Now, As most of you know, I don't post much on this biased site( Wave Ico). But with the Duel announcements that The Matrix will soon be dark and SWG has to endure yet another layer of TCG stupidity, it boggles the mind to how SOE can exist with Companies struggling to stay solvate in this economy.
*cough* solvent *cough*
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-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.- -And on the 8th day, man created God.-
SOE is known for lying and being contagiously misleading, didn't one of the devs at last year's star wars con say SWTOR won't be an MMO? Where'd he get that info from? Smedley at a convention also said that none of the games are having financial problems when he was asked about it (friend of mine attended it in Vegas). But in an interview he mentioned SWG might "sunset"...
Just don't believe anything that's being said by someone associated with SOE. SOE are very interested in the TCG market right now, they seem to have even slowed down on the Playstaiton 3 market (which surprises me) which should be SOE's strongest department.
I doubt if any sony mmo's are losing money. What some do not understand is that in the world of business its not about making money vs. losing money its about making enough money to make it worth while vs. just getting by. Why would SOE or any company want to squeak by or break even? Savvy business people know when its time to close up shop and again, savvy, folks do so before the loss not after. SOE makes money, if it didnt it would not exist. Some games make more than others of course but at the end of the day they all pull their weight or they disappear. Matrix is over but did it lose money for Sony? Sorry to burst the bubble of the "Sony is failing" crowd but its the way it is.
lol Again post a source for where SOE said they would never shut down a mmog.You all wanna keep whining about it but no one can provide one shred of proof that they said it which they sure never did say it.I am so happy they changed SWG so I can listen to all you bitter nerd boys cry and cry about SOE.
I am not aware of SOE ever saying it...but SOE apologists have repeatedly which they will not be able to any longer.
Ok. So I did a post search and couldn't find one single post that said that SOE will never shut down an mmo. I only found two where someone said 'SOE has never shut down a game' - which up to this time was true.
I'm not denying that there may be a few random posts out there making this claim; but to make a 'ha ha you were wrong' post about an insignificant gripe made by so few that I couldn't find a single post making your claims.......
Perhaps, not being a fan of SOE, secretly you hated the station pass because YOU felt it would keep dead games alive forever; and if that's the case, ha ha, look at you.
LOL...do you have any idea how many posts and threads have "disappeared" from this forum?
I think shutting down an MMO is an experience SOE needs to go through. Everyone is capable of understanding when an MMO is no longer performing, it closes down. It's sad, but people can understand it. It's much, much better than destroying the persistant world in an attempt at rebirth. A game only gets one soul. It lives, dies, and moves on. Anything else is not natural.
Something is different at SOE. Don't know if it's good or bad yet.
See you in the dream.. The Fires from heaven, now as cold as ice. A rapid ascension tolls a heavy price.
I think shutting down an MMO is an experience SOE needs to go through. Everyone is capable of understanding when an MMO is no longer performing, it closes down. It's sad, but people can understand it. It's much, much better than destroying the persistant world in an attempt at rebirth. A game only gets one soul. It lives, dies, and moves on. Anything else is not natural. Something is different at SOE. Don't know if it's good or bad yet.
There are lots of MMOs that in all honesty, need to be shut down. Once SOE "breaks the cherry" of closing this one it will get easier for them to close others. Now, yes, lots of this is SOE's fault, as I still believe that had they not done the CU, or had stopped there and not done the NGE, they'd still have 100K+ playing SWG, which while a bad looking number for the time would be great for them now.
But a lot of this has to do with the industry's overexpansion, due to a speculation "bubble" caused by WOW's runaway success that led to FAR too many games that are essentially WOW clones to be invested in, fail before release, fail just after release, etc. There are too many MMOs out there chasing too few potential subscribers, particularly of the fantasy genre.
I think we've seen that the success rate of WOW is a freakish, probably never to be repeated, exception to what had happened in the past, which was that a successful MMO would have between 150 and 300K subscribers. The WOW bubble caused everyone to think that anything under 7 figures was a failure.
