The NGE didn't increase the popularity of SWG.  It actually drove away an estimated 200k players.

The NGE really embodies how SOE thinks.  You can see smaller, but similar actions from soe in the way they develop their games and treat their customers.

 ya at one point every fucking company decided to copy wow model ,every freaking company fell face first .i hope all those company learned their lesson and start reading some book there are ton of great book that could become game and their are so well described  game maker dont even have to think they just have to do what written in the book

Originally posted by Daffid011

The NGE didn't increase the popularity of SWG.  It actually drove away an estimated 200k players.

 

The NGE really embodies how SOE thinks.  You can see smaller, but similar actions from soe in the way they develop their games and treat their customers.

What really struck me is the ongoing press describing SOE as leaders in the industry, and how Smed still goes around speaking at conferences telling people how to run their MMOs lol.  What was the name of his seminar, "How to ruin two of the most promising MMO IP's of all time?  How to alienate your subscriber base?  How to set your company up for layoffs?  How to drive away your best talent? How to attempt to access people's wallets through their kids?"  Does anyone go to these seminars?  Do they actually listen to Smed and follow his example?  If so, where does that leave them?

Most people recognize the name Sony and think of the huge multinational corporation.  SOE is the division that really broke the 3D mmo market wide open over 10 years ago.  It is pretty easy to look at soe and think they are this huge successful mmo company.  So many games, so many titles, etc.

It isn't until someone really looks at their performance a bit closer that it shows how weak they are as a company.  Outside of building upon the everquest title they bought out from the sigil [edit: verant/989 studio] team, soe has not really done much of significance.  What they have done that was successful, they seem to destroy that not to long after. 

 Edit:  brainfart fixed.

Originally posted by Daffid011

Most people recognize the name Sony and think of the huge multinational corporation.  SOE is the division that really broke the 3D mmo market wide open over 10 years ago.  It is pretty easy to look at soe and think they are this huge successful mmo company.  So many games, so many titles, etc.

It isn't until someone really looks at their performance a bit closer that it shows how weak they are as a company.  Outside of building upon the everquest title they bought out from the sigil team, soe has not really done much of significance.  What they have done that was successful, they seem to destroy that not to long after. 

 

 

 

I don't think that's the case anymore, MS and Nintendo are kicking their arse in the console wars, Samsung and LG have taken huge market share from them in consumer electronics (Samsung actually make the LCD panels for a lot of the Sony range of displays now) so even the average consumer can see that Sony is faltering, without the need to do any prior investigation.

Originally posted by Wizardry

Before SOE took the FF series under it's wing,of course with a price by committing FF only to the PS console,it was a franchise doomed for bankruptcy.They marketed it and brought life back into the series and it became arguably the most successful franchise in history of gaming,i believe the SIMS is up there also.

 

A few young teenagers started coding Crash Bandicoot,it soon became reality and became a big hit.SOE made those guys millionaires by buying rights to the game.It had a lot of success.To show the comparison as to how far ahead they are from everyone else,who is the richest dev right now?Blizzard?ok name the last game developer they backed up?Heck they are afraid of their own shadow,so much so they were afraid to develop SC2 and still are.

The best is yet to come....name ONE developer that shows leadership in ANY facet of game development?There is ONLY one ,and i can name it>>Square Enix,this is only recently because they have advanced gaming to ALL platforms,umm Blizzard fails large in development.Square has also revamped their game engine to produce top notch cinematic  cut scenes and meet today standards,they do not remain stagnant.BTW...SOE has recently updated EQ2 graphics and made the leading edge game look even better.Guess who helped make Square what it is today???yep SOE,so now you have the leader ,perhaps passing the torch to   Square Enix the developer SOE helped to survive.

 

 Ehm SOE had nothing whatsoever to do about Square Enix. You must be thinking about SCE. SOE didn't come under SCE supervision until very recently. SOE didn't do anything with the Final Fantasy games, that was SCE. Same about Crash Bandicoot. You are confusing Sony Online Entertainment that is solely making and publishing online games with SCE that is focused on mostly Playstation platforms. They really didn't interact much between those 2 divisions. You really need to make a tiny bit of research instead of just making stuff up.

