Sony sold SOE

[Dr. Pezus]

Funny how SOE suddenly make valuable games though lol

[Mmm_fish_tacos]

Funny how SOE suddenly make valuable games though lol

So true.

[Raven]

Well isn't it great that we both get better sleep then? :-D

I don't feel the need to correct every little detail. I can actually think about what the point is.

[Rorono]

It still remains to be seen if EQ Next will live up to the hype or not. Most MMOs never do.. I never went back to the genre after GW2, it was fun for a while but boy was it disappointing. It seems like there's always one MMO that's going to be the next big thing and then it never is.

[Raven]

Yeah this has a super minimal effect on PS4 and its momentum. Everquest Next however imo used to be a big bullet point. Back before PS4 launched I remember lots of ps4 vs xbo comparison lists having it towards the top.

Then everyone forgot/stopped caring about it lol. Man if EN launched last year on PC and PS4, it could have been pretty big for the system. But nope.

Yeah, I remember it being a talking point but I think that was before it became clear that the game was nowhere near releasing on PS4 any time soon. I think when SOE said that the PC version is being worked on first for a projected late 2015 release and that they wouldn't work on the PS4 version until after that, the hype died down real fast. It just became even less relevant when it became clear that SOE didn't have the resources or talent to port PlanetSide 2 any faster than they were.

[Raven]

It still remains to be seen if EQ Next will live up to the hype or not. Most MMOs never do.. I never went back to the genre after GW2, it was fun for a while but boy was it disappointing. It seems like there's always one MMO that's going to be the next big thing and then it never is.

What's been bothering me about EQN is just the sheer lack of information on it up to this point for an MMORPG originally projected to release late this year. Coupled with how long it's been taking them to do anything and now with H1Z1 on their plate I don't even know that the PC version won't get delayed another year. Even if it's good how long are we going to have to wait to find out? By the time it's ready for consoles this generation will be halfway over if not more.

[Legend]

What's been bothering me about EQN is just the sheer lack of information on it up to this point for an MMORPG originally projected to release late this year. Coupled with how long it's been taking them to do anything and now with H1Z1 on their plate I don't even know that the PC version won't get delayed another year. Even if it's good how long are we going to have to wait to find out? By the time it's ready for consoles this generation will be halfway over if not more.

Well probably the new management is going to cause changes to the release schedule. They might put more focus on consoles since the press release mentions multiplatform.

[Raven]

Well probably the new management is going to cause changes to the release schedule. They might put more focus on consoles since the press release mentions multiplatform.

I think there was a tweet where someone asked if they were still focusing on PC because they were afraid the games wouldn't turn out so well if they tried several platforms at once. The response was that they were indeed still making PC the priority.

[Rorono]

It also mentions mobile though, lol.

[Shinobi-san]

I dont know i guess you guys are right in saying that this has minimal impact on PS4 and Sony. However, i always felt that the potential revenue from a successful MMO far outweighs that of the next AAA exclusive.

And yeah H1Z1 doesnt seem to be getting good reviews, but it does seem to be popular among pc gamers at the moment. Which means there's some potential in the game.

Everquest Next and Everquest Landmark is where the real potential lies though and perhaps having a bit of faith in those games might have paid off in the long run. Obviously Sony felt it wasn't worth it.

I guess from my point of view, unless SOE was losing tons of money, the potential gains from one of their successes outweighs the risk of keeping them around.

[Riderz1337]

THE AGE OF SONY IS DONE!!!!!!!

FIRST SOE NEXT IS NAUGHTY DOG AND POLYPHONY!!! YOU SONY FANBOYS BETTER ENJOY THE NEXT TWO TO THREE YEARS BECAUSE AFTER THAT SONY AND THE PLAYSTATION BRAND WILL SEIZE TO EXIST

[Raven]

I dont know i guess you guys are right in saying that this has minimal impact on PS4 and Sony. However, i always felt that the potential revenue from a successful MMO far outweighs that of the next AAA exclusive.

And yeah H1Z1 doesnt seem to be getting good reviews, but it does seem to be popular among pc gamers at the moment. Which means there's some potential in the game.

Everquest Next and Everquest Landmark is where the real potential lies though and perhaps having a bit of faith in those games might have paid off in the long run. Obviously Sony felt it wasn't worth it.

