What do you guys think? Will it spell the end for Eq? How will it effect MQ2 and Mmobugs. Am curious
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Soe becoming daybreak Game company
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EverquestBB
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My 2cp
I would guess it could bring about a few changes, but they won't just drop anything until they see how it is doing. EQ1 is probably borderline not viable but before they drop it they will just allocate fewer resources. They are working with a pretty minimal crew as is but as long as there are enough paid subs to support the servers I think there will be EQ in some form. Who knows, maybe they will even try to make it better.
I would guess it could bring about a few changes, but they won't just drop anything until they see how it is doing. EQ1 is probably borderline not viable but before they drop it they will just allocate fewer resources. They are working with a pretty minimal crew as is but as long as there are enough paid subs to support the servers I think there will be EQ in some form. Who knows, maybe they will even try to make it better.
aCunningGnome
Bomb Defusal Specialist
I respond with questions.
1) Are EQ servers run on any special type of architecture? That is, as hardware becomes better, does it become cheaper to host EQ? I ask because someday, should a shutdown come, I hope there will be an option for the player community to host EQ servers.
2) I heard EQ is (SoE's) cash cow. Is this true and is an investment company going to want to keep the current staff? Is the staff going to have more freedom?
3) Is John Smedley still ultimately in charge of the fate of EQ? Also, I've heard rumors that he "hates EQ." I have trouble believing that and figured it was just pissed players over the years about the direction of EQ.
4) I understand there have been some other acquisitions/split-ups in the past where games were sold to different companies. How much do you think EQ is worth?
1) Are EQ servers run on any special type of architecture? That is, as hardware becomes better, does it become cheaper to host EQ? I ask because someday, should a shutdown come, I hope there will be an option for the player community to host EQ servers.
2) I heard EQ is (SoE's) cash cow. Is this true and is an investment company going to want to keep the current staff? Is the staff going to have more freedom?
3) Is John Smedley still ultimately in charge of the fate of EQ? Also, I've heard rumors that he "hates EQ." I have trouble believing that and figured it was just pissed players over the years about the direction of EQ.
4) I understand there have been some other acquisitions/split-ups in the past where games were sold to different companies. How much do you think EQ is worth?
Oh my god, Sony no longer owns SOE?
Hallelujah! Let's all warp and chain zone!
(Can we get the source code for EQ:OA now, please?)
Hallelujah! Let's all warp and chain zone!
(Can we get the source code for EQ:OA now, please?)
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Blitzkrieg
Time Traveling Troll
It will take some time to not associate Sony with EQ. I still sometimes call it 989 or Verant, but it has been Sony so long. Oh well.
Well 989 and Verant were always owned by sony anyway so it was always sony. This time its actually a different parent company.
Fry
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The only positive thing I see from this, is we might finally see a P1999 style official server. The investment group is going to do everything possible to milk as much money as they can from SoE games.
here's my option about this electronic arts a company well known for closing everything that doesn't make them like 20 bucks a second still keeps the fucking ultima online servers up and still feeds them content ever once and awhile
"We are excited to join Columbus Nova's impressive roster of companies," said John Smedley, president of Daybreak Game Company. "They have a proven track record in similar and related industries and we are eager to move forward to see how we can push the boundaries of online gaming. We will continue to focus on delivering exceptional games to players around the world, as well as bringing our portfolio to new platforms, fully embracing the multi-platform world in which we all live."
Sony Online Entertainment sold off by Sony, renamed Daybreak Game Company
SiegeTank
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Usually when a company acquires another company, or things like factories, they shut them down only if they're unprofitable and/or they can sell off the fixed assets (buildings, equipments, patents, copyrights, etc.) for substantial gain.
If EQ makes money then I can't see them shutting it down as I just can't see it's worth losing a profit-making on-line gaming business in order to sell off hard assets---what would they be, server hard disks?
If EQ is losing money (and that's the $Million Question, isn't it?) then it would make the most sense to raise prices and test if customers bail. If lots of customers bail, then it would make sense to shut down a losing operation.