Originally posted by efefia 

 

I don't think that's the case anymore, MS and Nintendo are kicking their arse in the console wars, Samsung and LG have taken huge market share from them in consumer electronics (Samsung actually make the LCD panels for a lot of the Sony range of displays now) so even the average consumer can see that Sony is faltering, without the need to do any prior investigation.

True that Sony is facing very big competition across all of their products, but people will still recognize the Sony name. 

The average person will not recognize NCSoft for example, but NCSoft is heads and tails ahead of SOE right now in just about every aspect. 

I'm not really sure what makes people think SOE is an industry leader anymore.  Everquest was over 10 years ago and the company has been on a downward slide the last 5 years that is unequalled by any other company I can think of.  

Originally posted by Daffid011 

The average person will not recognize NCSoft for example, but NCSoft is heads and tails ahead of SOE right now in just about every aspect. 

 

That may be true about the average person not knowing NCSoft, but I think most MMO players will.

Gaming is HUGE $$$ and the MMO market is the future of gaming IMO. Recurring charges, constant influx of $, building customer loyalty...there's so much money BEYOND the $49 original purchase...developers would be fools to not go all out to capture their share of this developing market.

Originally posted by TUX426

Originally posted by Daffid011 

The average person will not recognize NCSoft for example, but NCSoft is heads and tails ahead of SOE right now in just about every aspect. 

 

 

That may be true about the average person not knowing NCSoft, but I think most MMO players will.

Gaming is HUGE $$$ and the MMO market is the future of gaming IMO. Recurring charges, constant influx of $, building customer loyalty...there's so much money BEYOND the $49 original purchase...developers would be fools to not go all out to capture their share of this developing market.

True.  And SOE goes after those recurring charges and constant influx of cash as any good corporation would and should.  But for some reason, they read "building customer loyalty" as "locking customers in by force and beating their self-esteem into the ground so they won't leave".  TCG is a classic example.  They finally provide things people have asked for for years, but in a way that requires additional recurring payments.  We have what you want, but what you're paying ain't enough.  DirecTV does the same thing with their NFL Sunday Ticket package.  You can get all Sunday afternoon games for $250 for the season, minus blackouts and locals.  But it's 2009... oh, you want that in HD?  That'll be an extra $99 for the "Red Zone" package.  I guess the difference is DirecTV has a monopoly on their product.  SOE's got the monopoly on the Star Wars IP until a) the EMU is released, or b) SW:TOR is released.

Originally posted by Kylrathin 

But for some reason, they read "building customer loyalty" as "locking customers in by force and beating their self-esteem into the ground so they won't leave".  TCG is a classic example.  They finally provide things people have asked for for years, but in a way that requires additional recurring payments.  We have what you want, but what you're paying ain't enough.

Great observation!!!

Originally posted by Daffid011

Most people recognize the name Sony and think of the huge multinational corporation.  SOE is the division that really broke the 3D mmo market wide open over 10 years ago.  It is pretty easy to look at soe and think they are this huge successful mmo company.  So many games, so many titles, etc.

The avarage player does not visit forums so would be unknown with SOE, it's mostly us hardcore players that take note of the company behind the game, but I geus you already knew that. And kinda always said that having so many games and being the "first" to put the name MMORPG on the map does make them the marketleaders in that area only.

It isn't until someone really looks at their performance a bit closer that it shows how weak they are as a company.  Outside of building upon the everquest title they bought out from the sigil team, soe has not really done much of significance.  What they have done that was successful, they seem to destroy that not to long after. 

Sigil created Vanguard Saga of Heroes or was that what you meant?, SOE bought the game from them due the financial mess Sigil had made. EQ1/2 where both created by those who later took part of SOE, so not much difference there other then people like Smed now working for SOE instead of the company he and a few others build before they entered SOE. I will agree that the direction SOE took with their games is not the direction I wanted. 