I guess from my point of view, unless SOE was losing tons of money, the potential gains from one of their successes outweighs the risk of keeping them around.

Thing is, SOE is running a ton of games right now and most of them aren't bringing the cash flow. MMOs are very costly to develop and maintain. H1Z1 isn't likely to draw big crowds. PlanetSide 2 has taken too long to port and SOE has been very slow going in improving the game. That game has also closed down a lot of servers on the PC. There are only a few left. EverQuest Next is probably the only project they have that might be worth it but MMORPGs are such a risky venture. FF14 bombed on its initial release and that almost bankrupted Square Enix.

There has been so little revealed about EQN that I'm pretty sure the game is behind on development. Focus on the PC version means a console version won't be around for quite some time and that's not going to help PS4 which is one of the few, if not the only, consumer hardware products Sony has that is successful right now. I'd even argue that the EverQuest name is the only reason anyone was truly interested in purchasing SOE to begin with. This seems like something Sony had planned. I doubt this was a spur of the moment decision. They probably felt like SOE was a bad asset for awhile now and were looking for a buyer. They've already secured its current projects for PS4 release so anything SOE does within the next few years is guaranteed to be on Sony's platform. There's no real loss on their end. The money they made on this deal now will probably be a lot more useful to them than potential money they may or may not make later.

If EQN fails then Sony made a brilliant (in hindsight) move. If EQN succeeds, Sony still made money when they needed it and its success will still have some positive effect on PS4 sales. Could this haunt them 10 years from now? Possible but doubtful. They're still better off making money on it while they can and when they know they can instead of hoping the SOE ship doesn't sink. Dumping money into a studio that makes mediocre or marginally commercially successful free-to-play MMOs when you could sell it and use the money for better investments sounds like a good decision to me.

[Max King of the Wild]

I think its a good move both long and short term. Only way it really hurts them is if EQ turned to a smash hit and they see immediate returns on the investment. And I don't think that'd happen. Even if they were breaking even or even profiting slightly this is a good move. It simplifies their earnings and that helps a lot.

[Shinobi-san]

Thing is, SOE is running a ton of games right now and most of them aren't bringing the cash flow. MMOs are very costly to develop and maintain. H1Z1 isn't likely to draw big crowds. PlanetSide 2 has taken too long to port and SOE has been very slow going in improving the game. That game has also closed down a lot of servers on the PC. There are only a few left. EverQuest Next is probably the only project they have that might be worth it but MMORPGs are such a risky venture. FF14 bombed on its initial release and that almost bankrupted Square Enix.

There has been so little revealed about EQN that I'm pretty sure the game is behind on development. Focus on the PC version means a console version won't be around for quite some time and that's not going to help PS4 which is one of the few, if not the only, consumer hardware products Sony has that is successful right now. I'd even argue that the EverQuest name is the only reason anyone was truly interested in purchasing SOE to begin with. This seems like something Sony had planned. I doubt this was a spur of the moment decision. They probably felt like SOE was a bad asset for awhile now and were looking for a buyer. They've already secured its current projects for PS4 release so anything SOE does within the next few years is guaranteed to be on Sony's platform. There's no real loss on their end. The money they made on this deal now will probably be a lot more useful to them than potential money they may or may not make later.

If EQN fails then Sony made a brilliant (in hindsight) move. If EQN succeeds, Sony still made money when they needed it and its success will still have some positive effect on PS4 sales. Could this haunt them 10 years from now? Possible but doubtful. They're still better off making money on it while they can and when they know they can instead of hoping the SOE ship doesn't sink. Dumping money into a studio that makes mediocre or marginally commercially successful free-to-play MMOs when you could sell it and use the money for better investments sounds like a good decision to me.

Would have been nice if we got to see SOE's financials and also what the sell value was. I think that would paint a much clearer picture. Either way i feel like SOE of late was a missed opportunity by Sony. If you have the right MMO/Online game you can make a killing. Heartstone is very good example of a low cost game thats fully online but brings in a shame ton of money. But yeah for every successful free to play online game there's a whole lot of them that fail.

[Dr. Pezus]

I don't feel the need to correct every little detail. I can actually think about what the point is.

your point is flawed. boo