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kaz hirai vows to bring profit back to sony games
viralz
Member Posts: 78
what could this mean for soe?
Comments
Sony is in trouble, not just the gaming side, plus its well known that the PS3 was cost lowered to sell games to begin with, thier already not making any money on the system. The moneys in selling games for it. SOE has been cost cutting for a while now, I think thier already cut down to skeleton crew levels. Its been that way since NGE, not only did they take a big loss in subs with SWG but with other games, EQII tanked around that time and so did Vangaurd.
That forced Smedley to make cuts before the market went into the toilet. I think SOE is one of thier money making divisions, cant say much about the rest since Sony took a huge market loss and has record low sales since the global rescession. I dont think this article will affect SOE very much.
I think it has already started and MxO is only the beginning.
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Ten Golden Rules Of Videogame Fanboyism
"SOE has probably united more gamers in hatred than Blizzard has subs"...daelnor
Well, I would say that this and the news that the Matrix online is closing down hangs together.
I think that any game that doen't generate money will be cancelled. SWG hopefully have enough fans still but both it and Vanguard might go down too... To move resources to the games that are coming.
My big hope however is that he will fire Smedly and get someone competent on raising the subs of the current games instead of cancelling any more. Matrix was close to dead anyways.
i keep seeing this kaz guy around, is smed removed or something?
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas
About a year ago, Sony Online Entertainment(SOE) division was restructured and placed as a separate division under Sony Computer Entertainment Inc which is headed up by Kaz. Smed is still around and he is still the main boss for the MMO's which Sony owns but he now reports to Kaz. The buck used to stop with Smed but now it stops with Kaz.
Well firstly,.... finally..... they seem to be becoming a lil bit more transparent as a company.
and to the later post about who this guy is, I think that this Exec is related to who is actually in charge of SOE, taken from Wiki
"on March 13, 2008, Sony Online Entertainment announced that Sony Computer Entertainment will have direct control over SOE."
In a roundabout way they have instigated a process where Smedley can be monitored/over ruled directly.Just to clarify that statement; Smedley was always answerable to higher ups but what I am indicating is that now he actually has a "line manager" a point of direct reporting. So "tinfoil hat on" anygames which are a loss runner will be sunset as per de management "tinfoil hat off"
Playstations are the flagship for the company hence the direct comment about it but as we know Sony lumps all reports into "divisions" and within that it could involve the toilet team or catering chaps so the loss for one division is blurred. What would be interesting is what has been happening over the past year with regards to infrastructure of the company, as this would indicate more about a) who is in charge b) what part of the company may be next? as MxO will not be the last however do not expect it to happen soon but in "months" time.
Personally, if DC fails, (when I say fail its not in the modern context as in it hasnt got a gaziilion concurrent users and stolen all of WoW's subscibers in the first month) but reaches over 700K to a mil ie: a success, in the first 6 months then Smedley will be moved to a different area of the company to conitinue his good work.
All in all, if SOE becomes transparent as a company none of what I speculated will ever come to pass as they will be doing all the "right" things for the customer.
As always my 2 penneth.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi: We were decieved by a lie; we all were. It appears that SOE is behind everything, including the NGE! After the death of CU, the NGE became their new apprentice."
For me the comment that stood out was this...
‘‘We need a strategy where buying a hardware is not the endpoint but instead a starting point that can offer new experiences to our customers,’’ Hirai said.
I took that to mean that their focus is clearly on repeat sales through RMT's. They simply want to nickle and dime us at every opportunity.
Although maybe I'm reading more into it then what was intended by Kaz, but I don't think so. Maybe that's not what he was refering to in his comment but I still believe that it's their intent.
My guess is that the next ones to go will be Planetside, Vanguard, and SWG.
Planetside has neither TCG or a RMT store, which pretty much says it's done. The only argument for keeping it is that it's SOE orignal IP so they aren't paying for that.
Vanguard is getting RMT, and how well that does will kill it or save it. It's SOE owned IP, so it may be staying for station pass filler.
SWG probably has the TCG lottery to thank for surviving this last year, but no way does it live much past the opening of TOR.
The bottom line: It's in SOE's best interest to just purge the station pass of their underperforming mistakes for MMO's, and that should mean purging everything not named Everquest, leaving more oxygen for their platform publishing titles (POTBS) and their new games.
There seem to be quite a few leaps of logic between the statement that you selected and the conclusion you drew from it. Whether or not the conclusion is true, I'm not sure the statement that you selected supports it very well. It sounds like the hardware referred to is something along the lines of a PS console, and not an MMO, which is software rather than hardware.
I read the statement to mean that they want the hardware that they put out to be capable of doing more. There are all kinds of ways that the hardware could be made more versatile, and xboxes provide a good example of that.
Well, to support Survoc's statement, you need to look at what SOE has done with RMT so far.
Prior to SOE's sudden addition of RMT stores to EQ/EQ2, and their rollout of "TCG games" that are essentially lotteries costing real money for the chance at exclusive, powerful, in game items/powers, the conventional wisdom was that RMT would apply to "free to play" MMO's.
IE: basic gameplay would be free, but to get anywhere would require SOME level of participation in RMT, but that this would make up for lost sub revenue because more people would play due to the lack of the "subscription cost" barrier.