In the case of MXO, the sad thing is that it was one of the few Sci-Fi MMO's, and that it's shutting down. Right now there is only one Sci-Fi MMO that is a success, and that's EVE Online, which is extremely hard core, deep, and player run, which is what I think a Sci-Fi game HAS to be if it's going to succeed. Prior to EVE the only Sci-FI MMO that even came close in depth, complexity, and player run economy was Pre-CU SWG, and none released since (including the NGE) are anywhere near the baseline of "geek hardcore" to succeed in that genre.
I wonder when a publisher will realize that? Take a space game like EVE and add an equally complex and open ground game to it (such as the Pre-CU one) and you will have Sci-Fi nirvana.
SOE needs to feel some pain for using great IP like 'the Matrix' or 'Star Wars' and completely screwing up the delivery as an MMORPG.
Seriously, I wonder what would've happened to these 2 solid titles if they would've been handled by other companies. As it is, 1 is dead (with an official toe tag/body bag) and another is very nearly dead... iron lung.
In their defense, they acquired MXO well after Warner Brothers had screwed it up. Indeed, it makes no sense why they even wanted it, except to act as filler in the station pass, perhaps to add a 2nd Sci-Fi title so as to entice SWG subscribers to go station pass.
SWG though is totally SOE's baby in terms of failure, poor management, and poor development.
Even though I despise SOE, it wouldn't be fair to blame them for MXO or Vanguard, as neither game would have lasted as long as they have without their takeover. That said, however, I think taking those games over and spending anything on them was yet another mistake of SOE mismanagement.
SOE needs to feel some pain for using great IP like 'the Matrix' or 'Star Wars' and completely screwing up the delivery as an MMORPG. Seriously, I wonder what would've happened to these 2 solid titles if they would've been handled by other companies. As it is, 1 is dead (with an official toe tag/body bag) and another is very nearly dead... iron lung.
Unfortunately when dealing with someone else's IP you have to deal with their producers and such...I am sure in regards to SWG LEC has not been a very compromising partner in many respects...
However...all of the evidence does point to SOEs severe managerial incompetence.
I doubt if any sony mmo's are losing money. What some do not understand is that in the world of business its not about making money vs. losing money its about making enough money to make it worth while vs. just getting by. Why would SOE or any company want to squeak by or break even? Savvy business people know when its time to close up shop and again, savvy, folks do so before the loss not after. SOE makes money, if it didnt it would not exist. Some games make more than others of course but at the end of the day they all pull their weight or they disappear. Matrix is over but did it lose money for Sony? Sorry to burst the bubble of the "Sony is failing" crowd but its the way it is.
Not to stray off topic, but you are making this huge assumption that all people in business are "savvy". The business/corporate world is full of people who are completely lacking in business sense, that's why companies lose money (daily), go bankrupt, make horrible decisision, etc, every day. I'm not saying Sony's games are or aren't making money, but many companies operate in the red, or struggle to get by, or struggle to retain employees because they have something on the horizon (or so they think).
I doubt if any sony mmo's are losing money. What some do not understand is that in the world of business its not about making money vs. losing money its about making enough money to make it worth while vs. just getting by. Why would SOE or any company want to squeak by or break even? Savvy business people know when its time to close up shop and again, savvy, folks do so before the loss not after. SOE makes money, if it didnt it would not exist. Some games make more than others of course but at the end of the day they all pull their weight or they disappear. Matrix is over but did it lose money for Sony? Sorry to burst the bubble of the "Sony is failing" crowd but its the way it is.
Not to stray off topic, but you are making this huge assumption that all people in business are "savvy". The business/corporate world is full of people who are completely lacking in business sense, that's why companies lose money (daily), go bankrupt, make horrible decisision, etc, every day. I'm not saying Sony's games are or aren't making money, but many companies operate in the red, or struggle to get by, or struggle to retain employees because they have something on the horizon (or so they think).
In SOE's case I certainly won't buy that they are "savvy" when their managment is more famous for creating (by what they thought WAS "savvyness") the Prime Directive for the MMO industry which reads: "Thou Shalt Not NGE".
