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But this is Sony

13

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  • ElikalElikal Member UncommonPosts: 7,912
    Originally posted by Buttdart

    OP makes all valid points. I've played SOE games since SWG and that whole fiasco.

    Smedley is an anomaly, truly. Usually when a company has bad management and something as terrible as with what happened with SWG happens, there's a big shakeup of those who were responsible for the decisions. Smedley has had countless megafails in SOE over the past decade, and yet he is still there, still blowing hot air, and once again, about to rope everyone with the latest hype methods and the latest gimmicky techniques to squeeze a dime.

    The best thing I heard about Smedley recently was his praise of EVE; and that's all Smedley can do is praise a game like EVE, because he hasn't had anything that good on his hands since Pre-NGE SWG.

    In 10 years, when EQ:N gets it's 7th Expansion Pack you gonna eat those words. ;)

    People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert

  • CalmOceansCalmOceans Member UncommonPosts: 2,437

    Sony has nothing to do with SoE, just saying.

    The problem SoE has right now is that they're barely surviving, they had massive layoffs, and their more profitable games have 4 or less fulltime developers.

    EQNext is their last chance at sustainability, otherwise I wouldn't be surprised if Sony shuts them down, they're barely running a proft I heard.

  • AeliousAelious Member RarePosts: 3,521
    Originally posted by CalmOceans

    Sony has nothing to do with SoE, just saying.

    The problem SoE has right now is that they're barely surviving, they had massive layoffs, and their more profitable games have 4 or less fulltime developers.

    EQNext is their last chance at sustainability, otherwise I wouldn't be surprised if Sony shuts them down, they're barely running a proft I heard.

     

    Any links to the blue stuff? We know that SoE had layoffs in August but it was an unknown amount.  Trion had layoffs May of this year, CCP did in '11 and this year and Blizzard in 2012 had 600 layoffs so it's unfortunately not uncommon to "restructure" based upon the market.

     

    I will agree that Landmark and Next need to be a success for SoE to thrive as I'm sure scrapping the last two iterations has come with a price tag.  Seems a little far fetched that they are barely surviving though, unless you have info the rest of us don't.  I was interested so I did some digging.  The closest info I could find that seemed legit was from insideview but I'm not sure how reputable they are.  Some cross references:

     

    Blizzard - 1,100M revenue

    Trion - 50M revenue, 200 employees

    SoE - 362M revenue, 600 employees

    CCP - 37M revenue, 500 employees

  • CalmOceansCalmOceans Member UncommonPosts: 2,437
    Originally posted by Aelious
    Originally posted by CalmOceans

    Sony has nothing to do with SoE, just saying.

    The problem SoE has right now is that they're barely surviving, they had massive layoffs, and their more profitable games have 4 or less fulltime developers.

    EQNext is their last chance at sustainability, otherwise I wouldn't be surprised if Sony shuts them down, they're barely running a proft I heard.

     

    Any links to the blue stuff? We know that SoE had layoffs in August but it was an unknown amount.  Blizzard in 2012 had 600 layoffs so it's unfortunately not uncommon to "restructure" based upon the market.

     

    I will agree that Landmark and Next need to be a success for SoE to thrive as I'm sure scrapping the last two iterations has come with a price tag.  Seems a little far fetched that they are barely surviving though, unless you have info the rest of us don't.  I was interested so I did some digging.  The closest info I could find that seemed legit was from insideview but I'm not sure how reputable they are.  Some cross references:

     

    Blizzard - 1,100M revenue

    Trion - 50M revenue, 200 employees

    SoE - 362M revenue, 600 employees

    CCP - 37M revenue, 500 employees

    EQ and EQ2 had maybe 4 active developers each when I stopped playing those games, there might have been a few more that came and went, and some partime workers, all I know is that the staffing of SoE is extremely low.

    I don't know the exact numbers, maybe there were 4 developers, maybe 8, all I know is, during beta events and developer events, you could count the active developers on one hand most of the time. (there were some that came and went, but they just stayed for a couple of days to do some art resources or creation of zones).

