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Sigil Drops Microsoft, Publishing With SOE 43

Posted by Zonk from the hahahahahahahaha dept.
Labyrrinth writes "'As the development process is ongoing and constantly shifting, it became clear that MGS and Sigil had varying visions and direction for the title's development,' said Brad McQuaid, CEO of Sigil Games Online. 'In the best interest of Vanguard, it was decided that we would buy back the publishing rights from Microsoft.'" They've hooked up with Sony Online Entertainment, publishers of EQ and EQII, and Brad McQuaid's old employer. Aggro Me has commentary on this union.
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Sigil Drops Microsoft, Publishing With SOE More

Sigil Drops Microsoft, Publishing With SOE

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  • So torn... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Brandee07 ( 964634 )
    I'm torn between celebrating this slap in the face to Microsoft and morning the loss of another promising MMO title to the evil that is SoE.

  • WTF? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by HunterZ ( 20035 ) on Saturday May 06, 2006 @04:40PM (#15278343) Journal
    Why would someone drop Microsoft as a publisher in favor of SoE? That's almost as ridiculous as Valve leaving Vivendi for EA.

    • Re:WTF? (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      they needed a sugar daddy and decided one of the evils is actually lesser? They appear to be in a good position to have an informed opinion on both, too.
    • Because Sigil bought the publishing rights from Microsoft, Sigil is now the publisher instead of just the developer. Sigil now has total control over development and design; SoE just does the distribution and marketing.

  • Too Bad (Score:3, Insightful)

    by SydShamino ( 547793 ) on Saturday May 06, 2006 @04:43PM (#15278349)
    Too bad for them. I have been watching Vanguard with some anticipation. Although I dislike Microsoft OS and office products, I had no qualms with their gaming division.

    However, after my past experiences, I've vowed to never again play an SoE game. The fact that SoE has started to embrace real-world sales of in-game items just further cements this.

    It looks like I needn't worry about Vanguard any further, as I won't touch it with a 10' pole now. It's not worth getting attached to another MMORPG that, 2-3 years down the road, will end up as bad as EQ became (or EQ II always was).

    • Re:Too Bad (Score:3, Informative)

      by Fricka ( 583769 )
      It sounds like SOE will be a vehicle for distribution, and not have influence over game design or rulesets. Vanguard will not be part of the Station Exchange; Sigil has repeatedly made clear they are opposed to the buying and selling of gold/accounts.

      Some quotes from Brad McQuaid on the Vanguard forums:

      "SoE cannot touch the gameplay.

      What we have done is become the publishers of our own game. We now have even more control and authority over Vanguard, how it is made, how it is designed, and how it is

      • his use of the 'totally cool' comments leaves me in complete certainty that this game will be 'totally cool'.
      • It sounds like SOE will be a vehicle for distribution, and not have influence over game design or rulesets. Vanguard will not be part of the Station Exchange; Sigil has repeatedly made clear they are opposed to the buying and selling of gold/accounts.

        Some quotes from Brad McQuaid on the Vanguard forums:

        "SoE cannot touch the gameplay.

        I don't recall the early days of EQ & 989 Studios, but I don't think EQ belonged to Sony when it started, either. Maybe someone could shed the light on that.

        Regardless, Va
        • 989 studios became verant interactive and then becam SOE it the same company just with a couple of name changes the same people were always in control.
    • I don't know if you realize this or not, but Microsoft has started selling virtual items as well (on xbox 360's live).
      • But that's not in an MMORPG, is it? In a regular game, I don't see "virtual items" as anything more than an expansion pack, ala The Sims.
    • ... while you may no longer be a fan of EQ or EQ2 I'm pretty psyched that this is in the hands of SOE. They are too, probably because they are "old friends", many being members of the original EQ dev team.

      I'm excited because SOE is handling the backend work - servers and billing. SOE has a lot of experiance managing this, Microsoft does not. MMO's are not just another internet service, as WoW found out their opening day (4 main servers were out for 4 days...). SOE has what, 7 years of experiance now? They h
    • "the fact that SoE has started to embrace real-world sales of in-game items just further cements this."

      Station Exchange auctions are only on SPECIFIC EQ2 servers. If you don't want to buy/sell items and gold for real money play on the normal servers. In fact there are only 3 Station Exchange servers and they are prominantly labelled as such in the character creation screen. Playing on a normal server means no selling of items, accounts or gold except through the usual grey market (ige.com, ebay etc.) EXACTL

  • This is a Good Thing (Score:5, Informative)

    by jettoki ( 894493 ) on Saturday May 06, 2006 @04:59PM (#15278405)
    People have been overreacting to this all day, even though it's actually a boon for Vanguard.