 

 

Originally posted by Reklaw

Originally posted by Daffid011

Most people recognize the name Sony and think of the huge multinational corporation.  SOE is the division that really broke the 3D mmo market wide open over 10 years ago.  It is pretty easy to look at soe and think they are this huge successful mmo company.  So many games, so many titles, etc.

The avarage player does not visit forums so would be unknown with SOE, it's mostly us hardcore players that take note of the company behind the game, but I geus you already knew that. And kinda always said that having so many games and being the "first" to put the name MMORPG on the map does make them the marketleaders in that area only.

That may have been true for the last batch of MMO's and last Gen single player games but these days games are hyped in a similar way to movies with teasers, trailers and reveals ongoing from early development right up to release. Game devs and publishers now could almost be classed as minor celebs. The developers and the company they represent are at the forefront of these markeing campaigns and the negative press and word of mouth following they have..... follows them.

ie:

http://kotaku.com/5340127/some-super-screen-shots-of-dc-universe-online/gallery/

"The fact that SoE's involved doesn't exactly inspire confidence either. SWG anyone?"

 

 

Originally posted by Reklaw

Originally posted by Daffid011

It isn't until someone really looks at their performance a bit closer that it shows how weak they are as a company.  Outside of building upon the everquest title they bought out from the sigil team, soe has not really done much of significance.  What they have done that was successful, they seem to destroy that not to long after. 

 

Sigil created Vanguard Saga of Heroes or was that what you meant?, SOE bought the game from them due the financial mess Sigil had made. EQ1/2 where both created by those who later took part of SOE, so not much difference there other then people like Smed now working for SOE instead of the company he and a few others build before they entered SOE. I will agree that the direction SOE took with their games is not the direction I wanted. 

 

 

 

Sorry I meant to say SOE bought out EQ from the Verant/989 team, but type sigil in my haste. 

Basically Sony funded a studio to build a game they didn't think would amount to much.  After it was already a run away success they started building SOE around that and eventually bought out the assets and things started going downhill from that moment. 

Originally posted by drbaltazar

 ya at one point every fucking company decided to copy wow model ,every freaking company fell face first .i hope all those company learned their lesson and start reading some book there are ton of great book that could become game and their are so well described  game maker dont even have to think they just have to do what written in the book

I agree its like they all want to follow the leader.    You dont see nitch games being made now.   SOE should have been happy a Sandbox game attracted 250k.   Peaked at about 400k, but still had a steady population even after the CU, about 200-250k.   Then they said to everyone that liked the game," Screw you we are going to copy WOW, and if you dont like it tuff we will attract people to replace you".     And they still are going forward with a game no one wants to play.    Whoever made the desicion to stick with the NGE is a total idiot.  

Originally posted by Daffid011

Originally posted by Reklaw

Originally posted by Daffid011

It isn't until someone really looks at their performance a bit closer that it shows how weak they are as a company.  Outside of building upon the everquest title they bought out from the sigil team, soe has not really done much of significance.  What they have done that was successful, they seem to destroy that not to long after. 

 

Sigil created Vanguard Saga of Heroes or was that what you meant?, SOE bought the game from them due the financial mess Sigil had made. EQ1/2 where both created by those who later took part of SOE, so not much difference there other then people like Smed now working for SOE instead of the company he and a few others build before they entered SOE. I will agree that the direction SOE took with their games is not the direction I wanted. 

 

 

 

Sorry I meant to say SOE bought out EQ from the Verant/989 team, but type sigil in my haste. 

Basically Sony funded a studio to build a game they didn't think would amount to much.  After it was already a run away success they started building SOE around that and eventually bought out the assets and things started going downhill from that moment. 

yep if it was verant/989 team that did that game they had one thing that not a lot of team today has.

a good idea!yes they might have needed help on doing it but good the idea behind it was genius 

i had surprise today uo is expending on september 8 choice between old school graphic or ugraded version new race etc 

that must have made lot of player very happy 

eq1 is getting an expension soon i believe 

most of those game play on almost anything lol .wich is a big plus. and content is top notch.

