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Sigil Drops Microsoft, Publishing With SOE
Labyrrinth writes "'As the development process is ongoing and constantly shifting, it became clear that MGS and Sigil had varying visions and direction for the title's development,' said Brad McQuaid, CEO of Sigil Games Online. 'In the best interest of Vanguard, it was decided that we would buy back the publishing rights from Microsoft.'" They've hooked up with Sony Online Entertainment, publishers of EQ and EQII, and Brad McQuaid's old employer. Aggro Me has commentary on this union.
I'm torn between celebrating this slap in the face to Microsoft and morning the loss of another promising MMO title to the evil that is SoE.
Microsoft really doesn't need any more bad news like this just days before E3.
Why would someone drop Microsoft as a publisher in favor of SoE? That's almost as ridiculous as Valve leaving Vivendi for EA.
Arguing about vi versus Emacs is like arguing whether it's better to make fire by rubbing sticks or banging rocks.
Too bad for them. I have been watching Vanguard with some anticipation. Although I dislike Microsoft OS and office products, I had no qualms with their gaming division.
However, after my past experiences, I've vowed to never again play an SoE game. The fact that SoE has started to embrace real-world sales of in-game items just further cements this.
It looks like I needn't worry about Vanguard any further, as I won't touch it with a 10' pole now. It's not worth getting attached to another MMORPG that, 2-3 years down the road, will end up as bad as EQ became (or EQ II always was).
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
People have been overreacting to this all day, even though it's actually a boon for Vanguard.
1) Sigil now has complete control over production, release, and funding -- they didn't before. (Microsoft was pushing for an earlier, unfinished release)
2) Sigil now makes a greater profit from the game, as they now own the IP rights. Expansions will be released on THEIR schedule, not at SOE's.
3) SOE will ONLY be handling marketing and technical support. They are probably the best in the business at both, even if they suck at developing.
4) Sigil will provide in-game customer service; GMs will be Sigil employees and Guides will be part of a volunteer program.
5) Any attempts on the part of SOE to bully Sigil will be considered breach of contract, and Sigil will move to a different datacenter. They have stated this in the face of so much 'player' opposition -- I really doubt anything is going to happen.
In summary: The game belongs more to Sigil now than it ever has, and this partnership is going to benefit the game greatly. Brad and company have been very forthcoming and honest about this over at the Vanguard boards, and that's a trend that's going to continue.
Guess all those who said they were gonna wait for Vanguard because they hate SOE got owned
http://tinypic.com/ilzxx4.jpg
My take on this is that Microsoft's "different vision" was something like "this game is crap." However, their agreement lets Sigil save face. You can be pretty certain that Microsoft wouldn't simply let a great potential game escape its grasp...so fill in the blanks.
Yes I have heard that SOE keeps billing CC accounts after you stopped your account but I never had problems with them. Finally a MMO I can pay for with my bank account.
I just hope they keep smedley far removed. Let him handle the billing. That he does well.
They killed EQ2, I liked it but a patch that increased running speed also increased the running animation. It looked like a Charlie Chaplin movie. I can live with bugs, unbalacing and whatever but I got to look at that running animation every second of gameplay. Get it right.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
... while you may no longer be a fan of EQ or EQ2 I'm pretty psyched that this is in the hands of SOE. They are too, probably because they are "old friends", many being members of the original EQ dev team.
:P save a little money every month.
:P
I'm excited because SOE is handling the backend work - servers and billing. SOE has a lot of experiance managing this, Microsoft does not. MMO's are not just another internet service, as WoW found out their opening day (4 main servers were out for 4 days...). SOE has what, 7 years of experiance now? They have good server uptime (yes, I still play EQ) and their billing methods are good, game cards and being able to purchse expansions online are a great concept. And I'm excited that I can play vanguard on Station Pass
So with that experiance under their belt and looking back at the past I'm glad SOE will be managing the backend to Vanguard. Elated, actually. Puts me one step closer to playing
You also mention 2 companies of well over a dozen MMO companies out there.
Anyway pre-paid cards are very expensive for what they offer. Why is it so hard to simply follow Sony's lead and get a third party to handle all non-cc banking? That is what they are therefore.
I recently noticed that Lik-sang (hong-kong internet store) had opened a german "division" just so it could do better business in europe. It ain't that hard, if SOE can do it, anyone can. Just as soon as people stop thinking, everyone got a credit card.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
"the fact that SoE has started to embrace real-world sales of in-game items just further cements this."
Station Exchange auctions are only on SPECIFIC EQ2 servers. If you don't want to buy/sell items and gold for real money play on the normal servers. In fact there are only 3 Station Exchange servers and they are prominantly labelled as such in the character creation screen. Playing on a normal server means no selling of items, accounts or gold except through the usual grey market (ige.com, ebay etc.) EXACTLY the SAME as WoW or any other MMO which prohibits this behavior.
Arguably it's a better because people who want to spend real money for virtual items have a server to go and do it on. Meanwhile I can play on a normal server and not have Station Exchange affect my play at all.
Sometimes my arms bend back.
All of this is very reassuring, and sounds reasonable. But the way it's being presented by Sigil sounds too good to be true. I'm not saying that it's not completely true, I'm just saying that I've read thousands of press releases from MMOG developers before, and when something sounds too good to be true, it makes me nervous.
Now that we're done with the reasonable reactions, can I give my gut reaction? Ready? Plug your ears:
WHAT IN THE BLOODY SIXTH CIRCLE OF A CRAWLING, UNIMAGINABLE HELL HAPPENED?
What happened to all of those thinly veiled (and not so thinly veiled) comments from Mr. McQuaid about SOE? The constant, subtle (and not so subtle) implications that yes, SOE is the devil, and yes, SOE did ruin their game? The winks and nods? The soft caresses?
No matter what, being associated with SOE is a black eye for them. For years, the company and game have been basically sold to the players with one statement: we're not with SOE. It's not an exaggeration to say that a lot of their fanbase exists because of that one fact.
I don't think they're going to lose all of those people, or even many of them, but what they will lose is the trust of many of them. This is bad because the game is already being directed at a narrow audience. The audience is narrow for a hundred reasons, some key ones being: a) it's a subscription game, b) it claims to be a return to the unforgiving game mechanics of old, c) many people will have to upgrade their hardware to play it.
To upgrade your computer for a single game takes faith, and faith is what they're losing with this move.
My script don't crash! She crashes, you crashed her!