If they do shut it down it's hard to see them having much interest in the customer base moving to emu servers they make no money from. In fact, that would be against their interests since a player who shifts to an emu and keeps playing EQ there is not going to have the spare time to play any of their NEW games. If anything, this ownership may be LESS tolerant of emu servers.
We shall see...
PS They already announced no convention this year "as they invest their time and effort in transitioning." That can't be a good sign.
If EQ makes money then I can't see them shutting it down as I just can't see it's worth losing a profit-making on-line gaming business in order to sell off hard assets---what would they be, server hard disks?
If EQ is losing money (and that's the $Million Question, isn't it?) then it would make the most sense to raise prices and test if customers bail. If lots of customers bail, then it would make sense to shut down a losing operation.
If they do shut it down it's hard to see them having much interest in the customer base moving to emu servers they make no money from. In fact, that would be against their interests since a player who shifts to an emu and keeps playing EQ there is not going to have the spare time to play any of their NEW games. If anything, this ownership may be LESS tolerant of emu servers.
We shall see...
PS They already announced no convention this year "as they invest their time and effort in transitioning." That can't be a good sign.
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hawthorne
Celer, Silens, Mortalis
I am not so sure it's a bad sign, Siegetank. Think about all the stuff that has to be changed. The SOE logo is on EVERYTHING! Especially all the signage and whatnot for Live. Brasse said on her Facebook feed that Live is a loss for them so they cancelled it this year to get their house in order. That seems like a very practical thing to do.
Don't expect EQOA or Vanguard or any other cancelled games to return. Roshen already addressed this on the EQ forums. TLP may be a possibility though, they didn't comment on it.
The company that bought SOE is the same company that bought Harmonix from Vivendi and they pretty much left them to their own devices. Every bit of news I have seen come from any Daybreak staffer(that sounds weird) has implied heavily they have independant control of their fate.
Also, not referring to anyone here, but it's amazing how ignorant some people are, especially places like mmorpg.com.
Don't expect EQOA or Vanguard or any other cancelled games to return. Roshen already addressed this on the EQ forums. TLP may be a possibility though, they didn't comment on it.
The company that bought SOE is the same company that bought Harmonix from Vivendi and they pretty much left them to their own devices. Every bit of news I have seen come from any Daybreak staffer(that sounds weird) has implied heavily they have independant control of their fate.
Also, not referring to anyone here, but it's amazing how ignorant some people are, especially places like mmorpg.com.
aCunningGnome
Bomb Defusal Specialist
I couldn't see them raising prices on sub, since they'd be above the standard sub price across the industry. I imagine they'd take that into account when making decisions and probably instead opt for increasing player population or more in-game purchases. If they have anyone researching the nature of EQ players, there's a chance they'll realize there's a real opportunity for starting good classic servers. Those will probably always remain popular with EQ players for as long as time.
As for the convention, maybe the EQ team thinks it's more important to spend time on market strategies instead of planning the convention. I expect the EQ team has a strong drive to keep it alive.
The second part of this I wonder about is will they worry about people like us. Will they suspend people for stuff or will they even check. Do they want to spend the time checking stuff to catch people lol. I never use active stuff so not a biggie for me but some do. Just a thought.
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SiegeTank
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I like the term "people like us." LOL It reminds me of when the Mafia supposedly talks about itself using veiled pronouns. "This thing of ours", and all that. Hehe.
I absolutely love classic EQ and I spent months on P99, essentially abandoning my live EQ account during most of that time, beyond logging in from time to time to encourage my live friends to try out P99. Nonetheless, I think it's really naïve to think that this new company is going to make EQ more profitable by introducing P99-style classic servers. How many people play on P99? Last time I was on (and I haven't played in quite a while) a heavy pop was 500-600. AND NONE OF THOSE PAY A CENT TO PLAY. You think the new owners of EQ are going to be impressed by a player base that could support around 500 players on a new server, discounting those who won't pay for the privilege, which HAS to be a sizeable chunk.