    I mean they just fired Brad McQuaid, the maker of Everquest last month, because they couldn't pay him anymore.

  • CalmOceansCalmOceans Member UncommonPosts: 2,437
    Originally posted by Aelious

    SoE - 362M revenue, 600 employees

     

    where is that number from anyway, would be handy to have a timestamp on it

  • ElikalElikal Member UncommonPosts: 7,912
    SOE gave me MORE years of fun in MMOs than ALL OTHER companies and MMos together! I played 4 years SWG and 5 years EQ2, and those years were great. Yes, that was a long time ago. But I truly wish them luck with EQ:N, also for our own sake of finally seeing something new and fresh.

    People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert

  • AeliousAelious Member RarePosts: 3,521
    Originally posted by CalmOceans
    Originally posted by Aelious
    Originally posted by CalmOceans

    Sony has nothing to do with SoE, just saying.

    The problem SoE has right now is that they're barely surviving, they had massive layoffs, and their more profitable games have 4 or less fulltime developers.

    EQNext is their last chance at sustainability, otherwise I wouldn't be surprised if Sony shuts them down, they're barely running a proft I heard.

     

    Any links to the blue stuff? We know that SoE had layoffs in August but it was an unknown amount.  Blizzard in 2012 had 600 layoffs so it's unfortunately not uncommon to "restructure" based upon the market.

     

    I will agree that Landmark and Next need to be a success for SoE to thrive as I'm sure scrapping the last two iterations has come with a price tag.  Seems a little far fetched that they are barely surviving though, unless you have info the rest of us don't.  I was interested so I did some digging.  The closest info I could find that seemed legit was from insideview but I'm not sure how reputable they are.  Some cross references:

     

    Blizzard - 1,100M revenue

    Trion - 50M revenue, 200 employees

    SoE - 362M revenue, 600 employees

    CCP - 37M revenue, 500 employees

    EQ and EQ2 had maybe 4 active developers each when I stopped playing those games, there might have been a few more that came and went, and some partime workers, all I know is that the staffing of SoE is extremely low.

    I don't know the exact numbers, maybe there were 4 developers, maybe 8, all I know is, during beta events and developer events, you could count the active developers on one hand most of the time. (there were some that came and went, but they just stayed for a couple of days to do some art resources or creation of zones).

    I mean they just fired Brad McQuaid, the maker of Everquest last month, because they couldn't pay him anymore.

     

    All the numbers listed are from a site called insideview.  Again, I have no idea how reputable the site is but LinkedIn lists SoE at 501-1000 employees so take that for what you will.

     

    What are the "events" you refer to when guessing the amount of EQ/EQ2 developers? I'm not saying you're wrong I'm just not sure how you would really know.  Specific to Brad I'm sure he had a high price tag for a developer and he is currently developing a new MMO so I would guess that had a lot to do with him no longer being at SoE.

     

    Since SoE has gone entirely to F2P it's no wonder they need to run lean, which does stink for anyone let go.  That doesn't mean SoE is "barely surviving".  I think that claim is very far fetched.

  • azarhalazarhal Member RarePosts: 1,402
    Originally posted by Aelious

    What are the "events" you refer to when guessing the amount of EQ/EQ2 developers? I'm not saying you're wrong I'm just not sure how you would really know.  Specific to Brad I'm sure he had a high price tag for a developer and he is currently developing a new MMO so I would guess that had a lot to do with him no longer being at SoE.

    Considering that Smedley himself was excited for Brad's new game (they talked about it together), I suspect he wasn't fired in the real sense of the term. It's pretty much a Sigil/Vanguard-redux and his game will probably be published by SOE in the end.

  • NadiaNadia Member UncommonPosts: 11,798
    Originally posted by azarhal

    Considering that Smedley himself was excited for Brad's new game (they talked about it together), I suspect he wasn't fired in the real sense of the term. It's pretty much a Sigil/Vanguard-redux and his game will probably be published by SOE in the end.