    1) Sigil now has complete control over production, release, and funding -- they didn't before. (Microsoft was pushing for an earlier, unfinished release)

    2) Sigil now makes a greater profit from the game, as they now own the IP rights. Expansions will be released on THEIR schedule, not at SOE's.

    3) SOE will ONLY be handling marketing and technical support. They are probably the best in the business at both, even if they suck at developing.

    4) Sigil will provide in-game customer service; GMs will be Sigil employees and Guides will be part of a volunteer program.

    5) Any attempts on the part of SOE to bully Sigil will be considered breach of contract, and Sigil will move to a different datacenter. They have stated this in the face of so much 'player' opposition -- I really doubt anything is going to happen.

    In summary: The game belongs more to Sigil now than it ever has, and this partnership is going to benefit the game greatly. Brad and company have been very forthcoming and honest about this over at the Vanguard boards, and that's a trend that's going to continue.

    • 1) Sigil now has complete control over production, release, and funding -- they didn't before. (Microsoft was pushing for an earlier, unfinished release)

      Until SoE takes that over in 2 or 3 years

      2) Sigil now makes a greater profit from the game, as they now own the IP rights. Expansions will be released on THEIR schedule, not at SOE's.

      Until SoE takes that over in 2 or 3 years

      4) Sigil will provide in-game customer service; GMs will be Sigil employees and Guides will be part of a volunteer program.

      Un

    • I'm agreed on this, while I can't forgive SOE for their development choices on SWG, it can't be denied they run the hardware well, their uptime and latency are both great. It's quite a relief to myself, as I like the look of Vanguard, and the direction Sigil want to take it. This move means they have if anything, more control over the direction, but get the bonus of a company handling the behind-the-scenes work who have a lot more experience in managing the server structure for a MMO.
    • Riiiiiight. And I've a slightly used bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.
    • A reference thread, with answers from McQuaid: http://www.vanguardsoh.com/forums/showthread.php?t =51405 [vanguardsoh.com]

      All of this is very reassuring, and sounds reasonable. But the way it's being presented by Sigil sounds too good to be true. I'm not saying that it's not completely true, I'm just saying that I've read thousands of press releases from MMOG developers before, and when something sounds too good to be true, it makes me nervous.

      Now that we're done with the reasonable reactions, can I give my gut reaction?

  • owned (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Guess all those who said they were gonna wait for Vanguard because they hate SOE got owned

    http://tinypic.com/ilzxx4.jpg [tinypic.com]

  • As one of the last adults on this planet not to have a credit card I welcome this. SOE seems to be one of the few companies in the world that realises NOT everyone in the world has a credit cards. In fact in some remote backwards part of the world not having a credit card is the norm.

    Yes I have heard that SOE keeps billing CC accounts after you stopped your account but I never had problems with them. Finally a MMO I can pay for with my bank account.

    I just hope they keep smedley far removed. Let him handle

    • I've seen prepaid cards both from WoW and NC Soft, together with SOE that should be the majority of the market so by now support for non-CC payment is pretty much standard.
      • They exist but are hard to get as they are not commenly stocked. WoW cards are available but blizzard is evil. Europe was not allowed in the beta, was not given the option of a free trial, and you can't play on american servers meaning I can't play with people I know (from the web, irc and other MMO's).

        You also mention 2 companies of well over a dozen MMO companies out there.

        Anyway pre-paid cards are very expensive for what they offer. Why is it so hard to simply follow Sony's lead and get a third party t

        • NC Soft is a pretty large publisher so they cover a large number of MMOs with their prepaid cards. I don't think I've seen any MMO that's not covered by SOE, NC Soft or Blizzard in stores during the last few months. So the ones with non-CC payment models are in the majority ergo we can put "non-CC payment" on our list of reasonable demands.

          Are the prepaid cards really more expensive than the standard subscription price?
    • "They killed EQ2, I liked it but a patch that increased running speed also increased the running animation. It looked like a Charlie Chaplin movie."

      Wow. No complaints about nerfing or bugs or the usual stuff. Just didn't like the run animation.
      Oh well I guess not being able to jump over a one inch obstacle killed Guild Wars for me.
      Each to his own.

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