SoE to publish Vanguard

[Zuuljin]

Originally Posted by findar

the point is 3 games you would normally pay $15 a month each ($45 total) for you can get for $25 a month for.

+ as co-publisher they get money on sales.

+ the "casual" gamer likes to play multiple games, selling the all-access pass. i know some of us are "OMG ONE GAME RIDE TILL I DIE" but a lot of people like to take a break and play other games, and for only $10 more they have access to how many extra games? this is the big selling point.

I never really thought about it but that is a good point. With so many MMORPG's on the horizon, theres no way someone would be shelling out $100 a month just to play a bunch of em. With SOE's pass, they can play a bunch, for one low cost. If Vanguard is in there, I'll most defininantly play it.

Market saturation in the MMORPG realm also isnt a problem if you own the market. They might not be able to match WoW game for game, but if they own the other 90% of the MMORPG market, they might win the war.

[Istros]

Originally Posted by Reolien01

You have a game that is going to target thousands if not millions of players. It IS NOT hard to find investors or people who will fund your project privately. Hell, Requiem will tell you that. You can get money from almost anyone, hell, I got Xyience to hook naiasports.net with some big cash just to sponsor them and it took and easy email. In conclusion, it is NOT hard to get money if you have a solid product. Those that bitch and say Vanguard isn't a solid product knows absoluetly nothing about business.

Exactly, but since we are talking about millions of dollars here, don't you think SOE is a very likely candidate for the "unnamed investor" role?

Some company certainly has helped Sigil in buying the IP rights of Vanguard and what's more it reimbursed all of Microsoft's investment so far.

SOE's involvement at this stage very strongly suggests that it is they who have helped Brad & co. keep Vanguard afloat, rather than having its plug pulled by MS.

[Laerazi]

Originally Posted by Tingteng

And the wheel fall off the Vanguard hype train.

Whoo Whoo, Age of Conan Hype train is leaving the station, better get on soon...


Hey, it could be NCsoft

Actually, I'm thinking Vanguard will generate more hype with SOE in charge of marketing. Last years presentation for Vanguard seemed pretty abysmal, and that CG trailer they skimped on was horrible to boot. If anything SOE will get the Vanguard name out; I'm really looking forward to what they've prepared for E3.

[kyo]

Don't care.

Now give me a farking in-game video Brad.

Yay for Vanguard: SoE

[Reolien01]

Originally Posted by Istros

Exactly, but since we are talking about millions of dollars here, don't you think SOE is a very likely candidate for the "unnamed investor" role?

Some company certainly has helped Sigil in buying the IP rights of Vanguard and what's more it reimbursed all of Microsoft's investment so far.

SOE's involvement at this stage very strongly suggests that it is they who have helped Brad & co. keep Vanguard afloat, rather than having its plug pulled by MS.

I agree with everything you said to an extent. Any company would not invest millions of dollars on a SUCCESFUL project and then decide to "dump it." The only reason is if the product has no hope. I would suspect that Microsoft wasn't saying "this game sucks" but they where saying "hurry the fuck up." To even clarify my point, why would Microsoft want to pull the plug on a project that SOE is paying thousands if not millions to invest on. Smedley has played the same game Microsoft has and if Smedley is willing to pay a shitton of money to back Brad then it is totally fucking impossible to think that Microsoft wanted to pull the plug on Vanguard. It is not even remotely on the same level.

But ya, I could see SoE being the one handing cash over to Sigil and I would even go as far as saying that probably DID happen; makes perfect sense.

Originally Posted by Laerazi

Actually, I'm thinking Vanguard will generate more hype with SOE in charge of marketing. Last years presentation for Vanguard seemed pretty abysmal, and that CG trailer they skimped on was horrible to boot. If anything SOE will get the Vanguard name out; I'm really looking forward to what they've prepared for E3.

Agree with you 100%

[Itzena]

Originally Posted by Tingteng

And the wheel fall off the Vanguard hype train.

Whoo Whoo, Age of Conan Hype train is leaving the station, better get on soon...

Good point. There needs to be clarity on which of the next-gen games is going to right wrongs and fight world poverty, now that Sigil have sold their soul to SatanOE.

Let's see: AoC, Warhammer, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, Mystery Squeenix MMOG, um...half a bajillion NCSoft imports and Hello Kitty Online!

OK fanbois - pick one and get to work!

[Antarius]

I vote Hello Kitty online

[Reolien01]

WTB Fallout Online pst

[Zaniel]

Originally Posted by Reolien01

To even clarify my point, why would Microsoft want to pull the plug on a project that SOE is paying thousands if not millions to invest on. Smedley has played the same game Microsoft has and if Smedley is willing to pay a shitton of money to back Brad then it is totally fucking impossible to think that Microsoft wanted to pull the plug on Vanguard. It is not even remotely on the same level.

Jesus Christ, they bought MxO which proves SOE will buy used toilet paper if it expands their stable of games (Scat Online(tm) coming to you soon). It's entirely possible MS are the smart guys and SoE is just shrugging their shoulders and rolling the dice to see if their lucky fun lottery purchase comes up with the big win or snake eyes.

[Reolien01]

Originally Posted by Zaniel

Jesus Christ, they bought MxO which proves SOE will buy used toilet paper if it expands their stable of games (Scat Online(tm) coming to you soon). It's entirely possible MS are the smart guys and SoE is just shrugging their shoulders and rolling the dice to see if their lucky fun lottery purchase comes up with the big win or snake eyes.

Do you have any idea how companies work at all? Seriously, if you are going to blab at the mouth atleast think a little. Matrix online had around 40-50k subscribers, as stated by the MMO subscription chart. Now, if a game has 40-50k people that has a monthly fee of $14.95 you are looking to get over half a million a month in revenue. Now if you are going to talk about shitty games and SOE buying used toilet paper, you are surely mistaken. I don't know about you but in my book a half a million a month isn't used toilet paper. Now the subscriptions might be rising or falling but that doesn't mean MxO is a worthless game. Also, in the world of marketing, to stay alive and be a booming company you have to stay in the eyes of your target market. Why would you have only 2 games under your belt when you can have 10?

If you are going to sit around and be a total idiot and not back up your inane comments without facts go on the vanguard forums and piss and moan. SOE is one of the leaders of the gaming industry and who else would you pick to market your project? Blizzard? Give me a fucking break.

[roger]

I think it's pretty ironic aswell,it's going to be like in the good ol days when smed and brad were holding hands,i'm pretty curious how it will turn out.

[Freki]

Originally Posted by Brad

I realize there are lots of different feelings about SOE and their games. But whatever those feelings, the fact of the matter is that they know operations and distribution. They will make sure our beta runs the way it needs to, that our game is widely marketed, and that our game is available all over, in all channels.

And I thought Beta runs extremely smooth?

[Kaldon Grimblade]

So, who gets to call now when Vanguard is going to be released, SoE or Sigil?

[Zehn - Vhex]

I love the people who post in all caps about how they made a solemn vow to never purchase another SoE product again and how this change has ruined their entire plans for the future.

[Cybsled]

I can't help but think that MS's recent earnings report had something to do with this. XB360's development and manufacture costs caused them to post a loss this quarter. I'm pretty sure it's possible they looked at Vanguard, realized that they needed a MMO that would attract WoW-sized numbers to help offset console division losses (regardless of gameplay, from what I've heard the system requirements alone would negate the possibility of this), saw that it was unlikely it would become an XBLive title, were told that it wouldnt be hitting shelves anytime soon to allow for subscription dollars to help pad dev costs, and decided to cut their losses.