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SOE have completed the task of selling the EU playerbase down the river.
Buccaneer
Member UncommonPosts: 654
Just a heads up for any EU MMO players who was thinking about giving one of SOE's games a try. We already knew DCUO and EQ2 EU playerbase have been sold off to ProSiebenSat.1. Now the majority of SoE's other games have been sold too, i.e EQ and VG.
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/posts/list.m?topic_id=188272
Hello all,
You may have read the recent announcement that SOE is expanding our partnership with ProSiebenSat.1 to include EverQuest, Vanguard, Bullet Run, and Wizardry Online. We are very excited about this publishing partnership and look forward to sharing more with you in the near future. In the meantime, please take a few moments to read the press release below.
Munich, Germany, August 15, 2012.
ProSiebenSat.1 Games and Sony Online Entertainment, LLC (SOE) are expanding their exclusive partnership with four online games for the European market. Following the successful launch of DC Universe™ Online on the servers of ProSiebenSat.1 Games, the games publisher from Unterföhring has secured four more exclusive licenses from SOE: Vanguard Saga of Heroes®, EverQuest®, Wizardry® Online, and Bullet Run™. This extends the portfolio of ProSiebenSat.1 Games to cover a total of 12 online games from the U.S.-based developer studio.
Arnd Benninghoff, Chief Digital Officer of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, states, "SOE is the ideal partner at our side, expanding our portfolio with fantastic blockbuster games. As one of Europe's leading TV companies, the players expect us to provide premium TV content, premium online offers, and premium gaming entertainment. We are very happy that we are able to expand this cooperation just months after its inception.“
"ProSiebenSat.1 is the ideal partner for us to reach an even broader audience in Europe,” says John Smedley, President, Sony Online Entertainment. "We are confident that the combination of the media power provided by ProSiebenSat.1 and our expertise in developing high-quality online games will appeal to players in a new and captivating way, creating the perfect prerequisite for achieving great success with our games in Europe.”
About Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
Vanguard Saga of Heroes is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in the vast world of Telon, an ancient world of magic, intrigue and adventure. Facing the challenges of a war-torn world, the diverse people here struggle to rebuild their once great civilizations. A fragile alliance has been struck and with the lands set upon by invading forces, the races must band together to survive. In the north, the sprawling green hills of Thestra are plagued by an unstoppable undead menace. To the south, the deserts of Qalia have been besieged by an elemental threat spawned from the depths of the earth; and to the east, inhabitants of the tumultuous jungles of Kojan fiercely battle encroaching otherworldly fiends. Telon is in desperate need of heroes. Your journey begins now.
About EverQuest
For the past 13 years, the first game in the epic EverQuest® franchise has captivated its players with exciting fantasy MMO adventures. With 18 game expansions, 16 unique races, 16 distinct classes, thousands of alternate abilities and items, the game offers countless possibilities for character development over 95 levels. Legendary battles, exciting events, and heroic adventures await.
Interesting thread in the EQ 2 forums informing us why this is a bad deal for EU players. Also it goes in to detail about some of the dodgy practices of P7S1, i.e. You have to agree to allow them remote access to your PC's if you need tech support. It also mentions the nightmare people had when the DCUO players got transfered over (the last 20 pages). http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?&topic_id=516732
Comments
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/176040/gamescom_2012_ProSiebenSat1_Games_expands_Europewideexclusive_cooperation_with_Sony_Online_Entertainment.php
i like soe games but agree this sucks
EQ2 fan sites
Vanguard doesn't have sufficient players, even with the free to play switch, to justify two seperate services. I doubt EQ does either.
Guess I'll just play PS2 and write off the back catalogue of SOE games completely and pretend my years in them didn't exist. Least it has made the decision of whether to stick with VG or find another fantasy MMO easier for me.
SOE sold out EQ2 in EU already from launch. They recycled really old EQ servers that actually made me play on US servers instead since I got better ping and no rubberbanding on those.
There is a reason there are so many French and German guilds on the US servers (or used to be at least, I am not sure now since I quit for good when they decided to make the game "freemium").
Any change like this is going to have problems and having a third party involved is very rarely to a consumers advantage. Not the first time we have seen this happen, Turbine just migrated the Lotro population to US servers. With these older games I think that is the better option, they dont need EU servers.
Yeah like welcome to getting patches later and having shit options on stuff like character transfers and customer support. It's probably leading to localizing too so SOE can piss off their current playerbase some more that they built up letting guilds mix across continents.
Didn't realise people played their games any more though lol.
You obviously haven't been a Gameforge customer before then.
(\ /) ?
( . .)
c('')('')
I'll have to give that guys a chance
playing a MMOFPS on a server located the other side of the pond is a NoNo, I dont want to play with 200ms ping more than everyone around me
I like a lot of SOE games, EQ was my first, but I cannot stand how the company does business so I don't play their games anymore.
Plus, they are maybe the biggest outright liars in the industry. I just don't trust them or anything they say.
For the uninformed like me, can you elaborate on that?
ProSiebenSat.1 is going to have the EU rights to PS 2 and EQ next. If they implement the system for EQ2, EU players will be IP locked in using ProSiebenSat.1. You will not be able to get a US copy and play on US servers through SOE. Basically if you log in from the EU, you will need to use PSS1 launcher.
**Edit** Just wanted to add, EQ 2 players will be able to play on any server EU/US. It's just the login process thats region locked.
"There are no intentions to build a wall." (Walter Ulbricht - June 15. 1961 - translated from German]
Just what exactly are they getting from closing the EU clients off from the rest of the world? We already bought the game, we pay for the game... why shouldn't we play in friggin' China if we so desire? Oo
The logic of the higher market is entirely lost to me.
the transition seems ugly -- can read about it here
ProSiebenSat.1: Multiple Accounts, Authenticators, and Remote Access
http://eq2wire.com/2012/08/17/prosiebensat-1-multiple-accounts-authenticators-and-remote-access/
EQ2 fan sites
Proper heartbleed (better than woe!) here for PS2 and EQ Next.
::il sigh::
It's not just VG and EQ players, it's most of SOE's game lineup. The only exception I can think of is PotBS and this is most likely due to SOE only having publishing rights to the game. PSS1 will also publish and handle accounts, billing etc for PS2 and EQ next.
When DCUO got transfered to PSS1 it was a shambles. Lost accounts, characters and station cash etc. Players being told they is no support due to it being a weekend. The CR in the forums being rude to players etc and when compliants went in to SOE he suddenly disappeared and players being told he wasn't a CR rep afterall and his tags disappeared. Players being told items they have brought will take a few days to process.
In DCUO ToS/EULA you have to agree for PSS1 to have remote access to your computer for when you need support. After 12 months they can delete your account and one account allowed per player.
This is what PS2 and EQ next EU players have got to look forward too. EQ 2 players get transfered over in the next couple of months, maybe things will change for the better by then.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."