    Brad mentions Smed's support on his site too

    http://www.bradmcquaid.com/Brad_McQuaid/Welcome.html

     

    Smed and Brad go way back

    alot of people are not aware that Smed and Brad founded Verant together

    Smed was president of Verant, Brad was VP

    http://www.silkyvenom.com/pages/devtracker/index.php?go=posts&get=thread&fromsite=1&id=51141

    http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/9/feature/5971/Building-EQ-The-Brad-McQuaid-Interview.html/page/1

     

     worth noting that Smed's roots were in gaming - altho now he is a suit more than anything else

    http://otherworlds31279.yuku.com/topic/1208/Business-20-magazine-history-of-EverQuest#.UrhNdLTuT-Y

  • AlleinAllein Member RarePosts: 2,139

    Originally posted by CalmOceans

    Sony has nothing to do with SoE, just saying.

    The problem SoE has right now is that they're barely surviving, they had massive layoffs, and their more profitable games have 4 or less fulltime developers.

    EQNext is their last chance at sustainability, otherwise I wouldn't be surprised if Sony shuts them down, they're barely running a proft I heard.

    Originally posted by CalmOceans

    Originally posted by Aelious

    SoE - 362M revenue, 600 employees

    where is that number from anyway, would be handy to have a timestamp on it

    Would ask the same for your statements.

    How is SOE barely surviving? EQ/EQ2 still pumping out content which at this point doesn't need a lot of developers, not that I think they only have 4 currently. Seems like there are more than 4 that show up to SOE Live? They've said player base has increased since going F2P.

    Planetside 2 and DC Universe seem to be doing okay and both on PS4 should make them a bit of cash. Free Realms is in the millions of user, not sure how many active or how much users are forking over though.

    Layoffs did happen, but it happens, welcome to our economy. I live in San Diego (home of SOE), many companies have had layoffs here.

    They have said that they are betting the company on EQN, so they are planning on making a big splash in the market. So far, they seem to be heading in that direction. Doubt they are pulling in the big bucks like Blizzard, but I doubt they are on the verge of closing either. EQN is a costly venture, either SOE has some cash to spare or someone at Sony is taking a big risk.

  • ArndushArndush Member Posts: 303
    Originally posted by Darwa
    Originally posted by jyoung2k
    • killed SWG with NGE and then refused to roll it back even as subscriptions died by 1000's a day

    Frankly, this part of your post negates everything else that you mention as SOE isn't Lucasarts and never has been.

    Also, taking a glassdoor 'review' seriously is a bit silly :/

    SOE was the developer on Star Wars Galaxies. Lucas Arts was only the publisher.

  • BullseyeArc1BullseyeArc1 Member UncommonPosts: 410
    Originally posted by Arndush
    Originally posted by Darwa
    Originally posted by jyoung2k
    • killed SWG with NGE and then refused to roll it back even as subscriptions died by 1000's a day

    Frankly, this part of your post negates everything else that you mention as SOE isn't Lucasarts and never has been.

    Also, taking a glassdoor 'review' seriously is a bit silly :/

    SOE was the developer on Star Wars Galaxies. Lucas Arts was only the publisher.

    SWG had a complex internal fight for direction, you could see it in the mess it turned out to be, SOE ie Smed wanted to go one way EQ in space, the lead dev open sandbox, and LA theme park for the kiddies.     All three broke the game in my opinion.

  • SavageHorizonSavageHorizon Member EpicPosts: 3,466
    Originally posted by CalmOceans

     I heard.

    I heard Pablo who works in Brasserie le Cafe de Paris won the Euro lottery, of course it was total bullshit.image

     




  • Thessik_IrontailThessik_Irontail Member UncommonPosts: 76
    Originally posted by jyoung2k

    Remember this is the company:

    • that nickle and dimed people to death IN DC Universe (after saying it would always be a subscription)
    • killed SWG with NGE and then refused to roll it back even as subscriptions died by 1000's a day
    • mismanaged security and then treated us all like we were stupid while they took months to fix it
    • ignored devs when they said that eq2 wasn't going to be "awesome"
    I didn't play DC Universe until much later, by then it was F2P and I think that is a great casual MMO. It is the best of the non-major releases that I have enjoyed so far.
     
