"They’ve had a long, successful history developing and publishing MMOs..."
They forgot a tiny detail, at the time they were backed/owned by SONY. What can Columbus Nova do to benefit these games/services? We will see, soon enough.
SoE stopped being relevant in MMO industry in 2004. Since then they've been milking EQ and they've been busy trying to replicate WoW success and making dubious games like Free Realms.
Now Daybreak keep doing what SoE did best, milking old games, so I guess that makes it the perfect place for LOTRO and DDO.
So many bad F2P Game companies out there including DBG, that doesn't know how to run games, or develop them or anything its very pathetic that DCUO as a game flat out just sucks when the game could have an easier concept and be more fun to play rather than having to buy respec tokens every time you want to change powers or edit a character this should be able to be freely done from within the players house in game, and with a game subscription... (This is an example of how DBG fails.)
As for anyone playing LOTRO, I would recommend you stop dumping money into it because DBG will very likely ruin it or not do what they should with it hopefully (DBG) eventually goes under too they design some of the most pathetic games I have ever seen, except for maybe PS2 being somewhat okay, but even then Planet Side 1 was still way better PS2, is nothing but Call OF Duty capture the Objective and hold...
It doesn't sound like DBG will be directly "involved" with LotR / DDO; WarnerBros haven't sold the games to DBG WarnerBros have allowed and transitioned the existing team into a new company. So its a "new" same as the old company; the people who were running the game are still running the game.
So what's changed?
For me the biggest change is there is no safety net. So your comment about people dumping money into the game - well that is always a valid warning. In the short term though - through 2017 certainly - I wouldn't expect any issues. People are very unlikely to move to a new company "knowing" it is going to fail in a few weeks / months. They will just take severance pay.
WarnerBros however opted not to do what EA did with Broadsword and DAoC and provide support services. So its very clear they are no longer involved. And in any IP negotiations in the future it will be very clear that there are no WarnerBros bags of gold waiting in the wings. Could make any future negotiations easier.
Instead those support functions will be carried out by DBG. Some anyway - I assume that the games will continue to be hosted on the WarnerBros datacentre having recently moved there. Otherwise though like Steam say.
As for DBG they were, of course, a subscription company. DBG being just another "new" same as the old company, namely "SoE", albeit with fewer staff. And interestingly DCUO is not a "DBG" game as such but a joint venture between DBG, DC Comics and ...... WarnerBros!
Oh, really? I remember when they added the first itemshop in a P2P game in EQ2, made me as a player furious. And they added so many silly portals everywhere I got stressed just walking around.
I did play EQ2 for about 5 years back, they did get aggro from me more then a few times and Smed is not the best on customer CC, he is no tank.
They did not NGE either of them though but SOE could be very annoying at times no matter what game you subscribed on.
Not that I am saying that Turbine is perfect either and I am rather sure they never will have anything to do with a PC MMORPG again. I think this was the best of a bad situation, the alternative would have been them closing the games down or keep them on life support with close to zero budget as cash cows.
... I think this was the best of a bad situation, the alternative would have been them closing the games down or keep them on life support with close to zero budget as cash cows.
Well, we're about to see just how much of a "cash cow" these games really are.
Can SSG survive without "adjusting" the monetization schemes in Lotro and DCUO ?
Oh, really? I remember when they added the first itemshop in a P2P game in EQ2, made me as a player furious. And they added so many silly portals everywhere I got stressed just walking around.
I did play EQ2 for about 5 years back, they did get aggro from me more then a few times and Smed is not the best on customer CC, he is no tank.
They did not NGE either of them though but SOE could be very annoying at times no matter what game you subscribed on.
Not that I am saying that Turbine is perfect either and I am rather sure they never will have anything to do with a PC MMORPG again. I think this was the best of a bad situation, the alternative would have been them closing the games down or keep them on life support with close to zero budget as cash cows.
+1 , i remember having good times in vanilla eq2 (after some bugs were ironed out) and the 1 expansion was amazing , just climbing was , Majdul as city was interesting to say the least ....and the raids were ok , i never liked Eq2 raids , i raided as wiz , and Swashy not hardcore tho ...then the game starting going to nowhere , adding a cash shop was the final nail on the coffin
I completely disagree with the naysayers. I think this is a GREAT opportunity for DDO and LOTRO playerbases. DDO actually has an extremely loyal playerbase, and is NOT on it's last legs. Clearly both LOTRO and DDO made money and are still making money, or else there would be no sale/spin off. I predict this move will expand the payerbases and bring new blood to both games, which I also predict are going NOWHERE in the next 2-3 years. After that who knows. But GOOD RIDDANCE to those bean counting leaches Atari and WB. Game on for DDO & LOTRO. Congrats and good luck on your new adventure!
