SOE subsumes Sigil Games

  • By Staff, GameSpot
  • Posted May 15, 2007 12:00 pm PT

EverQuest publisher acquires Vanguard: Saga of Heroes developer; SOE president John Smedley talks to GameSpot about the acquisition, layoffs, and future plans inside.

Publisher Sony Online Entertainment has confirmed that it has acquired Carlsbad, California-based developer Sigil Online and that studio's debut title, the fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online game Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. Though not all of Sigil Online's employees will be rehired at SOE, much of the staff will join the publisher and continue to work out of the Carlsbad office.

SOE will count the operation among its growing number of worldwide studio locations, including its home base of San Diego, and satellite studios in Seattle, Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, and Taiwan. Sigil cofounder and designer Brad McQuaid, who provided much of the creative vision for SOE's original EverQuest, will work as an external creative consultant.

The Vanguard team included other former SOE talent that had contributed to such games as EverQuest. It was originally to be published by Microsoft. However, the game was eventually published by Sony Online Entertainment and released in January in a state that McQuaid himself has publicly admitted was not ideal. For more on how the game turned out, consult GameSpot's review.

Since the game's launch, Sigil and SOE have worked to maintain and update the game, and as SOE president John Smedley explained to GameSpot in this exclusive interview, there are no plans to change that at this time.

GameSpot: The big news is that SOE is acquiring Sigil, and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes along with it. In your own words, why?

John Smedley: We feel like it's an excellent time and place to do this. We like the people over at Sigil, and we respect the creative work they've done on [the game].

GS: Tell us about how the acquisition is going to be handled. Will SOE be bringing most of Sigil's staff in-house?

JS: We're bringing a little more than half of the staff on board. The majority of the Vanguard team itself is coming onboard at Sony Online Entertainment and will remain in Carlsbad. The studio will be run by a gentleman by the name of Dave Gilbertson, who has been running Vanguard for quite some time now. Management of the studio will be run day-to-day, as-is. Also, Brad McQuaid will be kept on in an external position as a creative advisor. In the meantime, we're gonna continue to run the game.

GS: Brad McQuaid has been quoted on public message boards admitting that the game shipped in a nonideal, incomplete state. How will Vanguard's upkeep be handled once the acquisition is complete? Will development on the game continue, or will it be immediately shuffled onto SOE Station as part of a subscription package?

JS: The game is already on Station Access, and since January, many of the bugs and issues in the game have been addressed, and the rest will be as well. Vanguard is an SOE product and we're going to make sure it gets taken care of. As for the state of the release, well, Sigil only had a certain level of funding, and we contributed as well. But the game is in good shape now. We sold 200,000 copies...I'm not sure many people realize that. It's actually a very healthy game.

GS: What are the longer-term plans for the game? Was there other content planned and in development for the game, or expansion packs?

JS: Absolutely. First and foremost, we have a lot of updates in the works to enhance the existing game and put in new content. Very shortly, a new content release schedule will be posted with more details. The idea is to make the game even better and make the customers happy.

GS: What are the longer-term plans for the Carlsbad studio?

JS: For the time being, Carlsbad will stay focused on Vanguard. Over time, it's going to become part of the San Diego studio. We'll also look to do other things, long term. For example, some Sigil Games staffers are moving to San Diego to work on an undisclosed project at SOE.

GS: Some business world cynics point out that McDonalds isn't in the business of fast food, but of real estate with its many locations. What's the thinking behind having so many different locations worldwide?

JS: I don't think there's anything cynical about what we do. We go where the talent is. It's that simple. Many of the people working at Sigil used to work at SOE, and they left to chase the dream of working on a new fantasy MMO of their own creation. We're bringing those people back into the fold and we're excited to do so.

GS: Tell us about how this acquisition fits into SOE's overall strategy, which seems much more geared toward console games these days.

JS: Well, our strategy remains focused on very high-quality online games. We think Vanguard fits nicely into that. It's our most high-end game hardware-wise, and it's also our most "hardcore" game...we're not going to turn it into an easy "Care Bear" game. We'll continue with our commitment to the players to make the game the best it can be.

GS: Is there anything else to add about Vanguard or the Sigil acquisition?

