RUMOR: Russell Shanks Out, Columbus Nova Exec In - MMORPG.com News

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RUMOR: Russell Shanks Out, Columbus Nova Exec In - MMORPG.com News

According to The Ancient Gaming Noob, it appears that Daybreak President Russell Shanks is out of a job and that Columbus Nova's Ji Ham is now listed on Linked In as Acting President. Shanks took over in 2015 when then-President John Smedley resigned.

Read the full story here

Volgore

That's exciting!!
What does it mean for us gamers?!



Nothing.

Kyleran

Its dead Jim.

Nanfoodle

This is like saying dilapidated house got new windows. Since EQN was put down there has been no movement from them as developers other than pushing out subpar content from games 10-18 years old. Is there life left in this company?

kjempff

Wonder how much it would take to buy the everquest ip once the firesale starts ?

In my dreams I see a kickstarter buying the ip and making EqNext as it was intended and showing this sad genre a new way forward.

SpottyGekko

Russel Shanks was probably put in the CEO's chair to "ease the transition" to the new owners and branding. Ji Ham was probably the real power behind the throne.

Perhaps the gloves are off now and we'll soon see Daybreak making inroads into the Chinese mobile gaming market ?

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Nanfoodle

Gorwe said:

Dren_Utogi said:

Now, if they just bring back Vanguard Soh

Here's a question for you that will determine the outcome of your inquiry(and I've an idea you already know the answer): "Does it make any economic sense for them to do this?"

Yup, I think it would make a wonderful cross platform game. Tablet/PC, all the cool kids are doing it. 

Scorchien

Ok Ji Ham .. your chance to shine ... Give us a Vanguard server ..

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

SpottyGekko

Dren_Utogi said:

...

... 

Atmost , sell the IP and let someone try.....

I have no doubt that if anyone approached Daybreak with a reasonable cash offer, that they'd sell Vanguard in a heartbeat.

The Vanguard code is useless to them I suspect, I don't think their future is going to include any MMORPG's (other than the legacy cash cows they're still milking with minimal effort).

Amathe

I have socks in my laundry hamper that do more than this company.

xyzercrime

Volgore said:

That's exciting!!

What does it mean for us gamers?!

Drink vodka, cyka blyat and rush B.

donger56

They-Break-Games

TheScavenger

Well, this is sad news for me. I love Everquest 2. No MMO nearly matches the amount of content and things to do (as far as PVE based themeparks go). But, I figured once an investment company bought SOE out...it was a HUGE warning sign to the downfall of many great MMOs.

The best I can hope for now, is a good, legit company buys the Everquest IP and takes it over properly.

kjempff

Torval said:

Volgore said:

That's exciting!!
What does it mean for us gamers?!

Nothing.

Well now we know why DBG has been pushing their odd server and sub-incentive gimmicks. They're not meeting numbers and time ran out for him.

It may mean something. If they were unhappy with him and his numbers then they will do what they think necessary to bring up numbers. That could affect players.

But if they were actually interested in running a game company with a future they would have replaced him with someone with game industry history. Placing an exec from their own ranks does smell very much like a future dismantling of the company.

TheScavenger

After reading the massively article. This is leading to the shut down of the most MMOs taken offline in the history of the MMO world. Unless someone buys up the IPs, its looking to be an apocalyptic event in the MMO world.

Is this what the mayans meant by the end of the world? Except in 2017? While not the end of the world, this will shake the very core of the MMO genre...and for the worse. No game will ever come out like EQ2 or Vanguard or even Planetside, because companies will see them all shut down. 

There is no game at all in existence with the amount of content as EQ1 and EQ2 as far as PVE goes. With the investment company now in full control, either they will sell the IP (I hope so!) or this will be the biggest disaster MMO genre has ever seen.

Maybe this is what we've all been talking about on MMORPG.com. That MMOs need a complete collapse. Sadly however, this is the collapse of the wrong MMOs...SOE has many great MMOs.

Maybe this will lead to every MMO to shut down and collapse, so the MMO genre is reborn or just split off into sub-genres (like survival games a lot of MMO players moved to. Ark being the biggest one). If they force SOE's entire MMO collection to shut down, almost no one (except junky made MMOs from indie companies) will ever want to try to make a new MMO and focus on other genres (again, like Ark)

TheScavenger

In 2017, all of SOE's MMOs will be shut down. LOTRO won't be renewed.

LOTRO is a HUGE MMO that is very likely to not exist after next year. SOE's MMOs are massive, TONS of content, no MMO in existence has the amount of content EQ1 and EQ2 do for PVE players. They also have a LOT of MMOs.

Us mmorpg.com forum users were right! This is the apocalyptic event in the MMO genre. From the ashes, either MMOs will be made great again. Or MMOs will just die off and other genres (like I said above, Ark being a huge one that many MMO players moved to) will explode in popularity as they already are.

This isn't the kind of apocalyptic event I hoped for though. SOE MMOs are actually really good. But maybe it needs to happen to collapse the MMO genre, so they can go back to being made great again.

gervaise1

First question what did Russell Shanks do wrong - or more likely fail to do?

Shanks replaced Smed who was the sacrificial lamb when whatever promises / predictions / financial projections that were made didn't happen e.g. EQN! 

His brief - presumably - will have been to refine / deliver whatever plan has been in place to make DBG "profitable": break even, achieve x% operating profit, increase sales, cut costs. Whatever.

