SOE to own VG - Sigil fires employees

[NargorothRiP]

There is a reason this guy is still around and in such a powerful position. The fact that you guys underestimate him makes him even stronger.

What the fuck is Smed Galactus now?

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by Believe

Ok, that made me laugh out loud.

He's still making Sony money. He's doing the smart thing. Its like buying a house thats not in good shape, fix it up, and sell it for a profit. He's taking VG (yes, i still enjoy and am not going anywhere) and will rebuild, fix it up, and sell it to the people for a profit. I dont see any losing situation for him.

[Believe]

Originally Posted by kcxiv

He's still making Sony money. He's doing the smart thing. Its like buying a house thats not in good shape, fix it up, and sell it for a profit. He's taking VG (yes, i still enjoy and am not going anywhere) and will rebuild, fix it up, and sell it to the people for a profit. I dont see any losing situation for him.

Oh I don't doubt he's making Sony a lot of money with their 2 decent sized, and 20 small MMO's.

That statement was just funny as hell.

[Campa]

Originally Posted by I'm Rich Bitch

They are able to get a small profit from each little MMO they own. The Team size is determined by how much money each one is bringing in.

Was it Raph that has been saying for a while that this is where MMOs were going?? That eventually we'd get to the point where there are tons of small playerbase niche play-style but profitable MMOs and maybe just a couple or maybe even no huge MMOs.

The only thing that has been impeding this has been start-up costs.

But eventually there is going to be a server-side package that a company can just license the rights too that handles the server systems for them and all that will be needed is tweaking of that package to their particular needs. Basically a UE or Doom3 engine for the server.

[AngryGerbil]

Originally Posted by Gaereth

Which is exactly what the other side did. Someone posted something negative and they were right there like retarded fags making sure to post what they thought again and again and again. We all knew what they thought....there was no need to post their tired stupid shit over and over again.

Certainly.

But to Camerous, I took the basic argument originally to be not the frequency of the posts (which got annoying, on both sides), but the content itself. If Aradune comes here to start a shill thread, and I'm not allowed to shit on that thread (with some tact), then what the fuck is the point of this board? Shelter for dev-bloggers? Thanks but no thanks.

[tad10]

Don't forget that Smed's breakeven is much lower than MS's was. They probably got the rights for VG very cheap and probably paid oh (rough guess) 4-5 million to help Sigil in those last 8 months. So breakeven for Smed might be (again rough guess) 6-7 million (maybe less) not 30 million. Lets say it is 7 million and there are only 50k subs (lowest reasonable guestimate)-- 50k x 14=700k per month. Lets say half that (350k) is additional overhead incurred by taking over the staff, the lease and etc (some of which goes away in 4-6 months). So even if they get no new subs and if he's sunk 7 million into Sigil he still gets a return in 20 months.

But wait there's more:
1. Smed's costs are actually probably 1-2 million below 7 million and his additional operating costs while a little high (maybe higher than 350k) right now (again because of lease and etc) start dropping below 350k once Sigil's office closes and the operations staff gets let go.

2. SOE has done succesful turn arounds before and it is not unrealistic to think that SOE might be able to pull in more than 50k numbers with some effort (150k -- probably not ever going to happen. Something between 70k and 100k -- maybe). So again say they manage to get subs back to 90k breakeven happens pretty quickly.

Edit:
3. And of course and still perhaps most importantly. Smed gets good (and valuable) PR in the community and buys some talent that I'm sure he's happy to have. SOE was bruised with SWG -- whatever you think of the game (I didn't particulalry like it so didn't play it more than a week) a couple of hundred thousand did like it and freaked out and quit over the NGE. SOE got blamed for the NGE but all evidence I've ever seen suggests that LA is far and away the worst offender in that debacle. If buying VG and other orphan MMOs and propping them up for a few years improves SOE's rep I think that's a good business plan.

[Cuppycake]

Originally Posted by Stosh

What I think is fascinating is SOE's apparant business plan to become the home of wayward and misfit MMOGs. It's as if their strategy is if we can't have one MMOG with 8 million subscribers, we'll have 8 million MMOGs with one subscriber each.

Its a different business model, and one that is most likely going to be the norm from here moving forward. Gone are the days where every MMORPG that is released is going to be instantly favorable among the crowd. MMO subscribers are spread thinner; there is so much more to choose from, people are leaning towards newer technologies (i.e. virtual world/creation vs. playing the game), and people play with their friends. I think its time that we stop viewing WoW as being the determinant of 'success' and start looking at numbers more along the 200,000 - 500,000 range.

I don't think it has anything to do with SOE being the home of misfit MMO's, and more to do with SOE just being a home for MMO's. More games on SOE's lineup = more of a chance that someone who walks into a store to purchase an MMO box is going to end up buying one that's on SOE's wallet. It makes perfect sense to me. Its another game for them to receive all the profit from. Profit is to company, as food is to a glutton. The chance to absorb a game that already has some subscribers, one that comes with a ready made team, and one they're already publishers on? No brainer to me...

