The PSO numbers they announced are meaningless for the following reasons:
(1) Number of accounts does not equal active accounts since the online play is free.
(2) Number of accounts is meaningless since they don’t generate revenue.
(3) PSO is neither MM nor persistent, though it does a good job of hiding that fact.
Frankly the fact the FFXI has hit 400,000 users already is a lot more significant and impressive.
[quote]The PSO numbers they announced are meaningless for the following reasons:
(1) Number of accounts does not equal active accounts since the online play is free.
[/quote]
What crazy version are you playing? I have to fork over monthly for a hunters license (or would do, if I could actually get my hands on one of the bband adapters). Which means your point 2 is also just plain wrong.
True it wasn’t totally MM, but the players are totally persistant, albeit not stored on any central server. But then again, this was the first MM game avalible on any console, and still the only MM game on Gamecube. The fact that people still complain about Sega taking the DC servers down further underlines how popular it was.
Was free when I played on my genesis (when it was fairly new). Frankly I don’t think I’d pay monthly for it.
If they actually got 600K people to pay monthly Im impressed, but also very very suprised.
True if, as you say, they’ve changed the economic model.
Thats quibbling. ALL player data is persistent in any game with a “save”, but thats not what people mean by “persistant environment.”
NWN characters persist in the vault but, unless someone is running a 24/7 server that evolves it state over time its not considered an “online persistant game.”
You’re critisising a game you’re not played nor actually read up on? The original Phantasy Star games on the megadrive were single player only RPGs in the final fantasy style. PSO was originally released for the DC and now has Gamecube and XBox versions.
It is a totally separate and different game. It only really uses the Phantasy Star universe (and then only slightly, much like Final Fantasy). You have to buy a hunters license to play online, I forget the exact cost but i think its just below a tenner. The hunters license expires every month.
My mistake, i meant Dreamcast, sorry. (never owned a genesis actually). I would’ve thought my knowledge of the structure of the game woulda made that mistake obvious shrug (I get all the names of old consoles confused 
And yes I played it a fair bit at first, wasn’t very impressed. And it was free then. The only costs were if you signed up for their ISP package.
De gustibus non disputantum est.