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Some news John Smedley interview
dimmit77
Member Posts: 294
Sony Online Entertainment's president John Smedley is a confident man. At this year's Gamer's Day event for the EverQuest-creating Sony division and sister firm to PlayStation 3 creator SCEE, he introduced the heads of the company's different development studios with the air of a man who sees new opportunities on the horizon.
He had a good deal of excitement and enthusiasm for the newly announced Rise of Kunark expansion for EverQuest 2, the ongoing progress for Gods and Heroes, and the quiet continuation of other SOE titles.
But new projects on the horizon are what he feels passionate about right now. SOE is adapting to the times with new business models, new genres of massively multiplayer games, mobile gaming, and a focus on appealing to gaming habits abroad. The most significant new announcement is an Asian-focused online game based on Stephen Chow's frantic movie Kung Fu Hustle.
Gamasutra sat down with Smedley to talk about his vision for Sony Online's expansion beyond its traditional Western and monthly subscription-based roots, and his concept for the future of online games.
With the focus on future titles and on new payment methods, is the future of SOE 'anything but fantasy MMOs'?
John Smedley: It's not anything but fantasy MMOs. That's still our core. We're still investing very heavily in that. Vanguard you can see, and we'll be having some big news to announce on that within the next two weeks. It's imminent. That's certainly going to stay a part of our company, a lot of us still love fantasy games, and we're going to continue with them. But our feeling is that we need to take this beyond just fantasy.
That's been the successful model to date. A lot of us play shooters, and play heavily. There's two Counter-Strike games a day at our office; during lunch and after work there are always playing these things in our company. There's a lot of people who want to take things outside of fantasy. Down the line we have the DC license, and you'll be hearing more from us on that.
You seem to be interested in new business elements as well; can you tell us a bit about that?
We're trying to introduce new business models, trying out new ways of paying for a game. Things that are 'non-core', such as game balance, will be treated as sacred. You can't just go buy a more powerful sword in this concept. It's more about trying to give players multiple ways to play. We see the subscription barrier as a pretty significant hurdle to playing.
Getting players over that will be a big deal. I don't see this getting back to the traditional MMOs. Kung Fu Hustle is our first big experiment with this, what we call the 'velvet rope' model. We we are going to do is evolve towards this other model. But evolve quickly; we have three games coming out in a fifteen month timeframe here. We'll try it out, see what happens, see if it grows the market. If it does, we'll make changes to future titles.
Lowering the barrier of accessibility - is that something you're looking to bring back to the traditional MMOs?
Not really, but we do have other big things slated for the future along those lines. As you can imagine, the SOE Denver studio [working on digital versions of a number of CCGs] is a launching point for future projects. We're going to have a good-sized announcement in early August. The technology behind their current releases is very flexible; we can have a chess engine, a checkers engine, a poker engine - their system is very powerful. They're really sharp guys, and they have a lot of great technologies.
Something seemed a bit different about the LA studio; they're folks who were doing their own thing within Sony's outer structure, and now they're part of your organization. What do you think of those guys?
We as SOE about four years ago did Wheel of Fortune; I carry my phone around not just because it's an email device, I'm a freak about phones, a lot of us are. Sony Pictures had a mobile group, and they decided to move it under us; it just made common sense. They're really talented, award-winning stuff.
They're working on [newly announced titles] such as Snoop Dogg Cruisin', Snoop Dogg Boxing - wild stuff. There's a much bigger world out there than us PC gamers, and it's pretty stunning the work that they've done. They've worked with SCEA on God of War, and they're doing some PlayStation 3 downloadable stuff for us - Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, eventually we want to see that hooked into Home.
Are you folks involved with the Home project at all? I know you're running the PlayStation Network...
Our end is the back end, we're doing some stuff to support it. Some of it is not announced yet.
There seems to be a lot of focus on newer games, things on the horizon. Will there be a push back towards getting some of the older games into the public eye?
Well, our retention has gone up on a number of games, not down. The teams have their heads down, they're working hard, and we're learning from past mistakes. In the case of EverQuest 2, it's still a very very healthy business for us. In terms of getting it in the public eye, that's the purpose of the free updates; we're trying to target several large-scale free things to add to the world.
We want people to know that we're not just slamming out expansion packs. I think that was a mistaken strategy that we had for a while. It decreased our quality level. The teams, and myself included, just get to the point where you want to be super proud of what you're releasing, and we wanted more time to polish things, and so we said 'the heck with it' and went with it that way.
So then, to your thinking, people are somewhat focused already on EverQuest and EverQuest 2 and Star Wars Galaxies. Can you explain where a game like Kung Fu Hustle fits in?
Sure. Kung Fu Hustle [developed by Sony's Taiwanese studio SOGA] is a 2D online fighting game, and the idea is that players will be free to play every day. A certain number of times per day, they can hop on and fight their friends, and we have a mechanic where if they're good they can keep on playing.
