In an interview with Kikizo, Sony Online Entertainment Seattle’s Kevin O’Hara has revealed that upcoming "persistent online shooter" The Agency may not be released on a pay-per-month basis, unlike other Massively Multiplayer SOE projects such as EverQuest.
O’Hara explained that The Agency’s target demographic were generally unwilling to fork out every month. "We’re acutely aware that shooter players are not used to playing monthly fees, so I doubt we’ll go for an outright $15 a month, which works on some of our other projects.
"So we’re checking out Free Realms to see how they’re going to do with their micro-transactions, and we might incorporate some of that. We’ll definitely have some ad revenue models. The Agency’s the perfect place for some in-game product placement."
He also suggested that the game would ship on discs rather than over PlayStation Network. "I know we will probably require disc, just for initial install. Most of our games do that – EverQuest II launched on discs only then after a couple of years it moved to digital."
Elsewhere in the interview, O’Hara discusses the game’s class and ability structure, Q-bert minigames, and in-game Operatives who call you up in real-life to tell you they’ve made you a new gun.
The Agency is down for release on PC and PlayStation 3 at an undetermined date.