Sigil Drops Microsoft, Publishing With SOE 43
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.
So torn... (Score:2, Interesting)
WTF? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:WTF? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:WTF? (Score:2)
No, of course not, that'd be silly. 1.5 million people will gladly give you money to play a game which requires as much dedication to get past level 10 as WoW's endgame does...
Re:WTF? (Score:2)
Login queues, server instability, extended downtime, mind numbing repetitive re-running of the same content over and over, mind numbing repetitive faction quests... lately I'm starting to think WoW does hate its playerbase, just in a different way.
Re:WTF? (Score:1)
Really? Most videogames manage to do that without making you lose hours of progress or even requiring hours of "progress" consisting of the same actions over and over again.
Re:WTF? (Score:2)
Re:WTF? (Score:1)
I don't get their philosophy at all. Every game I've played by them has felt lifeless and bland, with transparency taking away all the magic and opacity where it doesn't belong.
I can't tell you how upsetting it was to find out they'd been handed both D&D Online (which is ruined), AND Middle Earth Online. Maybe in 10 years someone can remake those titles into something decent. Till then, they're both going to be utter trip
Re:WTF? (Score:1)
Too Bad (Score:3, Insightful)
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)
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
Re:Too Bad (Score:2)
Re:Too Bad (Score:2)
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
Re:Too Bad (Score:1)
Re:Too Bad (Score:2)
Re:Too Bad (Score:2)
I'm actually pretty excited (Score:2)
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
Station Exchange is not on all servers (Score:2)
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)
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.
Re:This is a Good Thing (Score:2)
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
Un
Re:This is a Good Thing (Score:1)
Re:This is a Good Thing (Score:2)
Re:This is a Good Thing (Score:1)
I'm glad to see everyone at Slashdot is so rational about these things.
Re:This is a Good Thing (Score:1)
Re:This is a Good Thing (Score:1)
Welcome to the Twilight Zone (Score:1)
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)
http://tinypic.com/ilzxx4.jpg [tinypic.com]
Good news for me (Score:2)
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
Re:Good news for me (Score:1)
Yup (Score:2)
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
Re:Yup (Score:1)
Are the prepaid cards really more expensive than the standard subscription price?
Re:Good news for me (Score:2)
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.