Truth is, I don't know how well it's going to do. I love the game. It was made for Asian markets, so I think it's going to do well here, but it is kind of a different mechanic where you 'feed the machine'. If you're good, you can just keep on playing, which is neat.
It runs on the notion of eight on eight multiplayer... it's not massively multiplayer, but there's a number of titles like that over there, racing games and such. That's huge. It plays really well, and a lot of people like that sort of anime style. I hope people judge it for themselves
Comments
He is a big part of why Sony doesn't stand a chance to make quality games anymore. Instead he talks about past mistakes in marketing and flooding to many expansions and not about the missing fun factor in his titles.
It really sounds as if he is still trying to figure out why things worked in 1999 with EQ and don't work today.
Well well 2 weeks till we hear more
Now lets speculate:
Server merge, kinda hoping on that, not especialy for the Gelenia realm as honostly it seems to get more population and besides there are not that many EU realms, but think a few US realm would do better when merged and afcourse free and fully all items/gear and character transfer to a new realm.
Free trial. but should announce that today's required specs are minimum spec so that people at for hand know what to expect with some systems.
Official forums would be eventualy much better then i thought having affiliated sites only.
And last but not least flying mounts,even more content also content for the hungry reaiders among the gamers and lots of bug fixes finaly done. oh and sea creatures are they or are they not supose to be ingame not sure bout that, wold make boat trips bit more exiciting, forgive me if they already in but havn't heard or seen any, Except for the broken quest of Maku..something the shark at the beach at Khal which i have seen once and never again to atleast complete that quest, so far me 3rd quest since release i encountered not fully working.
That would be BIG news right
btw nice find OP
I find it funny that in every Smed post of late, he keeps talking about going for the Asian market with SOE. Eight years later he doesn't quite get American gamers and now he is going to breeze overseas, figure out their gaming approach and pull another miracle out of his pocket.
It's not like when American rockstars get old but can still go overseas and sell out concerts, Smed.
I find it funny that in every Smed post of late, he keeps talking about going for the Asian market with SOE. Eight years later he doesn't quite get American gamers and now he is going to breeze overseas, figure out their gaming approach and pull another miracle out of his pocket.
It's not like when American rockstars get old but can still go overseas and sell out concerts, Smed.
Lol, so true, hehe.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Why Sony keeps Smedley around is beyond me.
He has to be one of the most clueless execs in the business and everyone knows it.
C'mon , people. Everyone knows nothing good comes from this joker. He doesn't know, doesn't care about anything but screwing up games. Nothing this guy says should be of any interest to the gaming world.
Personally, I don't waste my time reading anything he spews out. They're either lies or he's talking about things he hasn't a clue about. This guy is the very worse the gaming world has and probably will ever have. He and Sony have the perfect marraige: Mutt and jeff type relationship, they deserve each other.
I did some looking around because I wasn't to up on who this guy is.
Developer BIO
John Smedley is President of Sony Online Entertainment and co-founder of Verant Interactive, Inc. He has over 12 years of experience in the gaming industry. Mr. Smedley's start in the gaming industry began in 1989 when he worked as a programmer for ATG.Shortly after developing his first game (Qix) for the Apple IIe, Mr. Smedley founded and his own company called Knight Technologies. At Knight Technologies, he developed various contract games like Double Dragon (Atari Lynx), Dirty Larry Renegade Cop (Atari Lynx), Qix (Atari Lynx), Keys to Maramon (Amiga) and Kawasaki Carribean Challenge (SNES). Mr. Smedley also served as Director of Development for five years at 989 Studios and began a PC Group that evolved into Verant Interactive, now Sony Online Entertainment.
I did a little more reading on the highlighted part. I always assumed the Mcquaid was responcible for EQ, but nope. Apparently Mcquaid was hired by this guy. I found that interesting. Verant Interactive was always a part of the Sony company, found that very interesting as well.
Games Credited
Lots of stuff there, most of which I've never played.
Thought I'd post this info for anyone, who like me, had no real knowledge of the guy.
convinced Sony to "publish", ie bankroll, their game. But eventually some sort
of aquisition happened and Verant just became SOE. In 99 SOE didnt exist.
Also, Smedley strikes me as some manager type, it cracks me up how they get
some string of games to their credit when all they do is manage the people that
actually write code and design the game. Of course this is the same everywhere,
programmers do the real work and then stiffs in suits take credit
Sony irritates me, but I don't hate them... I save that for the oil companies that
are making me pay more for gas everyday, now THAT's something to get
angry at, that and the war they inflict on the world.
Who knows, maybe SOE will come up with something new and interesting...
we shall see.
than writing code if it werent for managers and program managers. But what
I dislike is the public perception that these managers are somehow 'IT', the
one who did it all.
"Sony irritates me, but I don't hate them... I save that for the oil companies "
I feel for you guy ... however ... just be thankful you can actually still buy all the gas you can afford.
Things could be alot (alot) worse then a slow increase in the price of a gallon of gas.