I doubt if any sony mmo's are losing money. What some do not understand is that in the world of business its not about making money vs. losing money its about making enough money to make it worth while vs. just getting by. Why would SOE or any company want to squeak by or break even? Savvy business people know when its time to close up shop and again, savvy, folks do so before the loss not after. SOE makes money, if it didnt it would not exist. Some games make more than others of course but at the end of the day they all pull their weight or they disappear. Matrix is over but did it lose money for Sony? Sorry to burst the bubble of the "Sony is failing" crowd but its the way it is.
Not to stray off topic, but you are making this huge assumption that all people in business are "savvy". The business/corporate world is full of people who are completely lacking in business sense, that's why companies lose money (daily), go bankrupt, make horrible decisision, etc, every day. I'm not saying Sony's games are or aren't making money, but many companies operate in the red, or struggle to get by, or struggle to retain employees because they have something on the horizon (or so they think).
In SOE's case I certainly won't buy that they are "savvy" when their managment is more famous for creating (by what they thought WAS "savvyness") the Prime Directive for the MMO industry which reads: "Thou Shalt Not NGE".
Yep im sure sony is and ha been losing money for the last 15 yrs or so, how amazing it is they can stay in business.
In their defense, they acquired MXO well after Warner Brothers had screwed it up. Indeed, it makes no sense why they even wanted it, except to act as filler in the station pass, perhaps to add a 2nd Sci-Fi title so as to entice SWG subscribers to go station pass. SWG though is totally SOE's baby in terms of failure, poor management, and poor development. Even though I despise SOE, it wouldn't be fair to blame them for MXO or Vanguard, as neither game would have lasted as long as they have without their takeover. That said, however, I think taking those games over and spending anything on them was yet another mistake of SOE mismanagement.
SOE took over running the matrix as part of a deal invovling the rights to a DC comics based mmo.
Yes the matrix was a mess when they got it, but they never really tried with this game either. They pretty much killed the game as soon as they got it when they killed the story telling feature which was central to the game.
SOE needs to feel some pain for using great IP like 'the Matrix' or 'Star Wars' and completely screwing up the delivery as an MMORPG. Seriously, I wonder what would've happened to these 2 solid titles if they would've been handled by other companies. As it is, 1 is dead (with an official toe tag/body bag) and another is very nearly dead... iron lung.
I remember hearing about the Matrix online from a friend. I was like, "No way, a Matrix MMO? The MMO genre was made for the Matrix. It is the Matrix!" I was pumped. Then I saw that it was being run by Sony. I was playing SWG at the time, and we were really feeling shafted with broken promises, unfixed bugs and one of the many revamps. Still, I thought, "Maybe they only screw up the StarWars game, and the Matrix will be okay." So, I went over to their forums to see what players thought about it. Then I went to other sites, like this one, to see how it was rated. The first thing I read was an announcement from a dev about an upcoming combat revamp.... My response? You've got to be kidding; no thanks.
If any MMO should have succeeded based on the appeal of its IP, you'd think it would be the Matrix...or Star Wars for that matter. When I saw that SOE was doing DC comics online, my first thought was, "I'm glad I'm a Marvel fan."
SOE took over running the matrix as part of a deal invovling the rights to a DC comics based mmo. Yes the matrix was a mess when they got it, but they never really tried with this game either. They pretty much killed the game as soon as they got it when they killed the story telling feature which was central to the game.
Well you explain the entire situation pretty well actually.
What SOE did want was the rights to the DC MMO and they were told they had to take MxO to get it. So it would seem rather obvious they were not going to put many resources into MxO... they never wanted it.
I'm not saying its right or wrong... its just something that should be obvious. Everyone here also knows pretty much a game has one shot to get an audience (regardless of who makes it). I know EvE had a rough launch and grew very well.. but what other MMO has ever done that? If I remember right MxO was consolidated down to one(?) server during the transition to SOE. That would reflect imo why even if they didn't mind running it... they wouldn't put resources into it.
Smedley has already stated in interviews that after ToR launches.. depending on how it affects SWG player base they may have to sunset that as well (you can google it.. think it was an interview with massive (massively) not sure on the name. The one thing besides bad management both those MMO's have in common? 3rd party IP...
