Sony Online Tailors New MMO to Kids

Sony Online Entertainment is currently developing an MMO that would be specifically tailored to attract a much younger demographic than games like EverQuest or Untold Legends.* Free Realms*, coming to both the PC and the PS3, is aimed at children, and in particular young girls. The game will be mostly free to play, but following the microtransaction trend, players will have to pay for access to special zones and activities. They'll also be able to purchase in-game items like pets and clothes.

In order to make a game that would appeal to the gentler gender, Sony Online hired a female creative director and art director to guide Free Realms' development. Explaining the need for the female touch, SOE's John Smedly said:

I just can’t explain to a 30-year-old single male why 10-year-old girls like horses. We were trying to figure out what pets to put into Free Realms and before, the lead designer was a guy and he definitely wanted things that could fight. And when we got more women on the team, it was like ‘No, no, no. We need puppies and horses in there.’

You heard it here first, folks: the way to a girl's heart is with puppies and horses.

Sony's Other Game Division Makes Push in New Direction [New York Times]