Just saw this on F13.net:
In a strategic move to closely align itself with the strong growth of the worldwide online gaming market, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) announced today that Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) will report to Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, SCEI, effective April 1, 2008.
SOE is moving from the movie side of the business to the side that makes the Playstation 3 and its games. It really does make sense. I think we can expect, though, that any future SOE game for domestic release will come out for both the PC and the PS3. We know DC Universe Online and The Agency are both coming out for the PS3. I imagine Free Realms is as well, though I wonder how many children have PS3s available vs the ubiquity of PCs. LittleBig World is PS3 only, as is @Home (though I don’t think those last two had anything to do with SOE).
The biggest question has to be, what happens to the PC-only games? They certainly won’t be back-ported to the PS3 unless they had Halo or WoW numbers to make it worthwhile. However, it’s also clear that they won’t give up a brand like EverQuest easily.
Does this mean there could be an EverQuest 3 for the PS3? What was unlikely a day ago seems certain now. There have been unsubstantiated rumors of an EQ port of some sort on the PS3 since the PS3 was announced, including some supposed screenshots. Perhaps it’s just the wishful thinking of EQOA players hoping for a transition path from the PS2 to the PS3.
It’s possible, then, that EQ/PS3 has been under development for some time already. It would almost have to be, since you wouldn’t want to introduce a new MMO in the middle or toward the end of a hardware cycle.