I'm not aware of them ever mentioning (yet) that they are watching any game they own entirely... in case they need to shut it down. I'm not sure of any other major developer running more than one MMO that is pay to play.. who hasn't shut a game down that they owned. (as opposed to companies that only operate one game). *edited part of this for clarification*
I was suprised that they sent an email out 2 days prior to officially ending support (game runs another month?). When EA was going to shut down Earth and Beyond as an example I believe they gave around a 9 month notice (just again.. as an example). I'm not sure how NCSoft handled the shut down of Auto Assault .. but they gave a multi month "warning" with Tabula Rasa. I also have no idea on the situation AC2 had...
I'd also like to point out that the title of the thread and then the OP just being the email about MxO... don't really tie in together. The original poster makes absolutely no attempt to explain the point....
Ok they had never shut an MMO down... they are a for profit company... why would they run a game that is not making money. So you either go with the title and claim they broke a promise... or that some rep of the company said they would never shut down an MMO (which would be BS since Smedley had already talked about the chance SWG will have to be sunset) or something... I'm not sure as it is.. what the title has to do with the OP... or where the statement is supposed to have come from... if it was something another mmorpg.com poster said once... Do they work for SOE?
"The Matrix Online to shut down" would go better with the OP.... without any attempt to make some point (valid or not).
Sony will shut down any MMORPG that is losing money. However the definition of losing money might be a little different then what you expect. In business the past is virtually meaningless. Sony may have already lost a bundle on a particular title with huge development costs. That doesn't matter. What really matters is the subscription dollars coming in each month compared to the ongoing staffing costs and ISP costs. If they are breaking even or making a small profit each month then the game will continue. As few as 10,000 subscribers x $12.95 = $129,500 gross revenue each month which can cover a small staff and other costs.
A classic example of this is Funcom's Anarchy Online. It has been around forever and the subscriber base is a small fraction of its all time high. However it has a loyal following and is probably generating a profit each month. Thus it continues.
I doubt if any sony mmo's are losing money. What some do not understand is that in the world of business its not about making money vs. losing money its about making enough money to make it worth while vs. just getting by. Why would SOE or any company want to squeak by or break even? Savvy business people know when its time to close up shop and again, savvy, folks do so before the loss not after. SOE makes money, if it didnt it would not exist. Some games make more than others of course but at the end of the day they all pull their weight or they disappear. Matrix is over but did it lose money for Sony? Sorry to burst the bubble of the "Sony is failing" crowd but its the way it is.
Just because those mmos are up and running doesn't mean they are making money. For example Sony corp is losing money hand over fist on playstation 3 consoles. They lose money on every unit sold with the hopes that they will make money on game licenising.
This seems to be the same model as they are running their mmos. Getting people to sign up for station pass by having a perceived value of access to numerous mmos. Some of which I doubt make money and/or have been cutting expenses and staff to keep out of the red. I doubt Mxo, Vanguard, SWG or Planetside on their own could produce anywhere close to the revenue to support a company if that were their only product and even sharing exspenses with the soe family I doubt they are profitable. Maybe SWG, but only due to the card game which is a tree they are picking the fruit from far to often, but that is another discussion all together.
Frankly all of those games are as good as dead now with smedleys focus on changing soes revenue model to be primarily rmt based over the next few years. Two years ago he wanted the 50% of their mmo revenue to come from real money transaction and over the next few years increase that number to 90%. Combine that with the steady decline of all their current mmos and the future looks pretty ugly for the station pass.
Soe doesn't just do mmos though and if freerealms/dcu and the agency don't pan out I bet you see soe depart from pd mmos all together and get redirected towards trying to improve the offerings of the ps3.
Does this mean they will lower the cost of Station Access? lol I completely forgot that SOE had Marvel. That's gotta hurt the Marvel fans, tbh.
SOE has DC, not marvel. Cryptic had the license for marvel, but microsoft backed out and the project got scraped. Mythic reworked the game with the champions online license.