JS: Obviously, I'd like to comment on the fact that some Sigil people lost their jobs. We at SOE did our best to keep as many people employed as physically possible. We went out of our way to hire as many people as possible, in some cases, more than budgetary constraints allowed. I'm hoping people feel like they were treated fairly.

GS: One last question: This isn't the first time SOE has "rescued" an online game in a flagging state. Some time ago, SOE picked up The Matrix Online, which seemed to be in a similar situation. Is this sort of thing also a part of SOE's overall strategy, or are they just chance occurrences?

JS: Here's the thing: In many parts of the industry, you're seeing layoffs. In our company, you see growth. We do what we do because of talent, because of people who are good at what they do. You may see games that aren't as successful as [the developers would] like [them] to be, but to us, what are most valuable are the people and the talent.

97 Comments

  • Smintar

    Posted Jun 4, 2007 3:16 pm PT

    I havent been to happy with soeand allot of players havent either. Thye left eq in droves no longer have that sweet player base . Folks told them in forums what would happen if they kept pulling that crap. And when wow came out GONE. same with eq2 and swg did it to themselves as well this company is going down with On-line and I dont how long sony itseft will put up with them JM and Brad too bad .

    this statement alone [JS: Well, our strategy remains focused on very high-quality online games. We think Vanguard fits nicely into that. It's our most high-end game hardware-wise, and it's also our most "hardcore" game] can you believe this guy???

    Vanguard high en machines??? Folks even if u have a high en machine I have darn good High en maybe not as quite as high as dsome but that not the issue, evn Brad admitted bad idea to release early now he says but he knew this before release cause his people to wok een longer hours, the game is full of bugs on release and full of bugs even now the graphics in it r horrible even for a high en

  • instant0

    Posted May 22, 2007 7:34 am PT

    Hahahahahahahahaha!... Who did'nt see that one coming.. Its Vanguard! its Soe!.. How could it ever succeed!

  • illisium

    Posted May 18, 2007 12:54 pm PT

    If developers want to see growth in the MMOG sector, they need to start releasing MMOGs on consoles.

  • Taegre

    Posted May 18, 2007 10:36 am PT

    -earlthecannibal "World69star69, some peole just dont get it, video games are a hobby and hobbies cost money. It really annoys me that people think they should be able to use new technology with outdated equipment"

    Video games are NOT a hobby. Creating video games is, but not playing them. You are not producing, gaining or changing anything in the real world when you are playing a video game. And also, your computer is outdated right now. So's mine. So's everybody's. That's because the instant you upgrade your computer, it is out of date. Developers will already be making games meant to push past the maximum strength of your hardware. That's why it is great that there are some game makers out there creating games playable on weaker cards. They don't care about having the most advanced Radeon/NVidia card out there, and why should any of us if all we want to do is play the game for it's gameplay?

  • DrMario57

    Posted May 17, 2007 11:00 am PT

    Im sorry did i miss something....

    :
    Here's the thing. In many parts of the industry, you're seeing layoffs. In our company, you see growth.
    For the moment there is no 'growth' happening in the matrix online, I like the matrix online, i plan to go back, but thats because of the community which it just so happens to have because its THE MATRIX, not because SOE make me want to come back to it. There doing nothing about helping mxo stay alive.

  • red_shock

    Posted May 17, 2007 10:59 am PT

    How much more MMOs do we need? The only product I enjoyed out of Sony was my first mmo EverQuest. After they revamped the graphics, put players in non-diverse locations instead of their hometowns, etc. it has become horrible as much as their newer products. They are horrible in advertising!! When is the last time you saw them advertise EQ2 which was just released not so long ago? Vanguard will follow in the same footsteps. Blizzard is the new king of MMOs and blew Sony out of the water. Why? They knew how to market.

  • earlthecannibal

    Posted May 17, 2007 10:49 am PT

    Be quiet ...I order you to be quiet..... order me who does he think he is ? I'm your king..well I didnt vote for you
    you dont vote for kings..well how did you become king then?

