sitting back resting arms in lap with a controller feels way less fatiguing, and in general just easier mechanically.
But in general don’t see playing an MMO on a console. The graphics and mod options offered to PC players is just to great of a perk.
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@Coppertopper – Heh, not being much of a console player, I actually find it difficult to hold a controller in the standard gamer death grip for any extended period of time. I just haven’t trained my muscles for that.
In fact, one of the things I liked about the Wii was that, despite the fact that most games could have been played on a standard controller, the whole Wii remote plus nunchuck controller setup allowed you some freedom of movement that let me play a lot longer than I could have managed with a standard controller.
And, of course, I have been doing keyboard and mouse since 1987. All those muscles are well toned.
So it can go both ways.
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As I’m sure you’ll know from Tipa’s series of posts, DCUO appears to be a hellish hardcore grind. I find it very interesting indeed to learn that gameplay of that kind results in the highest revenue generation. Watching the relative success of FFXIV:ARR and the largely positive reception for WildStar I wonder if we haven’t passed the high-water mark of accessibility and aren’t now seeing the tide begin to turn the other way…
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