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Sony region locking EQ2 (and other games...)
trancejeremy
Member UncommonPosts: 1,222
in Everquest II
I can't believe no one has mentioned this (and that it's not front page news here) - apparently Sony is selling off (or has sold) the European rights to a lot of their games, and in the process, region locking the game.
Europeans on US servers will be grandfathered in, but no new ones can play, and those outside Europe that have been playing on EU servers are now out of luck.
R.I.P. City of Heroes and my 17 characters there
Comments
I agree its lame -- eq2wire commentary
http://eq2wire.com/2012/02/22/20-things-soe-forgot-about-in-the-prosiebensat-1alaplaya-deal/
http://eq2wire.com/2012/02/22/cheesepirate-takes-on-prosiebensat1alaplaya-soe-deal/
EQ2 fan sites
That sucks. While I don´t play EQ2 anymore I spent 5 years on a US server, for some reason did I get good ping on it and horrible ping on the EU servers. Not to mention the fact that the US server had a lot more players.
John Smedley, Sony Online CEO, has said that it's still under negotiation/discussion. Here's a quote from him:
"Lots of good feedback from our player base about our existing European community.. Guilds, servers etc. we will be discussing with Prosieben.
Just wanted to make sure you knew we were listening."
And for the record, they haven't sold or will be selling anything... It's a partnership.
Holy crap!
This is the first time I've seen anything about this, and I just checked the link in post #2. This does NOT look good.
Just cancelled my EQ2 sub because of this, and will only reactivate it if this does NOT happen. I play on SP (EU), and there's no way in hell I'm going to have anything to do with ProSieben / Alaplaya.
Shocked, but not surprised. After all, it's SOE...
Btw, tkoreaper:
Don't bother quoting Smed, most of us knows that the man cannot be trusted. Google it if you need to know why.
If they are selling off the Euro market then it could be part of the contract deal to block new Euro players to protect the new owners of the Euro markets investment.
You see this alot in business, usually under "Non-Competition" where you sell a business and are contractually blocked from opening or operating the same type of business for x period of years.
Alot of Euro in there.
Another home goal by SOE.
MY GOD PEOPLE! DO SOME RESEARCH.
Read my last post in this thread... ALSO:
"Under the new partnership between SOE and ProSiebenSat.1 Games, European players of the above mentioned SOE games will be able to play via ProSiebenSat.1 Games's service and will not have access to U.S. servers. However, existing players in Europe that have played on U.S. servers before the transition will be allowed to continue playing on those servers through their SOE accounts. "
Again, nothing is set in stone yet.
Do some research? Right back at you, since you're obviously believing everything Smed feeds you.
Again, google is your friend if you don't know what I'm talking about. There's dozens of examples. Many of them are quoted here on mmorpg.com, especially by the SWG veterans.
Edit:
Btw, not all of us are currently playing on US servers, so that doesn't mean shit for us.
That wasn't from Smed... that was directly from the FAQ regarding this partnership.
And WHO wrote that FAQ?
Hmmm... Let's see: http://forums.station.sony.com/station/posts/list.m?topic_id=11500038788
SOE themselves??? Who else would write the FAQ?
I think you just proved his point.
Hehe. Exactly!
Believe what you want, I prefer the truth... And the fact of the matter is that this partnership is already in effect and I can still play EQ2 on US servers.
The point I was trying to make earlier, is that Smed's "truth" won't be the same tomorrow as it is today. We've seen that countless times already.
the partnership is in effect now but they are still rolling out the services to the SOE games
unless you created a new account with ProSiebenSat.1
- you are not using their services yet
from the FAQ
Do we lose our running subscriptions?
European players will need to create new accounts and set up new subscriptions with ProSiebenSat.1 Games. However, ProSieben will offer existing European players subscription rates and terms that are similar to their existing SOE subscriptions.
Will the billing and account management be done by ProSiebenSat.1 Games or SOE?
Billing and account management for European players will be handled by ProSiebenSat.1 Games Games.
I'm a European player; after I create my ProSieben account, will my SOE account be shut down?
Your SOE account will not be shut down, but you will only be able to play the above mentioned games through a ProSiebenSat.1 Games account. As discussed above, we will provide a simple way to have your characters and game progress transferred and the value of your Station Cash granted to your new ProSiebenSat.1 Games account. Also, existing EverQuest II players in Europe that have played on U.S. servers before the transition will be allowed to continue playing on those servers through their SOE accounts.
EQ2 fan sites
tkoreaper, we can all still play on US because this isn't in effect yet. And it won't be for at least one month. Here's a quote from Ashlanne (SOE Project Manager, Community Relations), posted less than an hour ago:
No games are transitioning immediately. This isn’t going to happen next week, for instance. No dates have even been set, and as you know, going by past experience across all of our games, we make every effort to provide at least thirty days notice of any major changes that may affect customer accounts.
http://forums.station.sony.com/station/posts/list.m?start=90&topic_id=11500038790
(6th post on that page)
And while checking that thread:
7 pages so far, all comments I read are negative to this.
Anyway, it's foolish to think that it only affects European players.
Most of the important devs and programmers have already been moved to EQ Next. Now they can also cut down the customer service. You can expect updates and fixes to slow down. There'll be no more expansions, devs themselves have said that. (Well...they said that they're "trying something different" instead of expansions, whatever that means).
EQ2 will be like EQOA: no updates and no staff.
Just started up with Everquest 2 again, after being severely dissapointed by the newer games. So now have a few characters on the US RP-server and doing rather well. Not that my single existence is going to effect SOE any but if I am thrown out from US server and expected to game on the EU ones I can assure SOE I will never play any of their games again.
EQ2 is one of my two favorite MMOs (UO being the other one). Of all the things Smed and SoE have done over the years, I think THIS (along with SWG NGE) is the WORST....the absolute worst. I don't think it serves the player base well and it's just one more smack in the face to the loyal player.
I'm pretty disgusted this time around.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
How about a quote from the CEO of proseiben, which seems to indicate that Smed was telling the truth:
Before weekend we will not have an answer. Sorry about it but the Technicans needs to figure out things first.
If the idea works out we will have no barriers for everyone but we need to see and wait what is possible.
Before abandon and run away I would wait as the idea we have in mind really solves a lot.
For all the naysayers:
"SOE and ProSieben worked throughout the weekend to develop a plan that will allow our players to access and play on any server regardless of where they are in the world. Our community is our top priority and rest assured, all of your concerns have been heard.
We continue to work together with ProSieben and appreciate your patience as we work around the clock to work out critical technical details. We will share more information as soon as possible."
SOE isn't the same company they once were... their recent actions, this and many before it, proved this. I'm well aware most of you are just too stubborn to realise, let alone accept this, but it is in fact true.
thanks for the update
Smed pulled thru for the mac players of EQ
- allowing them to keep their outdated client, when f2p goes live March 16th
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/339764/Smed-is-offering-Mac-players-a-last-chance-.html
hope they can pull some strings for EQ2 too
EQ2 fan sites
so it was in some way from smed.
It could have been or it could have been from ProSieben... What difference does it make? Things ARE like I said... being fixed. The recent news and progression proves this... Time to take off your tinfoil hat.