Secret World "different game" on console

MMO The Secret World will have to be "a different game" to work on consoles, Funcom has told Eurogamer.

That's assuming the PC game becomes "a huge success" and justifies the continuation of the console project in the first place.

"We are focusing on the PC version right now," writer/director Ragnar Tornquist explained. "That is our primary market and we want that version to be as good as possible.

"I've been very vocal in saying that when - I guess also if - we have a console version of The Secret World, it's not going to be exactly the same game. I don't think that fits. I don't think console gamers sitting on the couch in front of a big TV want to play the exactly same game as they would on their PC with a mouse and keyboard. That doesn't compute - that doesn't work.

"You need to create a different gameplay experience," he added. "You can still have the same setting, you can still have the same philosophies, the same basic systems. But you really need to make a different game. How different that will be, it's hard to say."

Tornquist revealed that he has had "a team" working on an Xbox 360 version of The Secret World "specifically". He made no mention of PS3.

"Right now we're not focusing on [the Xbox 360 game]," he said. "It is a challenge, and it's a challenge because neither Microsoft nor Sony has made great strides to open up the platforms to MMOs. Sony has definitely done some experiments with DC Universe, which has worked quite well.

Tornquist reiterated: "It's not something we're focusing on now. I think it will only happen if The Secret World turns out to be - as of course it hopefully is - a huge success. We will want to do things on other platforms; we will want to expand the universe. But it won't be the same game."

Eurogamer published a preview of The Secret World this afternoon, along with an exclusive interview with game writer/director Ragnar Tornquist.