I read somewhere that marvel had signed up with another company to give marvel online another shot, but I can't seem to recall where I read that. So don't take my word for it.
John Smedley: Great subscriber bases for EverQuest and EverQuest 2 and Galaxies, pretty much. I will tell you, I'm as surprised as anyone that the longevity of EverQuest. Our first spreadsheet had this thing running for about two years, and even that we thought was a little optimistic. Nine years later you go, "wow". There's still a large community there. As long as people pay us money and we love what we do, we'll keep running it.
Seems to me that quote is talking specifically about EQ. Anyway, that quote does not equal "we'll never shut a MMO down". Even if it did, we're talking about frickin Smedley here...SMEDLEY. Does he have any credibility with anybody? I have to admit it was refreshing to see an admission of the clusterfrack of NGE. Of course, too little too late.
IMO the MMO market is over saturated. There are probably a few other MMOs that could stand to be shutdown.
Smedley is involved in both MMO and the PS3 department, as for PoTBS, FLS won't get far without the financial aid of SOE which is why they went to SOE for a deal. I even remember one of the head devs of FLS at one point saying "we'll never deal with SOE" then 2-3 months later, he actually defends SOE because of the potential $$$'s with the partnership.
As someone else said earlier, SOE's has a dirty marketing scheme, they want to squeeze in as money as they can with transations and TCG and it'll continue with DCU & other games in the future. Smedley may have a good money making management but a horrible long term quality game management.
Smedley is involved in both MMO and the PS3 department, as for PoTBS, FLS won't get far without the financial aid of SOE which is why they went to SOE for a deal. I even remember one of the head devs of FLS at one point saying "we'll never deal with SOE" then 2-3 months later, he actually defends SOE because of the potential $$$'s with the partnership.
As someone else said earlier, SOE's has a dirty marketing scheme, they want to squeeze in as money as they can with transations and TCG and it'll continue with DCU & other games in the future. Smedley may have a good money making management but a horrible long term quality game management.
Good to see some one else finally saying some true words in this thread. The SOE Games I've enjoyed (Planetside, SWG) Both have been destroyed in terms of what the community of "good players" wanted for good of the game. Oh well, hopefully they make a Planetside 2 and don't screw it up, then I will forgive them. Until then, I just call them money hungry mongols.
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Saluting the Forum Nazi of Spelling - Thanks!
Just bored. But you're welcome!
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
SOE is known for lying and being contagiously misleading, didn't one of the devs at last year's star wars con say SWTOR won't be an MMO? Where'd he get that info from? Smedley at a convention also said that none of the games are having financial problems when he was asked about it (friend of mine attended it in Vegas). But in an interview he mentioned SWG might "sunset"...
Just don't believe anything that's being said by someone associated with SOE. SOE are very interested in the TCG market right now, they seem to have even slowed down on the Playstaiton 3 market (which surprises me) which should be SOE's strongest department.
I doubt if any sony mmo's are losing money. What some do not understand is that in the world of business its not about making money vs. losing money its about making enough money to make it worth while vs. just getting by. Why would SOE or any company want to squeak by or break even? Savvy business people know when its time to close up shop and again, savvy, folks do so before the loss not after. SOE makes money, if it didnt it would not exist. Some games make more than others of course but at the end of the day they all pull their weight or they disappear. Matrix is over but did it lose money for Sony? Sorry to burst the bubble of the "Sony is failing" crowd but its the way it is.
I am not aware of SOE ever saying it...but SOE apologists have repeatedly which they will not be able to any longer.
Ok. So I did a post search and couldn't find one single post that said that SOE will never shut down an mmo. I only found two where someone said 'SOE has never shut down a game' - which up to this time was true.
I'm not denying that there may be a few random posts out there making this claim; but to make a 'ha ha you were wrong' post about an insignificant gripe made by so few that I couldn't find a single post making your claims.......
Perhaps, not being a fan of SOE, secretly you hated the station pass because YOU felt it would keep dead games alive forever; and if that's the case, ha ha, look at you.
LOL...do you have any idea how many posts and threads have "disappeared" from this forum?
