Just a few weeks after Cryptic Studios revealed Champions Online won’t be coming to the Xbox360 console, one of its top producers said sister MMO Star Trek Online has suffered the same fate .
Executive producer Craig Zinkievich confirmed STO will be exclusive to the PC. “It’s pretty much in the same boat as the Champions console version right now,” Mr. Zinkievich said in an interview with Videogamer.com.
“It’s something we can readily do in terms of technology. We’ve had it up and running on certain consoles, and had plans and designs in order to take advantage of those platforms. But as it stands right now it’s a little difficult to make that final leap on the business side of things. So, currently, just like Champions, the console version of Star Trek Online is on the back burner,” added Mr. Zinkievich.
Fans of the sci-fi MMO had been hoping for multi-platform access beyond the PC when the game launched last year. Cryptic has been dropping small updates since then of ongoing development for a PS3 and Xbox360 version, but now it seems the company was hard-pressed “to make that final leap on the business side of things.”
Many industry insiders have pointed to the potential of console markets for MMOs looking to expand their subscription base. But complicated dealings with console manufacturers like Microsoft and the complex process of adopting MMO gameplay for consoles have hampered most cross-overs. Gleaming from Mr. Zinkievich’s response, the former might have been a greaterproblem than the latter for STO.
The news certainly doesn’t bode well for upcoming titles hoping to see console play such as Age of Conan and Final Fantasy XIV. Hopefully, their respective companies can work around the tricky hurdles and introduce millions of console gamers to the world of MMO.
Pic from http://g4tv.com/