SOE is applying RMT universally in their games, even ones charging a "full" subscription price of $14.99, and doing so in such a way that top players will be obliged to participate in the case of the TCG lottery if they are to remain even with others. EQ/EQ2 players are getting hit with the triple whammy: full price subscription, paying for expansions, and paying for RMT on top of that.
This, to me, is evidence of what they will do in the future with the PS3: charge you for the console, for the games, and then nickle and dime you to death for stuff that should have been in the games at release. Basically you will be paying for patches. Does anyone trust Sony enough given their record to NOT develop the stuff they plan to sell via RMT later, at the same time they do the game, holding out critical features or content only to make you pay to add them back in later, AFTER paying full price for the original game? Will they reduce the prices of PS3 games so that you aren't paying $60?
There seem to be quite a few leaps of logic between the statement that you selected and the conclusion you drew from it. Whether or not the conclusion is true, I'm not sure the statement that you selected supports it very well. It sounds like the hardware referred to is something along the lines of a PS console, and not an MMO, which is software rather than hardware.
I read the statement to mean that they want the hardware that they put out to be capable of doing more. There are all kinds of ways that the hardware could be made more versatile, and xboxes provide a good example of that.
I agree that it's a bit of a leap in logic but I think it's pretty true.
I think the PS3 is simply the tool they're using to ensure they have us connected to their online store. As Kaz said the hardware is the starting point, and RMT's are certainly their focus right now so all "new experiences" will likely incorporate RMT's.
I don't have a problem with anyone who wants this as an option, but I definetly don't want to see this become the industry standard as I think it ruins the spirit of what a (sandbox) MMO should be.
I simply just don't want to be constantly fleeced after I've bought the initial product. This scenario gives me a sense of uneasiness, and makes me constantly think about whether or not the item I may have to buy is going to be a waste because of something better being introduced 1 month later.
There seem to be quite a few leaps of logic between the statement that you selected and the conclusion you drew from it. Whether or not the conclusion is true, I'm not sure the statement that you selected supports it very well. It sounds like the hardware referred to is something along the lines of a PS console, and not an MMO, which is software rather than hardware.
I read the statement to mean that they want the hardware that they put out to be capable of doing more. There are all kinds of ways that the hardware could be made more versatile, and xboxes provide a good example of that.
I agree that it's a bit of a leap in logic but I think it's pretty true.
I think the PS3 is simply the tool they're using to ensure they have us connected to their online store. As Kaz said the hardware is the starting point, and RMT's are certainly their focus right now so all "new experiences" will likely incorporate RMT's.
I don't have a problem with anyone who wants this as an option, but I definetly don't want to see this become the industry standard as I think it ruins the spirit of what a (sandbox) MMO should be.
I simply just don't want to be constantly fleeced after I've bought the initial product. This scenario gives me a sense of uneasiness, and makes me constantly think about whether or not the item I may have to buy is going to be a waste because of something better being introduced 1 month later.
It still requires a pretty narrow view of what might have been intended by the statement. It's quite possible that he wants to broaden the capabilities of the product beyond simply gaming and DVD watching. Some examples might be streaming NetFlix or other video services; acting as a media center with Sony's own take on software like XBMC; or acting as a DVR. Defining "new experiences" as nothing more than RMT transactions in console-based MMOs just seems like a bit of a stretch to me.
There seem to be quite a few leaps of logic between the statement that you selected and the conclusion you drew from it. Whether or not the conclusion is true, I'm not sure the statement that you selected supports it very well. It sounds like the hardware referred to is something along the lines of a PS console, and not an MMO, which is software rather than hardware.
I read the statement to mean that they want the hardware that they put out to be capable of doing more. There are all kinds of ways that the hardware could be made more versatile, and xboxes provide a good example of that.
I agree that it's a bit of a leap in logic but I think it's pretty true.
I think the PS3 is simply the tool they're using to ensure they have us connected to their online store. As Kaz said the hardware is the starting point, and RMT's are certainly their focus right now so all "new experiences" will likely incorporate RMT's.
I don't have a problem with anyone who wants this as an option, but I definetly don't want to see this become the industry standard as I think it ruins the spirit of what a (sandbox) MMO should be.
I simply just don't want to be constantly fleeced after I've bought the initial product. This scenario gives me a sense of uneasiness, and makes me constantly think about whether or not the item I may have to buy is going to be a waste because of something better being introduced 1 month later.
It still requires a pretty narrow view of what might have been intended by the statement. It's quite possible that he wants to broaden the capabilities of the product beyond simply gaming and DVD watching. Some examples might be streaming NetFlix or other video services; acting as a media center with Sony's own take on software like XBMC; or acting as a DVR. Defining "new experiences" as nothing more than RMT transactions in console-based MMOs just seems like a bit of a stretch to me.
You're right that I was thinking of that statement with gaming in mind but it doesn't make it any less true. Besides you can bet there will be a fee to any "new experience" associated with the PS3, and with specific regard to MMO's it's undoubtedly an RMT future at SoE.
The PS3 is simply the perfect tool for them to ensure transactions occur within all of their media - especially gaming.