[Cuppycake]

Originally Posted by Istros

It doesnt say Sigil raised the money "themselves." What Reolien suggested is that Sigil independantly raised the cash needed to purchase the IP rights, which most probably isnt the case.

Here's Woody's post.

I just got off the phone with Brad. I IMed him to confirm the information and he gave me a call to talk to me about this change.

SOE will be co-publishing Vanguard with Sigil. Microsoft was focussed on the 360, so Sigil raised the money to buy back publishing rights. And, since Brad and Smed are old friends and SOE has the framework in place to properly co-publish Vanguard, it was a logical move. Now, because I know someone will either ask or make assumptions about this, SOE did not provide Sigil with the funds to break away from Microsoft. Sigil raised the capital themselves.

And for those of you that are concerned for whatever reason, Brad assured me that Sigil will maintain control of the IP, meaning they will control content, updates, the community, tech support, customer service, etc. SOE will be responsible marketing the game, getting the game boxes on shelves, establishing and maintaining the game's server farm, etc. Vanguard will be made available via the All Access pass, but they will not be part of the Station Exchange.

As it was related to me, SOE needed a title for next year, and with Sigil making the move from Microsoft Games, it was the perfect match. The monetary infusion from SOE also means that Sigil will have more development time to insure the quality of the game. It also means an extended beta time with one or two large final stages of beta playing host to 30-40 thousand gamers.

No worries about Sigil's relationship to Microsoft, the split was amicable. Sigil is still working closely with them to make sure that Vanguard is a premier title on the upcoming Vista OS.