  • GerrieB

    Posted May 17, 2007 7:59 am PT

    World69star69, you are right in regards to those that are playing on 4 year old machines with video cards that can't run Vanguard. I have seen so many complaints over the past year in this regard. Whether some like it or not..technology is constantly changing, so are the applications, programs. If you want to play in the Internet world you do have to adjust somewhat. Wow's graphics are not demanding therefore pretty much anyone with any kind of outdated machine can play it. It is unreasonable however, to expect that same machine to run the newer games. The newer games are gearing up for Vista operating systems, currently I dont' have Vista, I always wait a couple years to get a new OS from Microsoft due to bugs and incompatibility with other apps out there.
    But people have to realize...it IS a case of keeping up with the Joneses. I never have a machine that blows absolutely everything out of the water, but i do try to keep my vid card and ram up to par..along with the OS. Its just the way things are. If you can't afford to do that...then there's a choice you need to make obviously. Either save up for it or don't participate.

    This is not bashing by the way...its just common sense. The world and technology constantly advance. You can choose to be part of that..or you can choose not to be. Thats all there is to it.

    As I said before I am very sad at this turn of events re Vanguard..I had so many high hopes for it...I was a "Vangurl" and damned proud of it...I could see what this game would eventually be once it was all fixed. Now that SOE is taking over...and I KNOW what THEY are all about..with their poor customer service...they don't listen they take their damned sweet time about getting around to fixing whats broken, IF...and thats if you can find a person to talk to ...to get it fixed. No live CSR these days..its all automated scripts and loop-de-loops on the long distance phone lines. I dislike SOE for that. I dislike them for what they did to SWG and EQ...and now they have their clutches on Vanguard.
    Is this a good thing? I don't know. I loved Vanguard as a game..it was the best idea to come along. It had and HAS a ton of potential if done right. But the other thing I know is SOE will take it and "fix" it..and it will not be the same game with the same potential ever again.

    I will keep watching but my account stays closed...........

    GerrieB - beta 3.0 tester and one-time subscriber to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

  • GerrieB

    Posted May 17, 2007 7:35 am PT

    I have a few things to say. I am sad for those who are losing their jobs..from what I understand the Sigil staff numbered 100...at one point and time. I hear that 50 (probably of the best, brightest most talented) will be rehired by SOE.

    Vanguard is a beautiful game, if you have the graphics to look at it...I mean the card. I have a 7600GT , a relatively new dual core machine (year old as of this month) Most times I was able to play without too many things annoying me. I was a beta tester from September til launch. I reported my @ss off when I was there. I don't know if they are still fixing bugs, because I stopped playing. I kept my account going..in blind faith I guess. Now I read about how Mr Mcquaid really is...has always been. I guess he gets discouraged and walks away from the projects??? Twice that hat been recorded...as far as the blogs that I have been reading last two days.

    I agree I don't think Mr McQuaid should be in the driver's seat per se...its very hard for the artistic side to be put on the back burner while the business side takes over...the two don't mix well. I feel we as potential customers and then actual customers were fed alot of hot air by "some" of the Sigil team, but not all. There were a few straight shooters.

    Now down to my feelings about the whole thing. I am VERY VERY VERY sad about the failure of this game to make it. Yes I am talking about that potential.......its still there. Only trouble is...its SOE taking over.

    I have had accounts with Soe over the years since 1998 or there abouts...it has always been BAD BAD BAD customer service, they don't listen to their players they don't listen to customer complaints you can't reach a live person through the supposedly live chat tab on the knowledge base window. You can't reach them by phone, they put you in a phone loop back to the original number you called.
    Horrible customer service.

    As soon as I heard that the deal had been confirmed, I went in and cancelled my Vanguard account. Thats it for me. Soe will not change.........a leopard doesn't change its spots, and over the years Soe has held true to form. They are not getting any more of my money.....I have been lied to, ran around in circles...and basically badly treated as a customer over time.
    They had their chance.......its done now.
    Thanks for listening.

  • jphillips1868

    Posted May 17, 2007 4:35 am PT

    I figured Sigil would eventually sell out to SOE, but I didn't think it would be this soon. Too bad really.

  • Chaad_Losan

    Posted May 16, 2007 8:18 pm PT

    It will be about 12 to 18 months before the game is fit for playing. The game has horrible tools and after years of bad management it will take a long time to exercise the demons and repair the extensive damage to the game and the people, who's lives have been totally mess up by the last 15 months of 100 hour work weeks and Brad being MIA for the last six month. But he was not of any help anyway. Sigil is the classic example of children (mentally) trying to play grown ups. I'm speaking of the management. I saw this coming months ago and what I predicted happened as I thought it would. Only it happened two months sooner than I thought it would. I wish SOE the best of luck. But it's gonna be a very large mountain to climb to make this game what is should have been all along.