In fact I welcome anyone who'd like to try out DDO and is above the age of 30. As long as you are no drama folk who wish to play with others without exploiting or playing like a douche, check out our guild which is brimming with OLD SCHOOL RPG, MMO and D&D GAMERS, and has been for over eight years now. http://tyrspaladium.com
As an avid LOTRO player this fills me with some worry. Daybreak Games is where your MMO goes to die.
I don't currently play LOTRO but I did at one point but I agree with you. Daybreak just takes games and pennies them along until they ultimately die off. Anybody playing LOTRO should be worried about this.
+1 , i remember having good times in vanilla eq2 (after some bugs were ironed out) and the 1 expansion was amazing , just climbing was , Majdul as city was interesting to say the least ....and the raids were ok , i never liked Eq2 raids , i raided as wiz , and Swashy not hardcore tho ...then the game starting going to nowhere , adding a cash shop was the final nail on the coffin
I have to admit that I liked EoF somewhat, it had a fewnice dungeons and raids...
I never really got invited to raids with my swashie either, had a dirge for those (there it was easy to get invited though).
But after that the whole game just seems to loose more and more of it's soul, I left a while after the cashshop.
Oh, really? I remember when they added the first itemshop in a P2P game in EQ2, made me as a player furious. And they added so many silly portals everywhere I got stressed just walking around.
I did play EQ2 for about 5 years back, they did get aggro from me more then a few times and Smed is not the best on customer CC, he is no tank.
They did not NGE either of them though but SOE could be very annoying at times no matter what game you subscribed on.
Not that I am saying that Turbine is perfect either and I am rather sure they never will have anything to do with a PC MMORPG again. I think this was the best of a bad situation, the alternative would have been them closing the games down or keep them on life support with close to zero budget as cash cows.
I was talking about daybreak. Soe added the shop long before daybreak.
Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it is bad.
While they are taking old Turbine games can they resurrect Infinite Crisis pls.
Also, has Daybreak actually shut down any of the games they got from SOE? I don't think anyone really knows what their intentions are as a game company. Daybreak (CN) may just be a game company that gets old games that are
planning to be shut down to keep on life support and turn a small
profit. At first I thought they just bought the games to resell them but they have actually created content for some of the games they got like DCUO. Speaking of DCUO, what if Sony's relationship with WB because of DCUO is how they came up with the deal to sell to CN and create Daybreak? Now WB giving their old games to them makes it seem like their was some previous connection.
While they are taking old Turbine games can they resurrect Infinite Crisis pls.
Also, has Daybreak actually shut down any of the games they got from SOE? I don't think anyone really knows what their intentions are as a game company.
Let's see. Daybreak don't have any problem shutting down games that they feel have run their course, first casualty was Vanguard, close followed by Free Realms. They also binned EQNext as soon as they took charge.
Having said that, a Company don't take charge of games with the intention of shutting them down few months later.There is always a business plan in place that spans over many years. Plus Lords of The Rings and Dungeons and Dragons are two huge Franchises, I am sure the owners of these IPs would have wanted DBG to commit to the games for the next coming years, no matter what. The fact they decided not to save Asheron's Calls means they are not keen on taking over games they think have no future.
So LOTRO and DDO fans should rest easy for the time being. Though I am not sure DBG will improve those games (unlikely), at least we now know they gonna be around for a little while longer.
While they are taking old Turbine games can they resurrect Infinite Crisis pls.
Also, has Daybreak actually shut down any of the games they got from SOE? I don't think anyone really knows what their intentions are as a game company.
Let's see. Daybreak don't have any problem shutting down games that they feel have run their course, first casualty was Vanguard, close followed by Free Realms. They also binned EQNext as soon as they took charge.
Having said that, a Company don't take charge of games with the intention of shutting them down few months later.There is always a business plan in place that spans over many years. Plus Lords of The Rings and Dungeons and Dragons are two huge Franchises, I am sure the owners of these IPs would have wanted DBG to commit to the games for the next coming years, no matter what. The fact they decided not to save Asheron's Calls means they are not keen on taking over games they think have no future.
So LOTRO and DDO fans should rest easy for the time being. Though I am not sure DBG will improve those games (unlikely), at least we now know they gonna be around for a little while longer.
Didn't Vanguard and Free Realms shut down when it was still SOE?
Didn't Vanguard and Free Realms shut down when it was still SOE?
Daybreak IS SoE, they just changed the name. SoE stands for Sony Online Entertainment, as Sony sold the company to Venture Capitalists, they could not keep that name. Daybreak first CEO was John Smedley, who was also SoE CEO, so apart from being owned by a different parent company and changing its name, it is stilll the same company.
SoE shut those games down to slim down the company portfolio before the new owners could take over. Getting rid of dead weight to make the company more appealing to new investors it's normal business practice.
