Planetside 2’s John Smedley: “People who don’t play games have no business in this business”

Sony Online Entertainment CEO John Smedley had some harsh words to say about people in the game development business purely for the sake of doing business. A veteran of the game industry, John Smedley has an enviable resume that stretches about as far back as any current generation developer could hope to have. He’s been personally involved with the development Planetside, DC Universe, Online, and Free Realms, and is currently working on the massively multiplayer first person shooter, Planetside 2.

“In my opinion, people who don’t play games have no business in this business,” said Smedley in an interview with Edge magazine. “It should be the gamers-only club, I think. I can’t stand people that don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to playing these things.”

Instead of ignorantly sticking to popular trends, Smedley says that his involvement with videogames has allowed him to see what’s coming, and predict what gamers want out of their titles, and adapt his projects accordingly. Smedley oversaw the success of DC Universe Online’s switch to free-to-play long before other publishers in the business had even begun to consider making the switch from subscription-based payment systems to free-to-play models. He’s currently spearheading a company-wide shift to F2P models to accommodate what gamers want, and helping position the PlayStation 3 as the only console to offer F2P online games like the upcoming Dust 514.

A full interview with Smedley is expected to go up on Edge this week.