  • earlthecannibal

    Posted May 16, 2007 4:59 pm PT

    Hawkwin_1 --------The keyword is "Gamespot "gave a 8.3 remember they also gave the cartoon game -wow and the expansion "burning crusade a score of 8's and 9's for graphics vs. Vanguards 7 and LOTRO a 8. Do you see the pattern of inncorrect reviews here? I mean come on now..I dont really like LOTRO but a worse score than wow for graphics ? the fact that they gave Vanguard a 7 for graphics...well u get the idea this game given time will be awesome.

  • moriwenne

    Posted May 16, 2007 4:26 pm PT

    I'm an ex Vanguard player. I have only good things to say about this game, well almost. First and foremost I'd like to say something about the two biggest problems reported by so many that are non-existant imo, the hardware demand and the bugs. I don't know what the lower limit of hardware should be for us to care about someones complaint, I mean if someone with a pentium3 and a geforce 4 mx comes and says they cant play, does anyone care? Should the developers? Well in my case I always played the game in medium-high with no problems with an athlon 4000+ and a x1950 pro. This is a system thats 1 and a half year old cept for the graphics that is 5months old. I don't even have pci-express, my memory is still at 400mhz, if this is not what people wanting to play these games should have at this point I don't know what is. Bugs. Well there were some at launch but never, never did they stop me from playing and having fun and everyday there was a patch with new stuff fixed and eventually in a week there was hardly anything but game balance to fix and again none of it stopped me from playing or having fun. I did say at the beggining I was an ex player, well I left for two reasons. One reason was the fact that this game had very bad press I don't know why (most of it stating the two topics above which I never saw as a problem) and therefore the community suffered greatly and as such I had to stop playing for a week for personal reasons and when i came back, there were barely any new players coming in and I was always alone in the vastness of vanguard. At different times I was always having trouble getting a group going The 2nd reason was travel. Even with a horse I always found myself traveling from my main city to the place I was before either killing or completing quests. I always had stuff to do at the city and it was 10m riding to get there and 10m to come back. It got a bit boring and I would see very few people. I felt alone and a litte bored after 1 hour of play so I always stopped after that and then it just led me to cancel the subscription. I really love the graphics on this kind of game, warcraft is too much for the kids imo and also the community for this kind of game tends to be a little more grown up and that's important. But success is measured by different standards these days, look at the wii, selling like hot cakes, all the good press and what do I care? It's like a toy, a little kid's bike when what I want is a ferrari (xbox360,ps3 or pc). That's one of the strong suits of warcraft, it appeals to the teenagers (not only) out there and that's a big market share and that's why blizzard gets to announce at every corner that they have millions playing it. Sorry if I got too long. Feel feel to agree or disagree and comment on it. Thanks.

  • Hawkwin_1

    Posted May 16, 2007 4:20 pm PT

    world69star69 states:

    "This game is going to be the king of mmos in a few months! "

    Are you kidding? This game, without SIGNIFICANT changes, won't even beat LOTRO (8.3 by Gamespot), much less the king of MMOs.

  • Slayer420

    Posted May 16, 2007 1:56 pm PT

    Wow.. 200,000 copies sold.. o.O World of Warcraft better watch it's back...

  • earlthecannibal

    Posted May 16, 2007 11:54 am PT

    World69star69, some peole just dont get it, video games are a hobby and hobbies cost money. It really annoys me that people think they should be able to use new technology with outdated equipment and then go around telling others the technology is no good. What stinks even more is when game developers dumb down a game so everyone with 10 year old computers can play it... I worked hard to get my system all set up , why cant i enjoy it? because some lazy job less person doesnt have the money for a $400 graphics card? lol.. bottom line is people that have 10 year old equipment need a new hobby

  • Juspar75

    Posted May 16, 2007 11:33 am PT

    I participated in the development of Vanguard from about the midpoint of CU era SWG. I thought it would be my saviour (and that was BEFORE NGE). When Sigil switched publishers I dumped the whole project like a hot potato. SOE is a slipper yslope into despair and destruction. The game shipped before it was ready, a typical SOE tactic. Brad abandoned The Vision (tm), and has now abandoned the promise that Sigil would always maintain creative control regardless of the publisher. Don't get me wrong, I love what the team envisioned, with all it's corpse runs and diplomacy. They just never delivered and now it's gone over to the dark side.