Didn't Vanguard and Free Realms shut down when it was still SOE?
Daybreak IS SoE, they just changed the name. SoE stands for Sony Online Entertainment, as Sony sold the company to Venture Capitalists, they could not keep that name. Daybreak first CEO was John Smedley, who was also SoE CEO, so apart from being owned by a different parent company and changing its name, it is stilll the same company.
SoE shut those games down to slim down the company portfolio before the new owners could take over. Getting rid of dead weight to make the company more appealing to new investors it's normal business practice.
What I want to know is if Vanguard and Free Realms shut down before ownership of SOE changed from Sony to CN.
No venture capitalist would take on a company with several dying games that have zero chance of ever rebounding......If they do they wont be a venture capitalist for long.....I remember when a video game maker came on Shark Tank...It took about 5 seconds for all of them to drop out and a couple commented that video games are the worst investment you can have period.
Daybreak IS SoE, they just changed the name. SoE stands for Sony Online Entertainment, as Sony sold the company to Venture Capitalists, they could not keep that name. Daybreak first CEO was John Smedley, who was also SoE CEO, so apart from being owned by a different parent company and changing its name, it is stilll the same company.
SoE shut those games down to slim down the company portfolio before the new owners could take over. Getting rid of dead weight to make the company more appealing to new investors it's normal business practice.
What I want to know is if Vanguard and Free Realms shut down before ownership of SOE changed from Sony to CN.
Read again, the answer is right there in my post (Hint: start of the second paragraph)
Yup, that is how it works. In every business situation, when one entity is absorbed by another, they start cutting out the bad. That is how they got bad to begin with. LOTRO is not making enough money, neither is D&DO (not sure if that game is making ANY money).
You can see what IS making money in video games, and that is phone app games and MOBAs and things like that. Buy the games up, shut them down, and turn them into app games or little MOBAs that require much less thought and a lot less people to program and operate.
Just like at some point you will see Heroes of Norrath on a phone or tablet, so to will you see LOTR. The War of the Rings, coming to a phone near you!
I agree Turbine screwed up Lotro and DD so bad that people don't play them much. If anything they got greedy with content lockouts if you don't sub. My account has 5 or 6 expansions on it and yet i go into some zones and i get the content lockout icon on NPC's heads. Makes me wonder why i bought those expansions at all. I have to pay more money for content in low lvl zones yet if i had a high enough lvl character i can quest in end game zones. What a freaking joke.
Its hard without knowing the actual deal, most likely scenario its SSG running the games with Daybreak most likely handing administration and distribution of the games. Since SSG is an independent company Daybreak can't shut down the games.
Given how awful Turbine was under WB's ownership any change is for the better.
Iselin: And the next person who says "but it's a business, they need to make money" can just go fuck yourself.
It's the same development team but new management goals direction. An entirely different parent companySo in effect a very different company. It wasn't Just a name change.
Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it is bad.
Would be great if DDO was a Dungeons and Dragons 3.5.5 (Eberron) game as they marketed.
It is as much Dungeons and Dragons as the new Neverwinter Online is - which is quite clear if you are above age of 30 and actually play Dungeons and Dragons.
Also, not getting your sudden anger explogarsm and the drama folk bit. Never had a problem on that game with exploiters or people acting like a douche.
I had quite fun going in dungeons with my friends (just like you have fun going in any other dungeon in any other game with friends) - I just think too many classes are way too deviated from Dungeons and Dragons to use DDO as example of a Dungeons and Dragons experience.
ESO is closer to an Elder Scrolls experience than DDO is to D&D and that says a lot.
Thats all true but it is still the closest MMORPG to a pen and paper games (well, except SSIs and Biowares Neverwinter nights (2 games, same name, both closer to P&P)). You can feel the D&D mechanics behind it even if I am not sure why they did many of the changes.
No MMO will ever be close to a P&P game, at least until we get an AI as good as an active DM. P&P have true freedom besides a few basic rules, MMOs are very restricted and usually railroaded like there is no tomorrow.
Getting together a group and play P&P is a project, it takes many hours for a DM (at least me) to prepare, then you need the entire group to have the same free day and get everyone to the place to play. MMOs you can log into any time and play for as long as you have time. Pizza and beer brake also shaves off some time.
But I honestly don't think ESO is closer to the TES series. It is about the same difference. Still, try pen and paper roleplaying, it is amazing.
Comments
Since then they've been milking EQ and they've been busy trying to replicate WoW success and making dubious games like Free Realms.
Now Daybreak keep doing what SoE did best, milking old games, so I guess that makes it the perfect place for LOTRO and DDO.