First answer: he didn't deliver on the plan. 

Second question: what does Ji Ham bring to the party? Given his background it certainly isn't anything to do with game design. Now maybe he is going to spend time "re-organising" DBG but given that he has other "board positions" I wonder whether this is just cost cutting following Shanks "failure". Not as though DBG really merits a CEO - especially if DCUO is split from the rest of DBG under its CEO !!!!! Jack Emmert.

So I think the answer could be spin off DCUO; provide over sight at what is left of DBG.

Volgore

1:15AM

TheScavenger said:

Well, this is sad news for me. I love Everquest 2. No MMO nearly matches the amount of content and things to do (as far as PVE based themeparks go). .

1:24AM

TheScavenger said:

There is no game at all in existence with the amount of content as EQ1 and EQ2 as far as PVE goes.

 

 1:29AM

TheScavenger said:

SOE's MMOs are massive, TONS of content, no MMO in existence has the amount of content EQ1 and EQ2 do for PVE players.

If you keep going at this rate i estimate the whole world will know it at about 4-5AM.

SirLorn

TheScavenger said:

After reading the massively article. This is leading to the shut down of the most MMOs taken offline in the history of the MMO world. Unless someone buys up the IPs, its looking to be an apocalyptic event in the MMO world.

Is this what the mayans meant by the end of the world? Except in 2017? While not the end of the world, this will shake the very core of the MMO genre...and for the worse. No game will ever come out like EQ2 or Vanguard or even Planetside, because companies will see them all shut down. 

There is no game at all in existence with the amount of content as EQ1 and EQ2 as far as PVE goes. With the investment company now in full control, either they will sell the IP (I hope so!) or this will be the biggest disaster MMO genre has ever seen.

Maybe this is what we've all been talking about on MMORPG.com. That MMOs need a complete collapse. Sadly however, this is the collapse of the wrong MMOs...SOE has many great MMOs.

Maybe this will lead to every MMO to shut down and collapse, so the MMO genre is reborn or just split off into sub-genres (like survival games a lot of MMO players moved to. Ark being the biggest one). If they force SOE's entire MMO collection to shut down, almost no one (except junky made MMOs from indie companies) will ever want to try to make a new MMO and focus on other genres (again, like Ark)

bro.......BRO!! CALM THY SELF! ./slaps across face | It's gonna be ok! Now, no I have not read the article, is it gonna change some things?! Sure, change is good though, I mean really....I applaude all the loyal fans that still played the game they loved, but I also see the MMO community as a whole getting an influx of players that are mainstream and will need new homes! Lulz.....it's not like folks are gonna just say "F IT!" the genre is done!!! A multibillion dollar industry isn't just gonna shrivel up into nothing

BUT I will say that I started with SOE and EQ1 , home for 6 years, it was meaningful, exciting, as rich as any RL hobby within a communal setting. I have never had some of the same feelings in any MMO since.

That being said, having gone through 1 then 2 for a year or so, VG until they turned off the lights, as far as I saw it, and I think only folks that have been clinging onto the ship would argue this, they were dead a long time ago....think about it, even the first coverage of EQ Next, you had folks WANTING them to make it happen, but still skeptical as all hell.... I wanted it too, heh, I bought Landmark.............fact is you had too many vet players that would no longer touch an SOE game with a 10 foot pole, from multiple times of being screwed....and frankly trying to hold on to past glory was a mistake, instead of trying to come out with the next big thing, I think I would have tried to make right a lot of wrongs......they had plenty of IPs and cult followings of those IPs that I think would have turned this all around, change an engine here or there, new price point models, that's just my opinion though...

Forgrimm

They should sell the Everquest IP to someone who actually gives a shit about it.

Volgore

Forgrimm said:

They should sell the Everquest IP to someone who actually gives a shit about it.

Maybe Turbine would be interested after Lotro gets shut down next year

svann

Oh please. No one buys an mmo planning to shut it down. Where's the money in it? Selling off parts? What parts? ridiculous.

No one is buying their old servers nor their old spaghetti code nor their already 10x rebaked lore. If someone wants to make a new eq they would do well to just make something with the same style but new coding and new world. They dont need the "burning woods" zone (now scorched woods). Nothing there to buy, nothing there to sell.

Iselin

svann said:

Oh please. No one buys an mmo planning to shut it down. Where's the money in it? Selling off parts? What parts? ridiculous.

No one is buying their old servers nor their old spaghetti code nor their already 10x rebaked lore. If someone wants to make a new eq they would do well to just make something with the same style but new coding and new world. They dont need the "burning woods" zone. Nothing there to buy, nothing there to sell.

Which part of what they've been doing since they bought it is not ridiculous? What new buzz is there and which future releases have they showcased?

The story here is that a multinational conglomerate with a dodgy history and no gaming pedigree bought SOE, canceled their big ticket item, trimmed the "fat"... and now they're replacing their top exec who has a gaming background with one of their boys who doesn't.

If you can figure out what they're up to please do share. They've quickly become even less relevant as a gaming industry force. One without even the benefit of the recognizable three letter SOE brand name.

"(Insert new name game here) brought to you by the caretakers of the EQ franchise!" Does that get your juices flowing?

Yukmarc

Dren_Utogi said:

Now, if they just bring back Vanguard Soh

Why? Go support Pantheon instead of this dying company.