    Hold your breath, here comes the NGE bat.

  • earlthecannibal

    Posted May 16, 2007 11:33 am PT

    Lil69Leo, My comment on LOTRO 's lore was based on it being good for a MMO ( I love the movies and the books) it just does not in anyway make for a good MMO-imo -one example is there are only 5 wizards in the whole lotr world ...not having a mage class in a fantasy mmo is like not having a barbarian class in conan ...the bottom line is the lore in LOTRO (from a mmo game stand point is boring to me)

  • Banshe

    Posted May 16, 2007 1:53 am PT

    Look world69star69 , I have been playing this kind of game since early UO times, my PC is way above recommended specs and I have 3 things to say about this game. 1º The game is very filled with bugs since launch, unlike WOW and LOTRO, and like it or not those raised the minimum quality standards without requiring a high end machine. 2º The graphics of this game do not reflect the recommended requirements, even with all options on high it's not even like EQ2.
    3º Even though i can live with corpse runs to retrieve my gear, most players don't. The servers are quite empty because the Hardcore community isn't big, it's from the times when 500K subscribers were considered a success, and from those 500K many prefer the new approach of not getting XP debt or having to bother retrieving their stuff.
    Even though you and many might love this game, and it does have a lot of potential for the future (if they ever manage to polish it), it's a failure compared to their rivals, no matter how it's fans like it or not.

  • world69star69

    Posted May 15, 2007 9:58 pm PT

    I am not bashing people that have inferior pcs, it just I read review after review on the games I like where people bash some games, give them low scores on reviews because they are using 3-4 year old low-end hardware to begin with. How many times do I see someone give a game a 2 score, because they thought they should be able to max out graphics on a 5200fx and a Pentium 4 2 ghz with 256mb ram. that is what I am getting at. The same people say Vanguard or Oblivion is ugly, and sucks, well if they spent more then $60 on a video card it wouldn't so don't say a game is ugly because you can't play it on high settings with decent fps. These same people play wow on high and expect every game to play on high. Wows graphics are low polygon simple 1 layer textures with a graphics engine made in 2001, of course they can play it on high with low end equip from 3 years ago. Does that answer your question Taegre? I like being able to have the latest and greatest, I could care less if others do, or not, I just don't like it when they rate a game bad looking because they don't!

  • Taegre

    Posted May 15, 2007 9:29 pm PT

    world69star69, I agree with a lot of what you say, but why do you have to keep bashing people with "inferior" PCs? People shouldn't be so dedicated to games, PC or otherwise, that they need to spend most of their money keeping their machine up-to-date that they could otherwise spend on more productive ventures. I stopped playing online PC games almost entirely because I couldn't stand people bragging about their $2000 rigs. I choose not to play games with the best resolution and framerate possible, but as long as I can play the game aren't my arguments valid as a (former) PC gamer?

  • world69star69

    Posted May 15, 2007 9:15 pm PT

    Its such a stark contrast on this board compared to the now official Vanguard boards, but it seems the only vanguard players here responding to this and not bashing it are myself and earlthecannibal. 95% of everyone posting on the official forums are giving soe thanks and praise for taking over and not letting the game die, smed even admitted his mistakes with NGE and Star wars galaxy and promised that they have learned from there mistakes and won't make any major changes like that. They are going to be pumping money into the game, why is this a bad thing? Sigil ran out of money because of bad management, they did not sell out, the other alternative was what? To end the game and piss off the 200,000 players who like love to play and pay to play? I don't think so, SOE is saving our game, giving most of the original dev team the job to fix it and add to it, adding more programmers to fix bugs, improove performance, etc... This game is going to be the king of mmos in a few months! It allready has the content all it needs is the bug fixes and more high end content. There is no other game with as much class/race choice. landmass exploration or 3 spheres of play 2 of them non combat. With player housing, this game has it all. Only people who like cartoon graphics, have low end hardware, or console gamers that are on rails with no freedom, would not like vanguard, oh wait thats probably most of the people bashing the game here!

  • Lil69Leo

    Posted May 15, 2007 8:55 pm PT

    Earth if you think a game based of the LotR books is low on lore you make you self look pretty stupid I was in closed and open beta of LotR:O and lore is not something its missing yes its a shallow game but most MMORPGs tend to be nowadays since they all try to clone off of WoW. Vanguard needs alot of work yes but it could turn out alright if they dont make you buy 2000 expansions.

  • Taegre

    Posted May 15, 2007 8:42 pm PT

    Eh, I've no interest in MMORPGs until a modern one comes around with at least a few features like The Matrix Online. Kung-Fu, nu-metal, great clothes from beginning to end, Jada Pinkett-Smith, nu-metal, jumping off skyscrapers, great array of modern weapons, trying to invade enemy faction secret meetings, and nu-metal.

    Then again I can't afford MxO's subscription fees anymore so whatever MMORPG that comes out next would be out of my range as well.

  • Adam_the_Nerd

    Posted May 15, 2007 8:30 pm PT

    Great Sony! You acquired yet another company so you can crank out another Everquest clone or an RPG that doesn't live up to other developers.

  • earlthecannibal

    Posted May 15, 2007 8:04 pm PT

    LMAO -thanks for the good laugh Tekkor LOTRO has just as good of graphics as Vanguard -you obviously still play Pc games with a outdated computer ,a blind person could tell the difference .Plus graphics dont have a whole lot to do with what makes a good game- LOTRO is a shallow game with crappy armor and lore.The fact you mention wow makes your opinion worthless.

  • Tekkor

    Posted May 15, 2007 7:54 pm PT

    Well as someone who did give Vanguard a try (and I reviewed it on this site and gave my reasons for why it sucks)...I can say this doesnt surprise me at all. Some of you may be living in a box and want to insist its a condo....but I saw this game for what it was and the dozens of people I know who tried it and are now playing LOTRO with me or decided to stay with Wow saw it as well.

    You can justify all you want about needing to spend money for your hobby to have a system to run this game. Thats just such bs...Im sorry.

    LOTRO has graphics FAR superior to Vanguard in every possible way and it runs perfectly on a system with a third of the horsepower.

    Vanguard is a bloated and unfinished game. If you want to defend and pay money to play a game that is inferior to other games on the market (i.e. Wow, LOTRO and even EQ2) then your not fooling anyone but yourself.

    This game is horrible and going in the tank. SoE is just doing its dog shelter strategy in that if they cant get 2 million people playing one game they will get them playing 18 games.

  • JamesL007

    Posted May 15, 2007 7:35 pm PT

    Vanguard is a great game, I hope Sony does good things with it. Peace

  • svaubel

    Posted May 15, 2007 7:28 pm PT

    Lets hope sony wont slowly drain the life out of Vanguard like it did with EQ1

  • alsha3er78

    Posted May 15, 2007 7:05 pm PT

    never played vanguard before.

  • Pete5506

    Posted May 15, 2007 6:44 pm PT

    I was looking at it, but I don't think I will spend my money on it

  • dadeisvenm

    Posted May 15, 2007 6:19 pm PT

    I'm going to buy Vangard next week. The developers deserve the support in my opinion. This is a raw deal.

  • Outlawlaw

    Posted May 15, 2007 6:17 pm PT

    I did not see that one coming. Especially since Vanguard was distributed by SOE entertainment.

    Oh look, the forums are ablaze with exchanges that have nothing to do with the article.

    Typical.

  • world69star69

    Posted May 15, 2007 6:13 pm PT

    I can't help but notice all the people who say vanguard sucks have cutsie japacrapa-maplestory type avatars or are console lovers, they probably never played the game becaues they don't have good enough machines to run a game like vanguard and instead play free korean based mmos like maple story, where all the hyper active youth are playing on there moms 5 year old dells. Need I say more? It just gets me mad when people bash a game and never even tried it! I remember all the kids who said Oblivion sucked becuase there pcs where too ancient to play it. Or they dissed community mods, because they couldn't get them on their 360s. .....Please people need to stop putting down games they have never even tried. And I am sick and tired of people giving games low reviews because they have inferior hardware. That doesn't mean the game sucks, it just means that you have to invest in your hobby a little.