It doesn't sound like DBG will be directly "involved" with LotR / DDO; WarnerBros haven't sold the games to DBG WarnerBros have allowed and transitioned the existing team into a new company. So its a "new" same as the old company; the people who were running the game are still running the game.
So what's changed?
For me the biggest change is there is no safety net. So your comment about people dumping money into the game - well that is always a valid warning. In the short term though - through 2017 certainly - I wouldn't expect any issues. People are very unlikely to move to a new company "knowing" it is going to fail in a few weeks / months. They will just take severance pay.
WarnerBros however opted not to do what EA did with Broadsword and DAoC and provide support services. So its very clear they are no longer involved. And in any IP negotiations in the future it will be very clear that there are no WarnerBros bags of gold waiting in the wings. Could make any future negotiations easier.
Instead those support functions will be carried out by DBG. Some anyway - I assume that the games will continue to be hosted on the WarnerBros datacentre having recently moved there. Otherwise though like Steam say.
As for DBG they were, of course, a subscription company. DBG being just another "new" same as the old company, namely "SoE", albeit with fewer staff. And interestingly DCUO is not a "DBG" game as such but a joint venture between DBG, DC Comics and ...... WarnerBros!
I did play EQ2 for about 5 years back, they did get aggro from me more then a few times and Smed is not the best on customer CC, he is no tank.
They did not NGE either of them though but SOE could be very annoying at times no matter what game you subscribed on.
Not that I am saying that Turbine is perfect either and I am rather sure they never will have anything to do with a PC MMORPG again. I think this was the best of a bad situation, the alternative would have been them closing the games down or keep them on life support with close to zero budget as cash cows.
Can SSG survive without "adjusting" the monetization schemes in Lotro and DCUO ?
I never really got invited to raids with my swashie either, had a dirge for those (there it was easy to get invited though).
But after that the whole game just seems to loose more and more of it's soul, I left a while after the cashshop.
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
Also, has Daybreak actually shut down any of the games they got from SOE? I don't think anyone really knows what their intentions are as a game company. Daybreak (CN) may just be a game company that gets old games that are planning to be shut down to keep on life support and turn a small profit. At first I thought they just bought the games to resell them but they have actually created content for some of the games they got like DCUO. Speaking of DCUO, what if Sony's relationship with WB because of DCUO is how they came up with the deal to sell to CN and create Daybreak? Now WB giving their old games to them makes it seem like their was some previous connection.
Daybreak don't have any problem shutting down games that they feel have run their course, first casualty was Vanguard, close followed by Free Realms.
They also binned EQNext as soon as they took charge.
Having said that, a Company don't take charge of games with the intention of shutting them down few months later.There is always a business plan in place that spans over many years.
Plus Lords of The Rings and Dungeons and Dragons are two huge Franchises, I am sure the owners of these IPs would have wanted DBG to commit to the games for the next coming years, no matter what.
The fact they decided not to save Asheron's Calls means they are not keen on taking over games they think have no future.
So LOTRO and DDO fans should rest easy for the time being.
Though I am not sure DBG will improve those games (unlikely), at least we now know they gonna be around for a little while longer.
SoE stands for Sony Online Entertainment, as Sony sold the company to Venture Capitalists, they could not keep that name.
Daybreak first CEO was John Smedley, who was also SoE CEO, so apart from being owned by a different parent company and changing its name, it is stilll the same company.
SoE shut those games down to slim down the company portfolio before the new owners could take over.
Getting rid of dead weight to make the company more appealing to new investors it's normal business practice.
You can see what IS making money in video games, and that is phone app games and MOBAs and things like that. Buy the games up, shut them down, and turn them into app games or little MOBAs that require much less thought and a lot less people to program and operate.
Just like at some point you will see Heroes of Norrath on a phone or tablet, so to will you see LOTR. The War of the Rings, coming to a phone near you!
Turbine screwed up Lotro and DD so bad that people don't play them much. If anything they got greedy with content lockouts if you don't sub. My account has 5 or 6 expansions on it and yet i go into some zones and i get the content lockout icon on NPC's heads. Makes me wonder why i bought those expansions at all. I have to pay more money for content in low lvl zones yet if i had a high enough lvl character i can quest in end game zones. What a freaking joke.
Given how awful Turbine was under WB's ownership any change is for the better.
No MMO will ever be close to a P&P game, at least until we get an AI as good as an active DM. P&P have true freedom besides a few basic rules, MMOs are very restricted and usually railroaded like there is no tomorrow.
Getting together a group and play P&P is a project, it takes many hours for a DM (at least me) to prepare, then you need the entire group to have the same free day and get everyone to the place to play. MMOs you can log into any time and play for as long as you have time. Pizza and beer brake also shaves off some time.
But I honestly don't think ESO is closer to the TES series. It is about the same difference. Still, try pen and paper roleplaying, it is amazing.