No cross-platform play for The Agency

By Christian Donlan Published 16 August, 2008

For "philosophical" reasons.

Sony Online Entertainment's upcoming espionage MMO The Agency is not going to allow cross-platform play between the PC and the PS3, according to lead designer Hal Milton.

Speaking at SOE's annual Fan Faire in Las Vegas, Milton said, "There's no technological reason why you can't play cross-platform, but there’s a philosophical reason why design doesn’t want to do it. If we have to compromise one platform to support both, then we won't.

"A couple of members of our team gained a lot of experience working on Shadowrun, and no matter how well you fine-tune it, you end up with a player-base that's polarised," Milton said, referring to Microsoft's ill-fated cross-platform shooter for PC and Xbox 360.

"PC guys say, 'PS3 guys have aim assist and the controls nerfed for them'. And PS3 guys say, 'PC guys have a mouse and keyboard - it's all easier for them'. Even if it's not true.

"So what I would rather concentrate on is taking all that delicious persistent data and the community capabilities and try to find more interesting ways of putting that together," Milton added, and yes, he did describe persistent data as being "delicious".

When we quizzed him further on what kind of "interesting ways" he had in mind for combining the PC and PS3 player-bases, Milton said, "The community stuff's pretty easy - there's an economy, and there's chat. On the gameplay side, I can't talk about what we're planning. But there are metagame elements that allow us to say, 'Hey PS3 guys, the PC guys care more than you!' And they’ll be, 'No they don't! I'll show you!'"

During a Q&A session on The Agency, design director Matt Wilson also suggested that with a single account, you should be able to create characters on both PS3 and PC versions of the game. But as Milton confirmed, you will not be able to pick up on PS3 where you left off on the PC version or vice versa, and two different copies of the game will be required.

For more on The Agency - including an in-depth preview, and an interview with Milton and Wilson - visit the gamepage.

Picture of Christian.

About Christian Donlan

Chris Donlan writes about games for Eurogamer and some magazines. His heroes include Eugene Jarvis, Errol Morris, and Linus Van Pelt.

Read more articles from Christian by visiting the Christian Donlan archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • m0thr4 #1 4 years ago

    "PC guys say, 'PS3 guys have aim assist and the controls nerfed for them'. And PS3 guys say, 'PC guys have a mouse and keyboard - it's all easier for them'. Even if it's not true.

    So? Fuck those whiny cunts and give us our cross platform online play.

  • MaxiSleep #2 4 years ago

    "you will not be able to pick up on PS3 where you left off on the PC version or vice versa, and two different copies of the game will be required. "



    Real loss here. Would be nice to play in the armchair at home but play on your laptop when traveling.

  • soviet_ #3 4 years ago

    Looks shit anyway

  • SeesThroughAll #4 4 years ago

    Looks shit anyway

    Looks like you'd never want to play it anyway...

  • Gaol #5 4 years ago

    SoE are idiots. It's like they ask their employees to leave their brain at the door when they come in to work.

    He doesn't want tension between PS3 and PC owners on controls (even though both paltforms support KB&M and Joypad); yet he does want to promote said rivalry for some 'metagame'... WTF is he talking about?
    Edited by 1 at 17/08/08 @ 02:02

  • L0cky #6 4 years ago

    "and two different copies of the game will be required"

    Well duh...

  • Stepharneo #7 4 years ago

    damn....i'm going to have to get my mmo-loving friends to get a ps3...well thats never gonna happen....and my pc is shit....well i'm going to have to find someone else who has a console but likes mmo's...are there any, apart from me?

  • autogunner #8 4 years ago

    at stepharneo: if you like mmo's so much why did you get a PS3? also agency does not look too demanding, it looks only slightly better than wow

  • Xerx3s #9 4 years ago

    "A couple of members of our team gained a lot of experience working on Shadowrun, and no matter how well you fine-tune it, you end up with a player-base that's polarised," Milton said, referring to Microsoft's ill-fated cross-platform shooter for PC and Xbox 360.

    "PC guys say, 'PS3 guys have aim assist and the controls nerfed for them'. And PS3 guys say, 'PC guys have a mouse and keyboard - it's all easier for them'. Even if it's not true.


    Well that's a bit rubbish, to take the game you exampled: I have never noticed when an opponent as a pc gamer and according to the history that has been quite a few.

  • Nill #10 4 years ago

    Summary of article: blah blah blah blah blah blah.

    Dear writer, how does it feel churning out this piss?

  • dsmx #11 4 years ago

    Why not do 3 different types of server then 1 for PC, one for PS3 and one for cross platform play?

  • ccfb #12 4 years ago

    Reading comments threads like this, I'm sure EG's bosom swells with pride at the quality of contributions from their burgeoning community.

  • Peew971 #13 4 years ago

    There was absolutely no advantage for either platform on Shadowrun, this is pure BS.

  • JediMasterMalik #14 4 years ago

    I really like the look of this game, but this is a damn shame, splitting the user base is not a good idea for an MMO.

  • Beano #15 4 years ago

    I never understood the hype of cross-platform play. Personally I would rather have no cross-platform play (or at least an in-game option to avoid it) and only play with/against other PS3 owners.
    There will be more than enough players on PS3 and my PC-only friends don't play games like The Agency.

  • Machetazo #16 4 years ago

    "Personally I would rather have no cross-platform play (or at least an in-game option to avoid it) and only play with/against other PS3 owners. "

    I think providing such an option would be the best way to carry on. As long as there's existing capability, to the extent that the game doesn't suffer for the connection; then the option could be welcomed.