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Ten Golden Rules Of Videogame Fanboyism
"SOE has probably united more gamers in hatred than Blizzard has subs"...daelnor
I think shutting down an MMO is an experience SOE needs to go through. Everyone is capable of understanding when an MMO is no longer performing, it closes down. It's sad, but people can understand it. It's much, much better than destroying the persistant world in an attempt at rebirth. A game only gets one soul. It lives, dies, and moves on. Anything else is not natural.
Something is different at SOE. Don't know if it's good or bad yet.
See you in the dream..
The Fires from heaven, now as cold as ice. A rapid ascension tolls a heavy price.
There are lots of MMOs that in all honesty, need to be shut down. Once SOE "breaks the cherry" of closing this one it will get easier for them to close others. Now, yes, lots of this is SOE's fault, as I still believe that had they not done the CU, or had stopped there and not done the NGE, they'd still have 100K+ playing SWG, which while a bad looking number for the time would be great for them now.
But a lot of this has to do with the industry's overexpansion, due to a speculation "bubble" caused by WOW's runaway success that led to FAR too many games that are essentially WOW clones to be invested in, fail before release, fail just after release, etc. There are too many MMOs out there chasing too few potential subscribers, particularly of the fantasy genre.
I think we've seen that the success rate of WOW is a freakish, probably never to be repeated, exception to what had happened in the past, which was that a successful MMO would have between 150 and 300K subscribers. The WOW bubble caused everyone to think that anything under 7 figures was a failure.
In the case of MXO, the sad thing is that it was one of the few Sci-Fi MMO's, and that it's shutting down. Right now there is only one Sci-Fi MMO that is a success, and that's EVE Online, which is extremely hard core, deep, and player run, which is what I think a Sci-Fi game HAS to be if it's going to succeed. Prior to EVE the only Sci-FI MMO that even came close in depth, complexity, and player run economy was Pre-CU SWG, and none released since (including the NGE) are anywhere near the baseline of "geek hardcore" to succeed in that genre.
I wonder when a publisher will realize that? Take a space game like EVE and add an equally complex and open ground game to it (such as the Pre-CU one) and you will have Sci-Fi nirvana.
SOE needs to feel some pain for using great IP like 'the Matrix' or 'Star Wars' and completely screwing up the delivery as an MMORPG.
Seriously, I wonder what would've happened to these 2 solid titles if they would've been handled by other companies. As it is, 1 is dead (with an official toe tag/body bag) and another is very nearly dead... iron lung.
In their defense, they acquired MXO well after Warner Brothers had screwed it up. Indeed, it makes no sense why they even wanted it, except to act as filler in the station pass, perhaps to add a 2nd Sci-Fi title so as to entice SWG subscribers to go station pass.
SWG though is totally SOE's baby in terms of failure, poor management, and poor development.
Even though I despise SOE, it wouldn't be fair to blame them for MXO or Vanguard, as neither game would have lasted as long as they have without their takeover. That said, however, I think taking those games over and spending anything on them was yet another mistake of SOE mismanagement.
Unfortunately when dealing with someone else's IP you have to deal with their producers and such...I am sure in regards to SWG LEC has not been a very compromising partner in many respects...
However...all of the evidence does point to SOEs severe managerial incompetence.
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Ten Golden Rules Of Videogame Fanboyism
"SOE has probably united more gamers in hatred than Blizzard has subs"...daelnor
Finally, the sony is the devil posts are starting to appear. Must have been a busy weekend as it took them long enough.
Not to stray off topic, but you are making this huge assumption that all people in business are "savvy". The business/corporate world is full of people who are completely lacking in business sense, that's why companies lose money (daily), go bankrupt, make horrible decisision, etc, every day. I'm not saying Sony's games are or aren't making money, but many companies operate in the red, or struggle to get by, or struggle to retain employees because they have something on the horizon (or so they think).
