Rumor - SOE to purchase VG?

[Filthgrinder]

Another world first......Brad finds a second money tree

[Twobit Whore]

ROFL!

[Cybsled]

Words fail me...

[Greezer]

Someone posted this on EQ2Flames, attributing it to castersrealm. I can't seem to find it on their site now so they may have pulled it.

VANGUARD RETURNS TO SOE
The Lost Sheep Returns


The “Vision” is one of those phrases that have become a mantra of MMO gamers everywhere. It all began with 989 studios and a book full of sketches and notes from an eclectic team of would be designers and industry veterans in a single office. The “Vision” spawned Everquest ™, the largest persistent game world ever and many of those same visionaries left that dream in the hands of Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) to move forward and begin again, to try again for that masterpiece, that Zen enlightenment that would be the perfect world. SOE went on to make Everquest and its franchise (Everquest 2, Everquest Online Adventures, Champions of Norrath and more[1]) partners, wildly successful that would be the blood that fueled so many new projects expanding gaming in every direction imaginable.


Now we come back to our wayward sheep. Not too long ago Microsoft (MS) the publisher for Vanguard decided that the direction of Sigil and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (VG) was not where they wanted to go. MS has been getting it rough in gaming, online gaming in particular and they were hemorrhaging money on investments that had little to no return. “We want another World of Warcraft[2],” they said, millions of subscribers. Brad[3] stuck to his guns and wanted to keep creative control of his baby and struck a deal, he went back to SOE and negotiated an end run with MS that allowed them to cut their losses and let SOE pick up potentially one of the best games out there.


Now we come to the recent past and where we went wrong… Brad’s vision was the most challenging and realistic environment ever to be digitized, its been quoted many times in some areas such as smithing that you could and would learn how to craft a suit of armor in approximately the same amount of time as you would at a real life forge. It was that realistic, and in the same tokens that “Hard Core.” Sadly, Brad’s sticking point and his target audience was this type of gamer willing to invest 40 hours or more per week into his beautiful creation and to take every challenge head on with a stiff upper lip. There’s something admirable about that to stand up against the entire gaming industry and make your dream, what you believe in. Brad did that, although recently more and more compromises have slipped in. People at Sigil are were scared if they would have a job the next week, the next month and it was starting to slip out to the general public just how terrified they were.


And now finally we come to the present day: Brad has some good news for us, the players; SOE has generously agreed to aquire Vanguard and bring them back into the flock. Like the ill fated MxO (The Matrix Online1) and its flagging 13,000 subscribers which misses the mark for a successful (for our terms a MMO that can keep its head above water and continue to produce content) by a good bit, so too has VG missed that mark and while initial sales were promising subscription numbers are dangerously low. This move by SOE will ensure that Sigil and VG continue to update and produce new content and give it the boost it needs to continue building a subscriber base.


Looking to the future, there were a few things that went wrong with VG, but now some things will change. Everquest 2 initially for me as a Hard Core raider was a letdown, but now a few years later it in my opinion is one of the best MMOs available period. VG now has the opportunity to develop content, adjust to its player base, and continue to attract new players. It’s not often that John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment gets praise, let alone from a media site, but in this case I really hope he is what he is being made out to be and will move forward and make Vanguard: Saga of Heroes into the success that it can be.

We all knew it'd be happening..while I don't agree with Nanyea, I think Sony shoulda let Vanguard flop on it's lousy ass, they're going to waste more money on a let down when they could be plugging that money into games that are already here and deserve the cash. No surprise...

[Cuppycake]

Originally Posted by Malkav

Well seeing that the EQ2 team worked on VG the last month before release, trying to fix it as much as possible before release, SOE has already some people that know Sigil code.

The whole EQ2 team didn't work on VG =P Quit exaggerating.

Great image above BTW.

[Kaylena]

Originally Posted by Neric

Yes, it is possible but I doubt it. You know why? Because I give McQuaid at least that much credit that he didn't intend to go that low. I mean planning such a move and then leaking it slowly piece for piece in such a way would be a bit too much. For me he is more like the naive daydreamer type of guy, not the nasty bastard who sells his own grandmother.

I understand why you think that given his dreams for success. But as Twobit pointed out, contractual agreements aren't that forgiving. Any lawyer worth his salt would have had the foresight to include the steps for acquisition upfront. That's why I think we're just seeing that part of the contract coming into fruition now. Business as usual.

[Kaylena]

Originally Posted by Filthgrinder

Another world first......Brad finds a second money tree

Too funny!

[AlekseiFL]

Originally Posted by Filthgrinder

Another world first......Brad finds a second money tree

Lol

[Wizerud]

Wasn't it almost exactly one year ago to the day that Sigil announced the MS split/Sony tie-in?

[Twobit Whore]

Originally Posted by Wizerud

Wasn't it almost exactly one year ago to the day that Sigil announced the MS split/Sony tie-in?

Yes. Almost exactly.

[tad10]

Originally Posted by Hachima

All 15 of them? The huge market of people that have played MMOs and might potentially give VG a try, don't care one bit about SOE or who Brad is.


It's been over three months and there is still no raid content at all in game. I'll be adding my account to the canceled list until there is actually an endgame in place. .

Yeah this is getting to be a huge issue. My desire (and the desire of several people I regularly group with) to level to 50 is rapidly diminishing since there isn't much to do once we get there. And as much as I enjoy the sub-40 content -- until they merge servers so I know I'll be able to group when I want/need to group I've got no desire to roll up an alt.

Frankly, SOE taking over Sigil could be very good for the game if it means we can finally get some server mergers and raid content.

[Northerner]

Originally Posted by Filthgrinder

Another world first......Brad finds a second money tree

Quality post indeed! I'm still chuckling.

[Izuldan]

All this is making the folks over at Microsoft seem like mad geniuses.

[Laerazi]

They created an entirely new forum section for Brad's post? ...

[Twobit Whore]

Originally Posted by Laerazi

They created an entirely new forum section for Brad's post? ...

Yes, and it's locked so no one else can post in it.