And if they did go this route I'd say that spells the death-knell for P99 since I doubt a new investor is going to tolerate competition in the form of a freely-available alternative to a product that they're trying to make money from. (Altho I think P99 has NOTHING to fear since I doubt they'd go this route.)
The problem is people who love classic EQ are not the target audience for anyone trying to grow EQ. And I repeat I am one of those who loves the original game, as hard and frustrating as it could be at times. When I encouraged my "live" friends to try P99 I could only get a tiny handful of them to give it a shot, btw.
I DO agree raising sub prices would be suicide. Definitely makes more sense to add for-sale items to the Marketplace, and aggressively. Like a full set of end-game raid gear for $200. Stuff like that. When I see people HERE offering single end-game rare drop weapons for $100-150 each (and presumably selling them on occasion) I think there'd be a sizeable market for this. And, NO, I don't think most raiders would quit in frustration, because they could still get the same gear "for free" without shelling out this kind of money.
I absolutely love classic EQ and I spent months on P99, essentially abandoning my live EQ account during most of that time, beyond logging in from time to time to encourage my live friends to try out P99. Nonetheless, I think it's really naïve to think that this new company is going to make EQ more profitable by introducing P99-style classic servers. How many people play on P99? Last time I was on (and I haven't played in quite a while) a heavy pop was 500-600. AND NONE OF THOSE PAY A CENT TO PLAY. You think the new owners of EQ are going to be impressed by a player base that could support around 500 players on a new server, discounting those who won't pay for the privilege, which HAS to be a sizeable chunk.
And if they did go this route I'd say that spells the death-knell for P99 since I doubt a new investor is going to tolerate competition in the form of a freely-available alternative to a product that they're trying to make money from. (Altho I think P99 has NOTHING to fear since I doubt they'd go this route.)
The problem is people who love classic EQ are not the target audience for anyone trying to grow EQ. And I repeat I am one of those who loves the original game, as hard and frustrating as it could be at times. When I encouraged my "live" friends to try P99 I could only get a tiny handful of them to give it a shot, btw.
I DO agree raising sub prices would be suicide. Definitely makes more sense to add for-sale items to the Marketplace, and aggressively. Like a full set of end-game raid gear for $200. Stuff like that. When I see people HERE offering single end-game rare drop weapons for $100-150 each (and presumably selling them on occasion) I think there'd be a sizeable market for this. And, NO, I don't think most raiders would quit in frustration, because they could still get the same gear "for free" without shelling out this kind of money.
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EverquestBB
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Some thoughts
I am quite interested to see what changes this might bring. I run several businesses myself and if I personally were to make changes to EQ (with only the bottom line in mind not the player base), here are some ideas of where they could start:
-I would shit can free to play and let people "peruse their toons" for free for like a half hour every 24 hours in hopes they would resub - and I would send an e-mail announcing that to everyone that has ever played like they did with FTP. This coupled with the dropped subs below might get people to "gamble" that they could play each day and pick up a sub for free . . .
-I would let people transfer ownership of accounts in a game sanctioned marketplace using some sort of token system (like server xfers) where you have to provide a great deal of account info to even buy the token.
-I would put items like TDS rares up for sale in game using station cash. Sure you would have newbs in full raid gear but who cares, rich idiots are allowed to drive Ferraris into trees so why not let someone convert their Heroic into a raid toon?
-I would add droppable subscriptions; like a krono that drops in game but with different levels for the sub period (7,14,30,90 days, etc.)
-I would embrace the "boxing" community by incorporating many of the basic automation tasks that MQ2 provides but you would have to call it something else and charge people for it or the group game would die (like it hasn't). Maybe allow people to convert their toons to a "merc" for a while and then convert them back or something along those lines.
-I would consider selling AAs and Exp glyphs in packages on the Station Store for the people who are too lazy to play but want to advance.
I realize that any and all of these could ruin the game, but the model I am seeing in most tablet and phone based games is that you can "skip to the end" if you buy a bunch of tokens/diamonds/gems, etc. We are starting to see it in RPGs, but not to the extent we will in the future (in my opinion). You can see it in the way Sony dishes out AAxp now; people want faster results with less effort . . . a smart business model will take advantage of that.
Only time will tell, but I would support anything that kept the game viable . . . at this point we all have way too much invested for them to just turn off the servers.
I am quite interested to see what changes this might bring. I run several businesses myself and if I personally were to make changes to EQ (with only the bottom line in mind not the player base), here are some ideas of where they could start:
-I would shit can free to play and let people "peruse their toons" for free for like a half hour every 24 hours in hopes they would resub - and I would send an e-mail announcing that to everyone that has ever played like they did with FTP. This coupled with the dropped subs below might get people to "gamble" that they could play each day and pick up a sub for free . . .
-I would let people transfer ownership of accounts in a game sanctioned marketplace using some sort of token system (like server xfers) where you have to provide a great deal of account info to even buy the token.
-I would put items like TDS rares up for sale in game using station cash. Sure you would have newbs in full raid gear but who cares, rich idiots are allowed to drive Ferraris into trees so why not let someone convert their Heroic into a raid toon?
-I would add droppable subscriptions; like a krono that drops in game but with different levels for the sub period (7,14,30,90 days, etc.)
-I would embrace the "boxing" community by incorporating many of the basic automation tasks that MQ2 provides but you would have to call it something else and charge people for it or the group game would die (like it hasn't). Maybe allow people to convert their toons to a "merc" for a while and then convert them back or something along those lines.
-I would consider selling AAs and Exp glyphs in packages on the Station Store for the people who are too lazy to play but want to advance.
I realize that any and all of these could ruin the game, but the model I am seeing in most tablet and phone based games is that you can "skip to the end" if you buy a bunch of tokens/diamonds/gems, etc. We are starting to see it in RPGs, but not to the extent we will in the future (in my opinion). You can see it in the way Sony dishes out AAxp now; people want faster results with less effort . . . a smart business model will take advantage of that.
Only time will tell, but I would support anything that kept the game viable . . . at this point we all have way too much invested for them to just turn off the servers.
well the new company could change there stance on emu servers and close them all down then make there own as a fuck you
hawthorne
Celer, Silens, Mortalis
So I'm guessing the website hosting is going to change at some point? Since the hook is sony.com currently.
The best way for them to make money is micro transactions.
Which is where I will bet EQ is headed. Marketplace is over priced and under utilized.
For example a change of char models and npc model could lead to "dress up" models.
How many of us wouldn't pay say a dollar per slot to dress our pets, mercs, illusions, and selves?
Skins for guild housing zones, weather controls.
I would love a to see things like Winter and Desert themes for housing zones.
I can see other things like different layouts etc.
There is a fortune in art alone to be had.
Sony was also against pay for power. There is no saying the new owners will hold to that. Slot X on your armor to add 10ac for 300sc etc.
There is HUGE money making potential in all that.
Basically I see them implementing whatever has the least cost and most profit.
I see a lot less of being true to "The Vision" because that isn't going to make them the most money. The Vision is dead long live The Profit!
But that is all just my opinion....
Which is where I will bet EQ is headed. Marketplace is over priced and under utilized.
For example a change of char models and npc model could lead to "dress up" models.
How many of us wouldn't pay say a dollar per slot to dress our pets, mercs, illusions, and selves?
Skins for guild housing zones, weather controls.
I would love a to see things like Winter and Desert themes for housing zones.
I can see other things like different layouts etc.
There is a fortune in art alone to be had.
Sony was also against pay for power. There is no saying the new owners will hold to that. Slot X on your armor to add 10ac for 300sc etc.
There is HUGE money making potential in all that.
Basically I see them implementing whatever has the least cost and most profit.
I see a lot less of being true to "The Vision" because that isn't going to make them the most money. The Vision is dead long live The Profit!
But that is all just my opinion....
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