    I never played SWG, so I had no problem there.
     
    Most companies have security issues, you just don't hear about it. This is basically routine, SOE at least was honest.
     
    I think EQ2 was awesome, its just that WoW was a unique one of a kind super star sensation. If WoW had not come a long, EQ2 would have done stellar. Even now EQ2 is still successful. I enjoyed every bit that I played, and I would be playing it now if my wife didnt have seasonal effective disorder triggers by the washed out colors of the game.
     
    SoE also managed Everquest 1, which to date, has been the greatest MMO experience of my life for years. I think Blizzard trashed WoW far more then SoE ever trashed EQ1. EQ1 is a legend.
     
    I also love their idea of the 14.99 one subscription all games.. that is forward thinking and has a lot of value.
     
    Planetside 2 is also a great game btw.. =)
     
    I guess I just don't hate or distrust Soe
  • WikileaksEUWikileaksEU Member UncommonPosts: 108
    So it seems the upper guys in the developement doesn't really develop the game, they only give the ones actually developing the game some papers and tell them to "do this and that". Upper developers think it looks great on paper but have no idea how it looks in reality.
  • BadOrbBadOrb Member UncommonPosts: 791
    Originally posted by Elikal
    SOE gave me MORE years of fun in MMOs than ALL OTHER companies and MMos together! I played 4 years SWG and 5 years EQ2, and those years were great. Yes, that was a long time ago. But I truly wish them luck with EQ:N, also for our own sake of finally seeing something new and fresh.

    It better had be good , not releasing "The Agency" got me very upset TBH. That would have been a great MMO. Let's see what happens , EQ:N on paper sounds mad/crazy and exciting but let's just see and when will it be out ? They waste a lot of time starting MMO's then ditching their code.

    Cheers,

    BadOrb.

    PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing.
    "SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13
    The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]

  • Brabbit1987Brabbit1987 Member UncommonPosts: 782

    The game is F2P. Free .... to ... play.

    This means you can freely try it well before you invest any cash into it. You lose nothing .... but time you probably would have used for some other game anyway.

    If a game sounds even a little interesting and it's F2P .. you can be sure I will try it at the very least.

     

    I base all games on an individual bases. I don't care which company made it, or what they have done in the past. A company can release 100s of crappy games, and it still would have no effect on whether or not I try one of their new games. If it sounds interesting .. I will try it. Especially if the price is right.

    For me .. the price plays a huge roll on my decisions. The worth of the game has to at least equal it's price tag.

  • NavinJohnsonNavinJohnson Member Posts: 60

    If you don't like the SOE experience, that's fine. Don't buy their products and your problem is solved.

     

    Why feel compelled to rant about it?

     

     

  • DewmDewm Member UncommonPosts: 1,337
    Originally posted by NavinJohnson

    If you don't like the SOE experience, that's fine. Don't buy their products and your problem is solved.

     

    Why feel compelled to rant about it?

     

     

     

    This^^

     

    And honestly I haven't had a very good SoE experence either, *cough*vangaurd*cough*

     

    ...But I shelled out $100.00, because I like what I've seen. I may be dissapointed... but I also might be playing an awesome game in less then 2 weeks..

     

    ..so woohoo me.

    Please check out my channel. I do gaming reviews, gaming related reviews & lets plays. Thanks!
    https://www.youtube.com/user/BettyofDewm/videos

  • Dreamo84Dreamo84 Member UncommonPosts: 3,713
    I never liked SWG before or after NGE aaaand DCUO nickel and diming?! Lol don't see how. SOE is a great company from my position. They have always done me right. Sorry if you had bad experiences.

    image
  • MukeMuke Member RarePosts: 2,614
    Originally posted by Aelious
    Originally posted by jyoung2k

    Remember this is the company:

    • killed SWG with NGE and then refused to roll it back even as subscriptions died by 1000's a day
    NGE was done because the game was bleeding and it will never be clear who had the bigger part in the change, SoE or LA.
    How about the way they created the NGE? Rushing it in secret, keep it secret so all the subscribers bought the new expansion, then announce that NGE and 2 weeks later the new expansion was useless...including the main game...too bad for Smedley they were forced to refund after all the bad publicity.
    • mismanaged security and then treated us all like we were stupid while they took months to fix it
    Not a good event but was old accounts on some old server, not their main system.
     
