Real money trading in The Agency

By Oli Welsh Published 14 May, 2008

Could the spy MMO end up free to play?

The Agency - the spy-themed massively multiplayer action game being developed for PS3 and PC by Sony Online Entertainment - is to feature officially supported real money trading.

Real money trading is the use of real money to buy in-game assets - items, currency and services - in MMOs. It is a common feature of free-to-play MMOs such as MapleStory, but frowned upon in most subscription games.

The announcement comes as part of a deal between SOE and real money trading specialists Live Gamer. Unsurprisingly, SOE's forthcoming family-friendly, free-to-play MMO Free Realms is also covered by the deal.

SOE has already partnered with Live Gamer in the unusual step of offering a sanctioned real money trading platform for its subscription game, EverQuest II.

SOE has yet to reveal the business model for The Agency. Although EverQuest II proves that real money trading support does not necessarily mean a subscription-free game, the Live Gamer deal will certainly lead to speculation that the promising espionage MMO will go free-to-play.

SOE president John Smedley seemed to hint as much in his comment on the deal. "We are actively exploring free-to-play and other revenue models, and always looking for new ways to engage and entertain gamers," he said. "Live Gamer is a proven partner that protects and supports our gamers who participate in RMT [real money trading]. We trust them to handle this area of the business for us so that we can focus on creating and growing our games."

Live Gamer president Andrew Schneider added that The Agency and Free Realms were "titles for which the idea of RMT has been built in from the very early stages of design". The press release notes that The Agency will allow players to customise their characters through "attire, weaponry, gadgets, vehicles, gear and aliases that tailor their game play" - all of which could be sold.

We'll be interested to see how this pans out. Subscription games have yet to make much of an impact on consoles, but then again, console gamers' attitude to small-scale item sales is hostile, as proven by the recent furore over weapon sales in Battlefield: Bad Company.

For more on The Agency, take a look at Eurogamer MMO's revealing interview or check out the media on the gamepage.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (10) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • JediMasterMalik #1 4 years ago

    If it's free to play it could very well be a massive success, I'd definitely try it.

  • Beano #2 4 years ago

    When will it be out?

  • JediMasterMalik #3 4 years ago

    There's no date, I reckon next year.

  • Darkedge #4 4 years ago

    if it's free to play (I mean real money is voluntary completely) it'll sell by the bucketload and I wouldn't put it past Sony to bankroll the whole thing at a massive loss to sell PS3's

  • dsmx #5 4 years ago

    If it''s free to play I will definitely play it.

  • Beano #6 4 years ago

    @Darkedge : Well you'll still have to buy the game ;)

    Some PSN titles allready run on dedicated servers at Sony (R:FoM, Warhawk) which does not cost extra either. So I don't expect PS3 owners to play a monthly fee just because it's a MMO.

  • Hughes. #7 4 years ago

    On the one hand, subscriptions are what put me off MMO's, but if this is funded by gamers who pay for items having a tactical advantage over those who go vanilla, that won't be so hot.

    Quandarific.

  • M83J01P97 #8 4 years ago

    yeah... while the concept is interesting... letting people use their own money to gain an advantage over others can potentially be game breaking. But we will see...

  • super_monty #9 4 years ago

    I won't pay for items in game with real money, this is coming of my wanted list unless it's free play.

  • 3william56 #10 4 years ago

    It's all about balance. If cash gets you cooler looking/sounding guns/cars/equipment/clothes without a significant gameplay advantage (like the homeware tat in PS Home), then I'm all for saddos taking it all too seriously subsidising my gameplay. Able to buy a tactical advantage (even if it's eventually available for free after playing for a gajillion hours - not looking at EA, obviously) would kill it.

    Are there that many sad willy wavers in the world to pay for something like this?
    The GTA vomparison threads (spelling mistake, but appropriate enough to keep) certainly say yes.