Not to stray off topic, but you are making this huge assumption that all people in business are "savvy". The business/corporate world is full of people who are completely lacking in business sense, that's why companies lose money (daily), go bankrupt, make horrible decisision, etc, every day. I'm not saying Sony's games are or aren't making money, but many companies operate in the red, or struggle to get by, or struggle to retain employees because they have something on the horizon (or so they think).
In SOE's case I certainly won't buy that they are "savvy" when their managment is more famous for creating (by what they thought WAS "savvyness") the Prime Directive for the MMO industry which reads: "Thou Shalt Not NGE".
Not to stray off topic, but you are making this huge assumption that all people in business are "savvy". The business/corporate world is full of people who are completely lacking in business sense, that's why companies lose money (daily), go bankrupt, make horrible decisision, etc, every day. I'm not saying Sony's games are or aren't making money, but many companies operate in the red, or struggle to get by, or struggle to retain employees because they have something on the horizon (or so they think).
In SOE's case I certainly won't buy that they are "savvy" when their managment is more famous for creating (by what they thought WAS "savvyness") the Prime Directive for the MMO industry which reads: "Thou Shalt Not NGE".
Yep im sure sony is and ha been losing money for the last 15 yrs or so, how amazing it is they can stay in business.
SOE took over running the matrix as part of a deal invovling the rights to a DC comics based mmo.
Yes the matrix was a mess when they got it, but they never really tried with this game either. They pretty much killed the game as soon as they got it when they killed the story telling feature which was central to the game.
I remember hearing about the Matrix online from a friend. I was like, "No way, a Matrix MMO? The MMO genre was made for the Matrix. It is the Matrix!" I was pumped. Then I saw that it was being run by Sony. I was playing SWG at the time, and we were really feeling shafted with broken promises, unfixed bugs and one of the many revamps. Still, I thought, "Maybe they only screw up the StarWars game, and the Matrix will be okay." So, I went over to their forums to see what players thought about it. Then I went to other sites, like this one, to see how it was rated. The first thing I read was an announcement from a dev about an upcoming combat revamp.... My response? You've got to be kidding; no thanks.
If any MMO should have succeeded based on the appeal of its IP, you'd think it would be the Matrix...or Star Wars for that matter. When I saw that SOE was doing DC comics online, my first thought was, "I'm glad I'm a Marvel fan."
Well you explain the entire situation pretty well actually.
What SOE did want was the rights to the DC MMO and they were told they had to take MxO to get it. So it would seem rather obvious they were not going to put many resources into MxO... they never wanted it.
I'm not saying its right or wrong... its just something that should be obvious. Everyone here also knows pretty much a game has one shot to get an audience (regardless of who makes it). I know EvE had a rough launch and grew very well.. but what other MMO has ever done that? If I remember right MxO was consolidated down to one(?) server during the transition to SOE. That would reflect imo why even if they didn't mind running it... they wouldn't put resources into it.
Smedley has already stated in interviews that after ToR launches.. depending on how it affects SWG player base they may have to sunset that as well (you can google it.. think it was an interview with massive (massively) not sure on the name. The one thing besides bad management both those MMO's have in common? 3rd party IP...
I'm not aware of them ever mentioning (yet) that they are watching any game they own entirely... in case they need to shut it down. I'm not sure of any other major developer running more than one MMO that is pay to play.. who hasn't shut a game down that they owned. (as opposed to companies that only operate one game). *edited part of this for clarification*
I was suprised that they sent an email out 2 days prior to officially ending support (game runs another month?). When EA was going to shut down Earth and Beyond as an example I believe they gave around a 9 month notice (just again.. as an example). I'm not sure how NCSoft handled the shut down of Auto Assault .. but they gave a multi month "warning" with Tabula Rasa. I also have no idea on the situation AC2 had...
I'd also like to point out that the title of the thread and then the OP just being the email about MxO... don't really tie in together. The original poster makes absolutely no attempt to explain the point....
Ok they had never shut an MMO down... they are a for profit company... why would they run a game that is not making money. So you either go with the title and claim they broke a promise... or that some rep of the company said they would never shut down an MMO (which would be BS since Smedley had already talked about the chance SWG will have to be sunset) or something... I'm not sure as it is.. what the title has to do with the OP... or where the statement is supposed to have come from... if it was something another mmorpg.com poster said once... Do they work for SOE?