     
     
    Uhuh, I was a FORMER SOE subscriber by then, the moment the breach was announced ppl tried to pay with my creditcard information, I got sudden fake SOE creditcard phishing emails tracing back to SWG.  Ofc, SOE said there was 'no risk', luckily I blocked my credit card and requested a new one the moment I heard "hack, SOE, credit cards" so nothing was lost....but it still took some 30 phishing emails/day for a couple of weeks til they stopped trying.

     

    EVERY customer is important, even FORMER customers. They left UNCODED account data including payment information, emails and all private information about customers  UNCODED on a old server. That is unacceptable. Not surprising the PS3 network got hacked too.
     
    Aelious: "ah well, they were former customers, who cares, old information , happens to everyone, yabadabbadoo" 
     
    With your not-so-smart (to say the least) reasoning you should be changing house address, name, payment methods every time you leave a SOE MMO.
     
    The reason why SOE is in such a bad state is because they can't manage games nor people, it's the graveyard of MMOs and developer careers, when SOE buys an existing product it's time to sell the stocks and G T F O before it is worth nothing.
     
    SOE got caught with their pants down and their awful mmo reputation is well deserved. One can only hope that Smedley has gone to a Customer Treatment Course since then or has a superior watching ove rhis shoulder or EQN is the next one on the list. Because let's be honest, he hasnt delivered a stable game since he joined them, and EQ2 was bought. all the rest is on life support or dead.

     

    I'm kind of wondering this about this as well.  What's the point of this thread?

     

    Let's just say what you are stating ends up being true, just being made by $oE means it will be a vicious attempt to harm each player on a personal level.  Are you telling me that as mostly adults we cannot be excited about something promising and then have it not work out? Call me crazy but I'd rather be excited up front, innocent until proven guilty, and enjoy that whole time before shrugging and moving on to something else.  We still have a long ways to go on Next as far as features but with Landmark they seem to be making it happen.

     

    I understand that SoE has been involved in making some players really upset but it's pretty clear how much is based on emotion.

    Added some stuff.

    "going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"

  • UhwopUhwop Member UncommonPosts: 1,791

    If it's posted anonymously on the internet it must be true. 

     

    Am I right?

  • RusqueRusque Member RarePosts: 2,785
    Originally posted by Uhwop

    If it's posted anonymously on the internet it must be true. 

     

    Am I right?

    So which anonymous internet posters are right?

    The ones saying the Sony does nickle and dime, or the ones saying Sony doesn't nickle and dime?

  • UhwopUhwop Member UncommonPosts: 1,791
    Originally posted by Rusque
    Originally posted by Uhwop

    If it's posted anonymously on the internet it must be true. 

     

    Am I right?

    So which anonymous internet posters are right?

    The ones saying the Sony does nickle and dime, or the ones saying Sony doesn't nickle and dime?

    It was in reference to a site that allows people to post anonymously about a company. 

  • MukeMuke Member RarePosts: 2,614
    Originally posted by Uhwop
    Originally posted by Rusque
    Originally posted by Uhwop

    If it's posted anonymously on the internet it must be true. 

     

    Am I right?

    So which anonymous internet posters are right?

    The ones saying the Sony does nickle and dime, or the ones saying Sony doesn't nickle and dime?

    It was in reference to a site that allows people to post anonymously about a company. 

    Sony doesnt nickle and dime, never seen pop ups referring to their moneyshop in their mmos. (/sarcasm off)

    "going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"

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