Cryptic Studios Backs Off Champions Online Console Plans

Despite past statements indicating Cryptic Studios' Champions Online would ship for a console system at some point, company CCO Jack Emmert has now stated the superhero MMO will remain PC-only for the foreseeable future. "One hundred percent of our focus is on making the current PC product the best it can be," Emmert said, posting under his online handle "Jackalope" on the official Champions Online forums. "There are no current plans for a console version of Champions." Champions has frequently been assumed to be in development for Xbox 360, based both on external reporting and statements by Cryptic staff. Last July, a Cryptic community manager said that "it has always been, and still remains our intent to release on consoles, and as soon as we’re able to share more information about it, we will." The following month, Emmert revealed that Cryptic in fact had developed an Xbox 360 version of the game to some level of playability, but said Microsoft still needed "to work out all the various issues related to MMOs" on Xbox 360, calling the company's failure to satisfactorily address the issue "baffling." That may be one reason Cryptic has now apparently abandoned its plans for the platform -- and why almost no MMOs have managed to see successful console releases. While many MMO development studios have announced their intentions to release games for both PC and console platforms, nearly all of them have had their console SKUs canceled or continually delayed. Sony Online Entertainment plans to release its upcoming games The Agency and DC Universe Online PC as well as PlayStation 3, and Funcom recently said it still plans to bring its 2008 PC MMO Age of Conan: Hyborean Adventures to Xbox 360. To date, there have been few full-scale multiplatform MMOs that reached release, with notable examples being Square Enix's Final Fantasy XI and Sega's pseudo-MMO Phantasy Star Universe. Both games were released for PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and PC.