"The Matrix Online to shut down" would go better with the OP.... without any attempt to make some point (valid or not).
Does this mean they will lower the cost of Station Access? lol
I completely forgot that SOE had Marvel. That's gotta hurt the Marvel fans, tbh.
Sony will shut down any MMORPG that is losing money. However the definition of losing money might be a little different then what you expect. In business the past is virtually meaningless. Sony may have already lost a bundle on a particular title with huge development costs. That doesn't matter. What really matters is the subscription dollars coming in each month compared to the ongoing staffing costs and ISP costs. If they are breaking even or making a small profit each month then the game will continue. As few as 10,000 subscribers x $12.95 = $129,500 gross revenue each month which can cover a small staff and other costs.
A classic example of this is Funcom's Anarchy Online. It has been around forever and the subscriber base is a small fraction of its all time high. However it has a loyal following and is probably generating a profit each month. Thus it continues.
Just because those mmos are up and running doesn't mean they are making money. For example Sony corp is losing money hand over fist on playstation 3 consoles. They lose money on every unit sold with the hopes that they will make money on game licenising.
This seems to be the same model as they are running their mmos. Getting people to sign up for station pass by having a perceived value of access to numerous mmos. Some of which I doubt make money and/or have been cutting expenses and staff to keep out of the red. I doubt Mxo, Vanguard, SWG or Planetside on their own could produce anywhere close to the revenue to support a company if that were their only product and even sharing exspenses with the soe family I doubt they are profitable. Maybe SWG, but only due to the card game which is a tree they are picking the fruit from far to often, but that is another discussion all together.
Frankly all of those games are as good as dead now with smedleys focus on changing soes revenue model to be primarily rmt based over the next few years. Two years ago he wanted the 50% of their mmo revenue to come from real money transaction and over the next few years increase that number to 90%. Combine that with the steady decline of all their current mmos and the future looks pretty ugly for the station pass.
Soe doesn't just do mmos though and if freerealms/dcu and the agency don't pan out I bet you see soe depart from pd mmos all together and get redirected towards trying to improve the offerings of the ps3.
Don't confuse the Playstation 3 sony with the SoE mmo sony.
totally different.
SoE makes money even though I hate them all!
Playing: EvE, Ryzom
SOE has DC, not marvel. Cryptic had the license for marvel, but microsoft backed out and the project got scraped. Mythic reworked the game with the champions online license.
I read somewhere that marvel had signed up with another company to give marvel online another shot, but I can't seem to recall where I read that. So don't take my word for it.
Seems to me that quote is talking specifically about EQ. Anyway, that quote does not equal "we'll never shut a MMO down". Even if it did, we're talking about frickin Smedley here...SMEDLEY. Does he have any credibility with anybody? I have to admit it was refreshing to see an admission of the clusterfrack of NGE. Of course, too little too late.
IMO the MMO market is over saturated. There are probably a few other MMOs that could stand to be shutdown.
Not different...they are both in the same division of Sony now.
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Ten Golden Rules Of Videogame Fanboyism
"SOE has probably united more gamers in hatred than Blizzard has subs"...daelnor
Smedley is involved in both MMO and the PS3 department, as for PoTBS, FLS won't get far without the financial aid of SOE which is why they went to SOE for a deal. I even remember one of the head devs of FLS at one point saying "we'll never deal with SOE" then 2-3 months later, he actually defends SOE because of the potential $$$'s with the partnership.
As someone else said earlier, SOE's has a dirty marketing scheme, they want to squeeze in as money as they can with transations and TCG and it'll continue with DCU & other games in the future. Smedley may have a good money making management but a horrible long term quality game management.
Good to see some one else finally saying some true words in this thread. The SOE Games I've enjoyed (Planetside, SWG) Both have been destroyed in terms of what the community of "good players" wanted for good of the game. Oh well, hopefully they make a Planetside 2 and don't screw it up, then I will forgive them. Until then, I just call them money hungry mongols.
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