Sony foresees 100M Free Realms users

Last week, Sony Online Entertainment's Free Realms landed on the PlayStation 3 following over a year of PC exclusivity, where it has racked up over 17 million players. Now--undaunted by the massive layoffs that rocked the studio last week--Sony believes the game's user base can quintuple in size.

Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, SOE president John Smedley said Free Realms is currently in a great spot in terms of registered users, but he also believes the user base can vault to 100 million over the course of "five or six years" based on what he called an inexhaustible reservoir of youths.

"[17 million] is a phenomenal number, and we're very pleased with its success--and it's really keeping going. I don’t see this thing stopping until it hits 100 million. I think it could take five or six years--that should give you some idea," he said.

"That endless supply of children that have a hunger for gaming, as long as we keep improving it and make sure it’s still relevant--which we do every month with patches--means that we expect the game to have a long life."