TGS - Square Japan talks PlayOnline with the GIA

[03.31.00] » Pricing, communication details emerge on Square's ambitious online strategy.

    GIA Agent J.T. Kauffman and a fellow special agent spoke with Square representitives at yesterday's Tokyo Game Show regarding Square's planned PlayOnline service. Square stated that "PlayOnline is not the Internet," but a more Compuserve-like separate network which will require a monthly fee. Final Fantasy XI will require another monthly fee on top of that, and there is no single-player component planned at all. The stated aim of the network is to "create more enjoyable games with the use of advanced technology."

    Within PlayOnline, most of that advanced technology seems to emphasize the social aspect of gaming, the "ability to meet and communicate with new people." In the demo video shown to the TGS crowds, players used keyboards to type IRC-like messages which then appeared as text bubbles over their heads. There will be a keyboard to use with PlayOnline, and while its use is also a possibility for FFXI, nothing had been finalized as of yet. In order to compensate for the slow development of Sony's planned broadband network, PlayOnline will take advantage of ISDN lines and minimize download times by distributing a large portion of the necessary data on CD. Square plans to launch PlayOnline next spring.