Matrix Online Sold To SOE?

SirBruce writes "Corpnews is reporting that two separate sources have told them The Matrix Online has been sold to Sony Online Entertainment. Monolith is getting out of the MMO business altogether. SOE has also acquired the rights from Monolith for another MMO that was in development but recently cancelled a DC Comics MMOG. (ed: Remember the DC vs. NCSoft squabble?) Most of Monlith's MMO employees are being laid off with SOE taking over." Commentary at Plaguelands. Obviously at this point still just a rumour, so have some salt with this news.

Comments

Re:Correction

[Babbster]

Makes it that much more hilarious that the link provided SAYS "Marvel/NCSoft Litigation Update" right at the top of the page. It keeps getting better, too, in that Zonk "edited" both this post AND the earlier one. Seriously, editors, you could AT LEAST visit and skim the provided links before putting up the story...

A new twist...

[OverDrive33]

I'll bet SOE will turn poor SWG (I'm a player) into even more of a Star Wars blasphmey by having it turn out that SWG is ACTUALLY another Matrix, and for only $69.99 + $10 a month you can get "out" of the Matrix into the 'real world' which actually turns out to be EQ2.

MMORPGs need something fresh, and by a singular company starting to own a lot of the larger ones... I don't see that happening.

Change of business plan?

[Alarash]

Hi there,

I'm wondering something, and maybe some of you who took marketing/business courses might help.

Is SOE changing its business plan? I remember SOE developping and keeping alive one (EQ) and then two (SWG) MMORPG at the same time. Then EQ2 came out, and they had 3. Then they created a company along with Turbine (Asheron's Call I & II, with Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online currently in development), so they can publish their games (and possibly use the "All access pass" options for both SOE and Turbine games) easily.

But if I remember correctly, the first developper/publisher that rolled out new MMO at a very fast pace was NCSoft. For the last 2 or 3 years, these guys just keep on releasing more and more games (Lineage, Lineage II, City of Heroes, Guild Wars, with at least two games in developpement - Auto Assault and Tabula Rasa, and possibly a third, heroic fantasy one developped by former Blizzard employees).

So my question is : Are SOE and Turbine trying to "eat" NCSoft's market share, beat them at their own game if you will, even if they have to merge and buy crappy games (like MxO, no offense to the ones who like it) so the other doesn't buy it ?

Size matters?

[Rhys]

Does size really matter that much? Almost every game out there (with few exceptions like Eve) splits players up into servers that cap out at what, 1-3k per server during peak times.

So as long as there are enough subscribers for a small handful of servers, what do you get from the other 30 you don't play? More development funds I suppose, but then with 30 servers there's probably RP servers and PK servers and hardcore servers and all sorts of other crap that means more dev time is spent balancing for them, or doing fixes for them, or doing more customer support for them, etc.

If you're looking for fresh or different and are a SWG or former EQ player, you should check out CoH if you get a chance. (Loot? What loot?) Or try Turbine's AC:TD open preview (not sure if it's for current subscribers only, or generally open. My impression is the latter) -- graphics won't be as hot as some of the more modern games, but the loot system in AC is the most intricate (and frustrating at times) I've seen.