The PC ecosystem is different from the console space. Depending on the audience, expectations are far different. For instance, the PC audience may expect higher graphical fidelity, access to a wider library of games (via services like Steam) and games with a far longer tail, like MMOs. Console gamers, on the other hand, are used to more instant gratification. While betas for games like Minecraft went on seemingly forever on PC, “betas” on consoles more often than not mean glorified online demos.

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“ This is about the long haul.

“ We’re aware that what we’re doing on PlayStation 3 feels different to consumers.

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“ We’re planning for 10 years of operation.

And this is precisely where questions swirling around CCP’s free-to-play PlayStation 3 shooter Dust 514 come in.Indeed, I asked flat out: is CCP concerned that people’s interest seems to be waning?“I suppose the way we think about this, and again, this might be a little different than most first-time console publishers, [but] from our perspective, this is not about the opening weekend,” CCP’s Thor Gunnarsson told me. “This is about the long haul. This is about building a community step by step, building a player base that stays with us over an extended period of time.”Dust 514 entered closed beta in June of 2012, and opened its public beta in January of 2013. That means that the game has been in some state of beta on a console for nearly a year, which is no doubt a record in the history of console gaming. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with that, per se. It’s simply that CCP is bringing with it its PC mentality when console gamers have wildly different expectations.“We’re aware that what we’re doing on PlayStation 3 feels different to consumers,” Gunnarsson admitted, and he talked about how communication with their players (would-be or actual) is key to fixing the perceived problem. But for a game like Dust 514, one that connects intimately to the happenings of a decade-old PC game called EVE Online, “doing this extended beta in live operations is critical,” Gunnarsson said. “We want to be sure that the core experience we’re delivering is prioritized correctly… For us, it’s not a sprint to the box office. It’s a marathon. It’s a very different way of thinking about it.”And Dust 514 still hasn’t launched.“Of course we’re thinking about [PlayStation 4’s imminent release],” Gunnarsson said, but to CCP, it’s a matter of perspective. “If you think about how we’re conceiving Dust, we expect Dust to last at least as long as EVE. We’re planning for 10 years of operation. You would expect that, of course, we will follow our players, follow the market, to the platforms that matter to them.” But when asked specifically if Dust 514 will migrate to PS4, or even to other consoles, the company remained non-committal.“We’re not really talking about the migration to specific platforms at this time. What we’re saying is, PS3 for us today, and for this year and next year, is incredibly important. We look at the installed base on the PS3 now as a first-time console publisher and developer. We see that there may be some unexpected upside on PS3. As people begin to save up their cash to buy that PS4, a free-to-play shooter on PS3 that they can just invest time into, and not that much cash, sounds like a pretty good proposition.”

Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.