Alot of the ideas they have for making something into a game is only pretty on paper or existing number of fans.

Some of the ideas should have stayed where they were and not set foot into mmo industry.  Why do I say this? It is because some stuff are better off viewed from an audience perspective, which is also where their charm rest.  The audience's imagination is invoked by the said movie, novel, etc.

Turning something into a game becomes something to be experienced, and it works very differently than just take one idea and slap a system on it to call it a game.  Lets take a small look at the example of the Matrix provided by the OP:

The Matrix is a good movie, it is a movie that develop on the concept of how human view reality and the possibly that what is in front of our eyes may not be the truth.  This concept alone made the Matrix a very good at invoking the imaginations of the audience and made it entertaining.  It also featured fast paced action and unreal events that excite the viewers.

However, when presented as games, for one reason or another it lost it's charm to some people.  The Matrix as a game was not able to invoke imagination of audience as the movie was able to, and the original shock value of the concept of the Matrix is no longer there.  This effectively turns it into a game based solely on action and combat, which we all know how much staying power that will have.  There are plenty more different perspective about why the Matrix as a game did not take off even though the movie was widely popular.   However, I'll stop here for sanity sake.

As for SOE being leader in the industry, I am not certain how much validity I want to put into that statement.  Maybe financially it is very possible, but in other perspective I would take it with a grain of salt.

Originally posted by linren

Alot of the ideas they have for making something into a game is only pretty on paper or existing number of fans.

Some of the ideas should have stayed where they were and not set foot into mmo industry.  Why do I say this? It is because some stuff are better off viewed from an audience perspective, which is also where their charm rest.  The audience's imagination is invoked by the said movie, novel, etc.

Turning something into a game becomes something to be experienced, and it works very differently than just take one idea and slap a system on it to call it a game.  Lets take a small look at the example of the Matrix provided by the OP:

The Matrix is a good movie, it is a movie that develop on the concept of how human view reality and the possibly that what is in front of our eyes may not be the truth.  This concept alone made the Matrix a very good at invoking the imaginations of the audience and made it entertaining.  It also featured fast paced action and unreal events that excite the viewers.

However, when presented as games, for one reason or another it lost it's charm to some people.  The Matrix as a game was not able to invoke imagination of audience as the movie was able to, and the original shock value of the concept of the Matrix is no longer there.  This effectively turns it into a game based solely on action and combat, which we all know how much staying power that will have.  There are plenty more different perspective about why the Matrix as a game did not take off even though the movie was widely popular.   However, I'll stop here for sanity sake.

As for SOE being leader in the industry, I am not certain how much validity I want to put into that statement.  Maybe financially it is very possible, but in other perspective I would take it with a grain of salt.

did you only read the title,gees lot of different subject on this tread lol might be good to read all first to understand they way its going towards 

Its a shame that SOE allowed themselves to be come the Joke of the Industry. But You can always count on them to pull some PR stunt so in their fragile little minds they think that they are Number 1.

Originally posted by JestorRodo

Its a shame that SOE allowed themselves to be come the Joke of the Industry. But You can always count on them to pull some PR stunt so in their fragile little minds they think that they are Number 1.

 

But then again if we look at any other game-company we see them state similar "world leading" type of things aswell. So obviously it's some marketing thing that anyone with some common sense would simply ignore as we know most if not all company's do so.
 

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Originally posted by Reklaw

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Originally posted by JestorRodo

Its a shame that SOE allowed themselves to be come the Joke of the Industry. But You can always count on them to pull some PR stunt so in their fragile little minds they think that they are Number 1.
 

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But then again if we look at any other game-company we see them state similar "world leading" type of things aswell. So obviously it's some marketing thing that anyone with some common sense would simply ignore as we know most if not all company's do so.
 

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The reason we ignore theses Marketing claims of " world leading" , "Number 1" or any other self pronouncement by a game-company is that we do not have enough information about these claims and thus dismiss them.

But in SOE case, most of the Vets here have the information to contradict any recent claims of Business success.