Sony Online Entertainment and Verant's history can be seen as starting with Sony Interactive Studios America (SISA), an internal game development studio of Sony that formed around 1995. In 1996, John Smedley (known to the gaming community as "Smed") was put in charge of SISA's development of an online computer role-playing game, or MMORPG that would evolve into EverQuest. Smed hired programmers Brad McQuaid and Steve Clover who had come to Smedley's attention through their work on the singleplayer RPG Warwizard.
In April 1998, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) was formed by merging parts of Sony Online Ventures with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Within a matter of months after this change, Sony Interactive Studios America was renamed 989 Studios.
Towards the end of 1998, 989 Studios shifted its strategy to making PlayStation console games only. The company's computer game/online development branch spun off, initially calling itself RedEye Interactive and then soon after Verant Interactive.
..........................................................................
This is the part I don't get. The red text.
In April 2000, Verant hired former Ultima Online developers Raph Koster and Rich Vogel forming its office in Austin, Texas to develop Star Wars Galaxies for LucasArts. SOE acquired Verant in June 2000
.........................................................................
In '98 the guy works for Sony at 989 Studios. And in 2000 Sony acquires a company that is a spin off of it's own company? I'm kind of confused by this because nothing I've found yet says that he ever left Sony. Sounds like Sony put him in charge of forming a company dedicated to online games.
Edit: Remember when 989 sports accually competed with the likes of EA sports.
If anyone remembers about one year ago in SWG (before the CU change), for the first time in a long while SWG was starting to get new players. They had released their Wookie expansion and Star Wars Ep. 3 had recently came out in theaters. This is when I first started playing SWG and found it very enjoyable. The starting area was surrounded by new players. Then SOE decided to revamp the combat system and screwed it all up.
And I really doubt that Smedly is making SOE money. I would think it would be cheaper to fire him and get someone else to take his position.
I find it funny that in every Smed post of late, he keeps talking about going for the Asian market with SOE. Eight years later he doesn't quite get American gamers and now he is going to breeze overseas, figure out their gaming approach and pull another miracle out of his pocket.
It's not like when American rockstars get old but can still go overseas and sell out concerts, Smed.
It's actally not as of late, he's been saying that since the NGE was dumped on SWG. No char customizations plus insane grindfests will be a key part of SOE's next game/
Sorry, but this is a dumb comment. Hes doing a great job running the company. He is obviously making SOE a decent profit, otherwise he wouldnt hold the position he does. Your upset about the content and quality of SOE's games. This is controled by upper managment and project directors. Smedley oversees that, but does not directly control every detail.
A good leader isnt one that takes control of every portion of a buisness. I good CEO maintains a high level of optimism within his workforce, controls management wisely, and creates a profit. Smedley acomplishes all these things.
To be honest, Im sure he doesnt care about the 10,000ish people who speak out against his MMOs. There are billions of people in this world, and MMORPGs make up a vastly growing market -- there are so many more opertunities to create a large, happy playerbase than to make a few flamers happy.
p.s. For the record, i am a long time SWG vet that quit with the release of the NGE. I played EQ1, EQ2, and PS. I quit EQ2 at launch because it was terrible. Im not a SOE Fanboi, im just speaking my opinion.
"John Smedley is renowned throughout the world as a leader in the production of fine gauge knitwear products."
http://www.johnsmedley.com/pages/history.php--------------------
10 million people play WoW but I have yet to find one who admits liking it?!"
"Aion has the grind of EQ, the PvP of DAoC, and the smooth playability of WoW."
Okay, this maybe a lil off topic but didn't "Perpetual Entertainment " state that Gods and Heroes is not a $OE title?
I'm kinda confused from the statements he had gave?
Anyway, Smedley does a fantastic job of keeping SOE in the black, he may not be a great designer, but then neither is Brad. Both are programmers.
And the reason Vanguard has issues is cause Brad stuck his fingers in every pot and can't manage a company or game to save his life. SOE coming in with a more.. influential.. position should allow for some more logical and controlled updates to Vanguard.
If SOE moves people onto Vanguard, I would also expect them to move people who have done good in the past, like the guy responsible for Echoes of Faydwer, not the guy responsible for the NGE
I know I can't wait for SnoopDogg Water Polo to come out soon. They will get my cash then.
It's going to be interesting to see what the "big news" about Vanguard is. I can see SOE buying the game, but what I can't see is what they would do with it if they had it? They already have Everquest and EQII. Finding a "place" for Vanguard with those 2 titles already in the stable is really competing with yourself. /shrug
What's even more puzzling is that many of their newer games referenced in the article are clearly aimed at attracting both an American/European and an Asian market share, something their major competitors like Blizzard and NcSoft are already doing. Everquest, EQII and Vanguard all have in common that they have little to no appeal in the Asian market. So picking up Vanguard does nothing to further that business objective.
I see this less as SOE doing something that makes sense for SOE's business plan and more their taking a greater share of the game's modest income stream to offset Sigil's financial obligations.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
Here's some hypothetical things SOE could do with Vanguard: