SWG killers are gone!

[Creepage]

Sony Online Entertainment Becomes Daybreak Game Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Dear Players, Partners and Friends,

 

Today, we are pleased to announce that we have been acquired by Columbus Nova, an investment management firm well known for its success with its existing portfolio of technology, media and entertainment focused companies. This means that effective immediately SOE will operate as an independent game development studio where we will continue to focus on creating exceptional online games for players around the world, and now as a multi-platform gaming company. Yes, that means PlayStation and Xbox, mobile and more!

 

As part of this transition, SOE will now become Daybreak Game Company. This name embodies who we are as an organization, and is a nod to the passion and dedication of our employees and players. It is also representative of our vision to approach each new day as an opportunity to move gaming forward.

 

So what exactly does this mean for you? It will be business as usual and all SOE games will continue on their current path of development and operation. In fact, we expect to have even more resources available to us as a result of this acquisition. It also means new exciting developments for our existing IP and games as we can now fully embrace the multi-platform world we are living in.

 

Our games and players are the heart and soul of our organization, and we are committed to maintaining our portfolio of online games and pushing the limits of where we can take online gaming together.

 

Thank you for your continued support. See you in game!"

 

The Team at Daybreak

Edited February 3, 2015 by Creepage

[StarSquirrel]

But SWG is still dead. And dead it will stay (unless you play the SWGEMU). Edited February 3, 2015 by StarSquirrel

[Ghisallo]

Not only that but the company still exists and Smedly is still in charge. He is arguably the single biggest problem with what was SOE. So the company still exists and the "brain" behind that company is still in charge. All that has changed is the parent company and thus name.

[Hurleyredcross]

Not only that but the company still exists and Smedly is still in charge.

 

 

He's machine now than man. Twisted and evil...

[Ghisallo]

He's machine now than man. Twisted and evil...

 

Pretty much. Tbh I wonder if half the reason Sony sold SOE was to get rid of him. When Sony originally bought Verant Interactive (which Smedly was co-founder of) he essentially had in his contract a "can't fire me clause unless you can prove 'wrong doing'" (read incompetence to the point of reckless behavior or actual illegal acts).

 

He has done nothing but lose money since he decided that SOE should start going head to head with Blizzard, rather than just be profitable on their terms, and every angle he has tried to make up for the lose revenue (canceled projects like the Agency, transitioning EQ2 to a full F2P model) have all failed. Because his contract wouldn't let them fire/remove him from his position they may well have said "well we have no hopes left that he can turn things around and at this point having an SOE inside SCE..."(they mergers SOE into Sony Computer entertainment a few years ago) "...seems redundant, so let's make money on a sale rather than keep losing money propping them up."

[eldefail]

But if you read carefully, OP, you'll see that SOE is in fact still around, they just changed their name and probably only to shake some bad PR.

[Ghisallo]

But if you read carefully, OP, you'll see that SOE is in fact still around, they just changed their name and probably only to shake some bad PR.

 

Well they HAD to drop the Sony bit since they were sold but yeah. I think Sony said "SOE is losing us money because of unfulfilled promises and PR disaster after PR disaster. I mean look at EQ Landmark and EQNext. Every time the next great white hype got released Smedly made the EQNext crew tear down the game and start over, since that great white hype failed. Technically they are on their third build (I think, it may be fourth). Sony got pissy at the waste of money so you get EQ Landmark...no BS here it is basically a pay to play a Beta. Most of the features in landmark are features they are testing to see if they want to include them in EQNext. So you are pay Smedly to do his marketing and beta play testing. Landmark has been a commercial flop so right now EQNext is in total limbo, the sale only forcing it further into the shadows.

[SentinelThain]

I hope Smedley never goes near another game,EVER.

Still not forgot what he did to SWG.10 years on lol.

Never forget,NGE November 2005.My full template Jedi became a cookie cutter 1 click profession.

I stayed on for 5 years after but lost a ton of mates who quit because of it.

The promises of keeping SWG going after SWTOR came out,well they basically lied to us to keep subs.....don't get me wrong I like this game but Galaxies had way more freedom,player cities,proper bounty hunting,beast master,great space stuff the list could go on and on.

SOE,a great example of *********** a great game up.

[Ghisallo]

I hope Smedley never goes near another game,EVER.

Still not forgot what he did to SWG.10 years on lol.

Never forget,NGE November 2005.My full template Jedi became a cookie cutter 1 click profession.

I stayed on for 5 years after but lost a ton of mates who quit because of it.

The promises of keeping SWG going after SWTOR came out,well they basically lied to us to keep subs.....don't get me wrong I like this game but Galaxies had way more freedom,player cities,proper bounty hunting,beast master,great space stuff the list could go on and on.

SOE,a great example of *********** a great game up.

 

I called BS from day one on there "the game will continue" crap. That is NOT how companies work, especially with Lucasarts (at the time). They demanded a butt ton of money for the rights to make games and if you are paying that much you expect a certain level of exclusivity. He intentionally lied on that part because he knew damn well if he said "in X months we are closing up shop" he may as well have closed up shop the day of the announcement. How many months of lost revenue would that have =?

Edited March 10, 2015 by Ghisallo

[Pirana]

Played SWG from '07 to close and I remember reading all the threads on their boards in regards to how both games would survive simultaneously. As mentioned above, I thought to myself, there's no way in hell that's happening.

 

Regarding Smed, the old adage, the proof is in the pudding quickly comes to mind. I thoroughly enjoyed my five years in that game, but I don't live in the past.

[SentinelThain]

Played SWG from '07 to close and I remember reading all the threads on their boards in regards to how both games would survive simultaneously. As mentioned above, I thought to myself, there's no way in hell that's happening.

 

Regarding Smed, the old adage, the proof is in the pudding quickly comes to mind. I thoroughly enjoyed my five years in that game, but I don't live in the past.

I don't either but this game could learn a few things from SWG,like what I mentioned above.I much prefer the open world to the themepark,which this game is sadly.

[Pirana]

I don't either but this game could learn a few things from SWG,like what I mentioned above.I much prefer the open world to the themepark,which this game is sadly.

 

Completely agree. There's a lot of stuff this game could borrow from that game.

 

*The city invasions I thought were a good idea. They had staggered times and gave non-combat professions something to do besides craft or buff people. Those professions actually contributed to planet/faction control.

*The bounty hunter system. The BH's could hunt people down who had bounties, which was a great idea, but it was exclusive to them only. Nice thing though, is you could profession swap anytime you wanted. So those professions who felt they were missing out, respec.

*Beast Master.

*Open world Space that wasn't on rails. Played enough of that crap back in the 80's, we didn't need it here.

*Open world PvP on any planet.

*Player cities. Albeit, most were desolate, it was still an option.

 

I could go and on, but it is what it is. This isn't SWG.

 

 

 

TOR has a lot of good stuff also.

 

*Excellent class stories.

*Voice-overs.

*Very good combat animations. (SWG's was borderline horrible, old game though)

*Raids/Ops, SWG had nothing of the sort.

 

I could go on and on, but really, those are the only things that stand out.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2015 by Pirana

[SentinelThain]

Completely agree. There's a lot of stuff this game could borrow from that game.

 

*The city invasions I thought were a good idea. They had staggered times and gave non-combat professions something to do besides craft or buff people. Those professions actually contributed to planet/faction control.

*The bounty hunter system. The BH's could hunt people down who had bounties, which was a great idea, but it was exclusive to them only. Nice thing though, is you could profession swap anytime you wanted. So those professions who felt they were missing out, respec.

*Beast Master.

*Open world Space that wasn't on rails. Played enough of that crap back in the 80's, we didn't need it here.

*Open world PvP on any planet.

*Player cities. Albeit, most were desolate, it was still an option.

 

I could go and on, but it is what it is. This isn't SWG.

 

 

 

TOR has a lot of good stuff also.

 

*Excellent class stories.

*Voice-overs.

*Very good combat animations. (SWG's was borderline horrible, old game though)

*Raids/Ops, SWG had nothing of the sort.

 

I could go on and on, but really, those are the only things that stand out.

 

 

 

 

 

Aye the space stuff was great,loved it.I miss my Ithorian bm/bh sometimes medic Slagzz.Crafting beasts was great fun,loved making 60 pointers (i'm looking at you Jobbie my uber forage worm of doom lol).Good times.

[thewildlife]

I personaly loved SWG the houseing the space combat and more were very unique even though the NGE hit and killed my Creature handlers pets

 

Actually if i remember right it was lucas not SOE that wouldnt renew the licencing for star wars to sony so they had to kill SWG, else why would they have game everyone 75 free days on all SOE games per account for subbing for the last month by the due date, and there were many many petions to keep it going by the end of days.

 

And we should be allowed to play Ithorians on SW-Tor i would sub just for that reason

 

Harplerin/Gorefeast

Edited March 12, 2015 by thewildlife

[Ghisallo]

You remember correctly. The problem is this...people hated NGE...even Smedly admits that it was a mistake and promised they will never do it again (not surprising since they won't have to do an NGE again as all of the games they have been designing lately are basically a game intended to be launched already dumbed down.).

 

What killed me is this though. The "ground game", combat etc was always buggy and kinda lackluster...not saying it wasn't fun, but the space combat, once introduced, was better. Even when they released RoW, the quests, story and stuff got better but the basics of the game that were an issue at launch were still an issue.

 

Then came NGE. In and of itself it was not " bad" imo. What it proved though, yet again, that Smedly is a purely reactive boss. SWG was losing a lot of sub's before NGE. The entire point of NGE, in his mind, was to stem the tide. What he didn't realize was that the people NGE appealed too had already left. Gamers are a fickle lot...once you leave and find something new that you enjoy, chances are you aren't coming back. So when he ordered NGE he basically said "okay let's piss off the players that stayed because they liked the old system."

 

He did the same thing with EQ2. EQ2 was no WoW but it had stabilized at a respectible 250k or there abouts. With their budget that was good money. Problem is he wanted more...so he ordered changes. His Senior Producer during this time (Brenlo...who later got fired for shagging the head community rep) was silly enough to say the introduction of New Halas and the mechanics changes would bring "hundreds of thousands of new players..." Instead the mechanics changes had the people that were staying leave.

[GrimRita]

NGE came because both SOE and Juilen Torres at Lucasarts wanted to make SWG easier to play. They just couldn't make it stand out with its game features. They were dazzled at how WOW was doing so well at launch but what they didn't realise at that time was, WoW could be played on almost any PC when SWG needed a 3d graphics card back then and they werent cheap.

 

For many MMO gamers, it was their first taste of deceit from a games company in the online space and has gone down in the history books as one of the biggest disasters in the MMO genre.

 

Given the fact how SWTOR fell flat on its face at launch and how SWG players stuck two fingers up at NGE, maybe Star Wars MMO players don't want a theme park MMO?

[Ghisallo]

NGE came because both SOE and Juilen Torres at Lucasarts wanted to make SWG easier to play. They just couldn't make it stand out with its game features. They were dazzled at how WOW was doing so well at launch but what they didn't realise at that time was, WoW could be played on almost any PC when SWG needed a 3d graphics card back then and they werent cheap.

 

For many MMO gamers, it was their first taste of deceit from a games company in the online space and has gone down in the history books as one of the biggest disasters in the MMO genre.

 

Given the fact how SWTOR fell flat on its face at launch and how SWG players stuck two fingers up at NGE, maybe Star Wars MMO players don't want a theme park MMO?

 

Yes on why then... NOW everyone and their grandmother that was involved admit it was a mistake. Also Smedly was the final say on the change and it goes far beyond what you say. Hell Smedly has even said "I will never do an NGE again." Once SOE got their contract for the IP until 2012 actual game design decisions were Smedly's call...he is a micromanaging SOB a lot of the time.

 

EQ, EQ2, SWG, Smedly tried to chase WoW with all of em. In doing so he hurt them all because it wasn't going to work. First by the time they even thought to do any of these changes the people looking for such a game were gone. Second WoW did not get as big as it did because it was easier to play alone bit rather a perfect storm that will likely never be again. It could be played on a toaster (as you note), brilliant marketing, an overall game design that appealed to non-MMO players and one that had a built in fan base who were gamers already on Warcraft and many other factors. They only focused on the "ease" bit and sodded off their existing fan base.

 

I also feel that there is a lot of rose tinted glass viewing in terms of SWG. There was still more than a few buggy things in combat and over all the "ground game" felt "lacking" from launch right up until the end. Really NGE just removed what could be argued were the few "redeeming qualities" of the game. It simply wasn't all wine and roses.

 

SWTOR fell on its face at launch because at launch it's engine was still unfinished and most importantly it really wasn't an MMO...by their own admission Bioware was basically overwhelmed by a series of issues.

Among them were, working with a team many times bigger than they ever had before, low morale that was exacerbated by the resignation of co-founders and simply having no experience in making an MMO and having a HARD deadline from EA.

 

As such (again per Bioware at GDC 2013) they had little end game content, lacked a lot of the social aspects that make an MMO an MMO and other issues because in being overwhelmed Bioware retreated to their comfort zone...the Single Player story line. Essentially they launched a Single player game with a multiplayer option with an engine that was not finished. The idea of it being theme park or not had very little to do with it, especially since SWG was a sandbox game for its time...as a matter of fact more than a few people said this proved the failure of Sandbox.

 

There is one thing though that both SOE and EA I think relied on WAY too heavy. They both felt that simply because it was Star Wars all the SW fans would flock to it and accept gross short comings.

[SentinelThain]

This game really can't be compared to SWG.I've been back a week and a half and already unsubbed..End game content is seriously lacking here and the gear grind....no thanks been there done that ad nausium.

This game has no heart to it,theme park ride then nothing.That's why SWG was much better,there was always something to do,even if it was cybzing in Theed cantina lol.

Edited March 20, 2015 by SentinelThain

[Ghisallo]

SWG had just as much grind the difference was there your grind was skills... Especially before they removed the random skill choices to get Jedi and replaced it with a quest line.

 

The only difference between the two is what your taste of grind is. Example I am not that big a fan of a token/currency gear grind, I prefer straight up RNG gear drop. I am not a fan of just automatically getting my skill ups. I liked EQ2s where you had to get your new abilities expert and master level spell/abilitites crafted and then consumed by you. However I can't think of a decent MMO that hasn't transititioned to grinding curreny, and most games now basically hand you your abilities as you level so I am kinda stuck /shrug.

[georgemattson]

I hope Smedley never goes near another game,EVER.

Still not forgot what he did to SWG.10 years on lol.

Never forget,NGE November 2005.My full template Jedi became a cookie cutter 1 click profession.

I stayed on for 5 years after but lost a ton of mates who quit because of it.

The promises of keeping SWG going after SWTOR came out,well they basically lied to us to keep subs.....don't get me wrong I like this game but Galaxies had way more freedom,player cities,proper bounty hunting,beast master,great space stuff the list could go on and on.

SOE,a great example of *********** a great game up.

 

AMEN BROTHER!!!

 

Personally, I wish they could turn him loose on the streets at a predetermined time so that all of us who played the original SWG and absolutely loved it could pelt him with flaming bags of dog doo. I have never seen a bigger SCREW YOU to the players than the Combat Upgrade and the NGE. When 99.9% of your forum population is telling you that the CU is a terrible mistake, yet you go through with it anyway, then repeat that same nonsense with the "New Game Enhancements," I can't think of a clearer way to tell your players that you don't care in the least what they think.

[SentinelThain]

AMEN BROTHER!!!

 

Personally, I wish they could turn him loose on the streets at a predetermined time so that all of us who played the original SWG and absolutely loved it could pelt him with flaming bags of dog doo. I have never seen a bigger SCREW YOU to the players than the Combat Upgrade and the NGE. When 99.9% of your forum population is telling you that the CU is a terrible mistake, yet you go through with it anyway, then repeat that same nonsense with the "New Game Enhancements," I can't think of a clearer way to tell your players that you don't care in the least what they think.

I just hope they bring out another sandbox style Star Wars mmo.With the new movies coming out you never know.As for my Star Wars fix this game doesn't cut it.I was a beta player and a founder and I'm very disappointed in how this games turned out.If you like it power to you,I got bored after a week coming back from a year long break.

[Ghisallo]

The problem is sandbox MMOs, as much as people keep calling for them, tend to fall flat on their face. They have worked in Asia with certain titles but those have been PvP centric and when the reach the US they end up being very niche.

 

People tend to forget that their idea of fun is not the next guys idea of fun. Its hard enough keeping all those little cats herded in a theme park game and the sandbox setting makes that even harder to do.

 

I just don't get it. How many times is a sandbox game going to have to fail before people realize it is one of those cool plans that simply doesn't survive contact with the enemy, in this case the enemy being players.

[SaibotLiu]

SWG at the time had about 250k subscribers. That's 3.75 million a month if you're counting. Yet in 2015 people still think it was Smedleys fault when he was in fact running a profitable business and had no need to change to continue to do so, and had every reason to believe his product would suffer if they changed it so drastically.

 

But yet he did so anyways, because Lucas Arts said so. It's 2015. This has been put to bed years ago as Lucas Arts doing. If you don't want to accept that as the reason that's fine, but it is the generally accepted history regardless. Smedley at the time had more experience in the MMO genre than anyone. To believe he would be that stupid in the first place is quite the stretch. The decision came from people who know nothing about MMOs, or had little to gain from keeping the game the way it was. ie. Not Sony.

[Ghisallo]

SWG at the time had about 250k subscribers. That's 3.75 million a month if you're counting. Yet in 2015 people still think it was Smedleys fault when he was in fact running a profitable business and had no need to change to continue to do so, and had every reason to believe his product would suffer if they changed it so drastically.

 

But yet he did so anyways, because Lucas Arts said so. It's 2015. This has been put to bed years ago as Lucas Arts doing. If you don't want to accept that as the reason that's fine, but it is the generally accepted history regardless. Smedley at the time had more experience in the MMO genre than anyone. To believe he would be that stupid in the first place is quite the stretch. The decision came from people who know nothing about MMOs, or had little to gain from keeping the game the way it was. ie. Not Sony.

 

They had that, AFAIK BEFORE SWG. Also FYI Smedley ADMITTED that it was his fault (will provide links if necessary). He said at the time it happened it was his brilliant idea and then later in interviews, when they announced the closure of the SWG servers, admitted not only that he screwed up but that he would NEVER do it again.

 

EQ2 had that too (250k subs)... when Scott Hartsman was senior producer. He left after RoK launched (the FIRST and ONLY SOE Producer allowed to leave a "good bye I love ya'll" letter on the official forums). The subs TANKED after Hartsman left. Why? Because Smedley became an idiot but on EQ2 hartsman had the cre and background...having been around FOREVER since EQ, launched EQ2 etc) that internally Smedley couldn't afford to ignore Scott. Once Scott was gone Smedley did with EQ2 what he did with SWG... rather than acknowledge what you just did...."I have a good profit going here" he tried to chase WoW. It blew up in his freaking face more than once.

 

I agree that Smedley is irrelevant to SWTOR... BUT unless the hedge Fund that bought SOE breaks it up into it's component parts he is still relevant to MMOs in general. So in a general context Smedley is definitely relevant (do you know how many times he has made the EQNext devs literally erase the concept on their hard drives and restart from scratch... because he has no clue? I can tell ya if ya want).

[SentinelThain]

SWG at the time had about 250k subscribers. That's 3.75 million a month if you're counting. Yet in 2015 people still think it was Smedleys fault when he was in fact running a profitable business and had no need to change to continue to do so, and had every reason to believe his product would suffer if they changed it so drastically.

 

But yet he did so anyways, because Lucas Arts said so. It's 2015. This has been put to bed years ago as Lucas Arts doing. If you don't want to accept that as the reason that's fine, but it is the generally accepted history regardless. Smedley at the time had more experience in the MMO genre than anyone. To believe he would be that stupid in the first place is quite the stretch. The decision came from people who know nothing about MMOs, or had little to gain from keeping the game the way it was. ie. Not Sony.

It was his fault.He was chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (the WOW crowd) who where not interested in playing a completely different game (SWG).He was so blinkered in going for them and dumbing down SWG he shat on the loyal playerbase who had been playing for years and when he refused to listen to them well the rest is history.He was maybe encouraged to try and compete with WOW by the suits at SOE/LA but it was HIS call at the end of the day.

I had a few friends who quit SWG to go on and play EQ2 and he basically did the same crap all over again.I think there's a pattern there.