[Camerous]

Originally Posted by Gaereth

Which is exactly what the other side did. Someone posted something negative and they were right there like retarded fags making sure to post what they thought again and again and again. We all knew what they thought....there was no need to post their tired stupid shit over and over again.

Bull shit. Most of the time the people in the thread where just trying to have a conversation about a game they were PLAYING. If you think that's the same as some fucking retard who played beta 6 months ago, or in Ut's case Brad raped his mother, then you are just as stupid as they are.

[torrent495]

Ok, so here's the (potential) goodies we have got so far on Vanguard:

1. For 95% of the project there was only one QA tester
2. Sigil faked the game demos they presented to Microsoft
3. The development tools were terrible; there was not even a scripting language, which was rejected by management
4. A handful of incompetent decision makers at Sigil controlled development and stifled dissent
5. Brad McQuaid never once played World of Warcraft
6. Brad McQuaid was MIA in the Sigil offices for the last eight months, while simulataneously and actively posting on message boards here and elsewhere about how great Vanguard was going to be, etc.
7. Brad McQuaid, CEO and founder of Sigil, does not even show up for the massive parking lot firing of half of own his employees, choosing to delegate the task to underlings instead
8. Vanguard goes up against the WoW expansion and crashes and burns. Brad McQuaid, ex-SOE employee, is forced to sell his company back to the place he originally left. He is now a "creative consultant" on the project.
9. John Smedley and SOE make out like bandits, while what remains of the Vanguard team is gutted and the game is destined forever to be a mediocre failure

Have I missed anything in this perfect tragedy?

[Merauk]

Originally Posted by Camerous

Brad raped his mother

Has Brad really lost all sense of decency? I say light the torches, pass out the pitch forks, and lets go crazy.

[Twobit Whore]

Originally Posted by Camerous

Bull shit. Most of the time the people in the thread where just trying to have a conversation about a game they were PLAYING. If you think that's the same as some fucking retard who played beta 6 months ago, or in Ut's case Brad raped his mother, then you are just as stupid as they are.

No. People came into conversations exactly like you are here. Spouting your bullshits and fucking retards left and right. That is what spurred the converstions into the downward spiral. Yes, people on both sides were guilty of things but don't act innocent and peg it all on Ut or anyone that shared his views. It's flatout wrong.

[kcxiv]

Him spewing the same shit over and over and over and over x100 is why people took off.

[Itzena]

Oh God, the pre-launch VG boards are back up:
Where the heck is Brad???? - Vanguard Forums

[tad10]

Originally Posted by Twobit Whore

No. People came into conversations exactly like you are here. Spouting your bullshits and fucking retards left and right. That is what spurred the converstions into the downward spiral. Yes, people on both sides were guilty of things but don't act innocent and peg it all on Ut or anyone that shared his views. It's flatout wrong.

I'll certainly do a mea culpa here. I was as guilty as anyone (and more than most) of the protracted VG threads during beta. I certainly wouldn't pin the blame on Ut or anyone in particular.

Yeah it'd have been nice to have a conversation about VG sans you, ut, hiram and etc. And I'm sure you feel it might have been nice to have one w/o me.

Anyway that shits boring ultimately and its why I don't usually go to forums that regularly censor and ban.

Edit: And for the record -- the truth was out there. I forget who posted it but yeah the actual state of the beta was somewhere inbetween your posts and my posts. There was fucked up shit (which you were quick to point out and I not so much), there was good shit(vice-versa). But of course the game was released with the fucked up shit still very fucked up.

[Frax]

Originally Posted by I'm Rich Bitch

It may seem crazy but I think Smed is crazy like a fox. The benefits of this strategy are:

1. They are able to get a small profit from each little MMO they own. The Team size is determined by how much money each one is bringing in.
2. They use the MMOs as sort of a "MMO University" to train new Developers and spot talent when they see it. When they do get a hit they will not have to interview to get talent to staff it.
3. Their current staff of Developers and Designers can move to the "Next New Thing" while their MMO portfolio brings in money to fund the R&D. This keeps the Staff happy.
4. They continue to gain Market Share with the collection of small MMOs.
5. They keep the naming rights to MMOs.
6. Eventually they will be able to create a messaging system between all games.
7. Eventually they can develop a way to have 1 character that can be played in each game. No more leveling alts in each game.
8. Use the Station Exchange concept as a way to get more money in addition to box sales, and Subs.

There is a reason this guy is still around and in such a powerful position. The fact that you guys underestimate him makes him even stronger.

I agree with that. I'm pretty sure development costs dwarf day to day operating budgets of these games. SOE already has an infrastructure in place, customer service, billing etc, snapping up a failed project on the cheap and tweaking it into even a modest money maker is good business.