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SOE lays off 5% of workforce

OzmodanOzmodan Member EpicPosts: 9,726
in The Pub at MMORPG.COM

Drum roll please....This is not surprising, they continue to lose market share and their new f2p is not bringing in the cash they hoped for. 

I don't see them turning it around unless they fire Smedley, the most clueless exec in the industry.

Comments

  • Gammit100Gammit100 Member UncommonPosts: 439

    It's not just Smedley.  It's pretty much their entire upper group of VPs and management.  Everybody north of the individual game producers, basically.

    MMO games played or tested: EQ, DAoC, Archlord, Auto Assault, CoH, CoV, EQ2, EVE, Guild Wars, Hellgate: London, Linneage II, LOTRO, MxO, Planetside, SWG, Sword of the New World, Tabula Rasa, Vanguard, WWIIOL, WOW, Age of Conan

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  • vmopedvmoped Member Posts: 1,708

    YEEEHAAWWW! Bout time dem der persuns at da sony git wut wuz coming tu dem fer hurtin mai feelins!

    /sarcasmoff

    MMO Vet since AOL Neverwinter Nights circa 1992. My MMO beat up your MMO. =S

  • WargoleMWargoleM Member Posts: 47

    Ah well i hate to mention it but thats what NGE does for you.

    Though dont Soe have a big project coming out soon, meh my memory is crap these days i forget what its called DCUO i think?

    Save a Tree.... Eat a Beaver

  • tvalentinetvalentine Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 4,216
    Originally posted by WargoleM


    Ah well i hate to mention it but thats what nge does for you.
    Though dont Soe have a big project coming out soon, meh my memory is crap these days i forget what its called



     

    The Agency, DC Universe and Free Realms.

    the only decent looking game with any sort of depth seems to be DC universe. The other 2 are themeparks, and i think RMT as well.

    image

    Playing: EVE Online
    Favorite MMOs: WoW, SWG Pre-cu, Lineage 2, UO, EQ, EVE online
    Looking forward to: Archeage, Kingdom Under Fire 2
    KUF2's Official Website - http://www.kufii.com/ENG/ -

  • WargoleMWargoleM Member Posts: 47

    free realms is already live and kicking i belive?

    The Agency could of been good but SoE flopped by deciding to try and make it work on ps3 aswel.... which it wont?

    and DCUO looks ok, nice open world ok power system nice customisation and what not. But seemingly little reason to group other than PQs like WAR and no real pvp system means i doubt it will do that well. Besides Champions online will also take some of the player base minus those who are staying with coh and cov....

    Also with release of ToR project expected in 2010 that will finish off the last Subs that SWG still has and then SoE will be left with ... well free realms? sigh... i wouldnt be happy if i had a job there right now!

    Save a Tree.... Eat a Beaver

  • tvalentinetvalentine Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 4,216
    Originally posted by WargoleM


    free realms is already live and kicking i belive?
    ahh didnt know that, lol
    The Agency could of been good but SoE flopped by deciding to try and make it work on ps3 aswel.... which it wont?
    tbh the problem i think they made with this, is that its just a deathmatch game. You chose what role you want to play before each mission and afaik the game is made of missions, and not a persistent world .... how can you progress a character, if you're chosing a new one before every "mission"? It misses the "RPG" feel of a MMORPG.
    and DCUO looks ok, nice open world ok power system nice customisation and what not. But seemingly little reason to group other than PQs like WAR and no real pvp system means i doubt it will do that well. Besides Champions online will also take some of the player base minus those who are staying with coh and cov....
    yeah .... DCUO imo will get most of its subs from comic book fans, and "instant gratification" players. Although i said this is the only game that has a chance, it isnt a very good one.
    Also with release of ToR project expected in 2010 that will finish off the last Subs that SWG still has and then SoE will be left with ... well free realms? sigh... i wouldnt be happy if i had a job there right now!



     

    well tbh i think SWTOR will finish off SWG, since i know some/most players are playing the game just because its star wars. I agree i would not want to work for SOE if i wanted to produce quality top notch games ..... although in an economy like this, there isn't much choice heh.

    image

    Playing: EVE Online
    Favorite MMOs: WoW, SWG Pre-cu, Lineage 2, UO, EQ, EVE online
    Looking forward to: Archeage, Kingdom Under Fire 2
    KUF2's Official Website - http://www.kufii.com/ENG/ -

  • green13green13 Member UncommonPosts: 1,341
    Originally posted by tvalentine

    Originally posted by WargoleM


    Ah well i hate to mention it but thats what nge does for you.
    Though dont Soe have a big project coming out soon, meh my memory is crap these days i forget what its called

    The Agency, DC Universe and Free Realms.

    the only decent looking game with any sort of depth seems to be DC universe. The other 2 are themeparks, and i think RMT as well.

     

    As someone has pointed out, Free Realms is out - but this was a nice demonstration of how much impact it didn't have :P

    And it's lack of success probably factored into these staff cut-backs.

    Their PR release hails Free Realms as a "success" - and we all know that 99% of content in PR releases aims to mislead without actually telling an outright lie. And the only statistics they give to back up this "success" are the number of registered users - which in this case is equivalent to giving the number of players who accessed a free trial.

    I don't know about the Agency, but they seem undecided but inclined to use RMT in DCUO as well. Last interview I read on this said it'll be subscription based, but may include microtransactions and that they're watching industry developments - which I interpreted as "we'll see how they work in Free Realms and Champions Online".

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