  • runstalker

    Posted May 15, 2007 6:09 pm PT

    Is it any wonder why Sony loses money? While it's a drop in the bucket, Vanguard is a perfect example: when faced with the choice of delaying the game and funding [much needed] further development, Sony forced Sigil to release a really cocked-up, incomplete game. It hit them hard in Beta and hit them harder in retail, as news spread about Vanguard's shoddy state at launch.

    Sony could have done the right thing as a publisher, delayed the game to tighten it up... instead they looked at their cards, figured 'What the heck, we've already got it on our all-in-one Station pass -- who cares if we ship a rough product. We'll just patch it." And so Vanguard, once a shining beacon of next-gen MMO'ness, once a Microsoft-published project, now relegated to the MMO ghetto known as SOE Station pass. Brad man, you really messed this one up. Lost half your staff in the process dude. Why didn't you fight harder to get funding on a couple more months of dev. Oops?

  • ThugNMe

    Posted May 15, 2007 6:06 pm PT

    Was thinking of buying this in a few months. not now.

  • Azeren

    Posted May 15, 2007 6:03 pm PT

    SOE cannot be completely blamed for SWG, that was mainly Lucas Arts fault. If they didn't do what Lucas Arts wanted, they could have had the Star Wars license removed. SOE deserves absolutely no blame for MXO, that game was a failure before SOE bought it and put it on some sort of life support.

    Overall, SOE has done very well with its own online games. People complain about their changes on EQ1, however overall they did a very good job. EQ2 is one of the best MMOs out there, but because of a rough start, it does not have the numbers.

    Vanguard is a very good game with a lot of potential. SOE should be able to bring that potential to light and bring the game to a polished state for a rerelease around November. Even with the bugs and balance issues, they game is still better than most.

  • foulu625

    Posted May 15, 2007 6:03 pm PT

    rofl, another one of Brad's lies comes to the front. "SOE will have nothing to do with Vanguard." O rly Brad? Maybe they should focus less on making promises and more on actually making a game. I can't wait for Vanguard to die a slow agonizing death, or even better stay in purgatory like SWG.

  • world69star69

    Posted May 15, 2007 5:59 pm PT

    This can only be a good thing! I am an avid Vanguard player I have been playing since before it was live. I must say it has more content, then any other mmo, as far as things to do, choices, freedom, exploration, non-combat activities(1/2 the game isn't about combat, unlike all the other mmos that focus strickly on.), great graphics focused on realism rather then cartoons and cheesy crapanamie kiddie bullcrap, and most of all the game has depth! It is the sandbox game of mmos. Many people on GS and forums dis the game, and have never even played it, they just hear someone dis it and repeat what they heard. Most of the people who do dis the game are people who have low end machines because Vanguards massive seamless world and graphics require a mid-high end machine. The community is also a factor in why i love the game. I am not talking about the forum people at some affiliate sites as they are mostly people that don't play or played and quit and want to troll and bring the game down. I am talking about the actual guys and gals in the game playing that are all helpful and mature. It makes a big difference! I am 28 and it is nice to play a game where most people are between 18 and 60, and the ones under 18 don't act like hyper active retards who annoy and grief, for you see most of them are playing the other 2 popular mmos- wow and lotro which are more on rails and are easy mode level 60 in 4 days instant gratification for the young ones with little patience. I am not puting anyone down, I am just stating how it usually is with some exceptions on both sides of course. Most of us vanguard players knew this was going to happen weeks ago, its just now official! It can only mean that Vanguard is going to get better! Bow they will have the funds and the staff to add more and more to it, not like they haven't alrready. Every week this game gets a content update, its great. If you have the hardware capable of running vanguard, you like exploration, and elder scrolls style worlds but in a mmo, give vanguard a try! Most of the bugs have been worked out, and it is soloable if that is your thing. It will be getting better and better. I could go on for hours on all the things that are unique and entice me about this game but i want to get back to playing games not writing about them.

  • rokkuman09

    Posted May 15, 2007 5:45 pm PT

    Poor Vanguard players.. poor vanguard players. Now that SOE has acquired this game, prepare for it to be destroyed and changed about.. every 3 months.. They destroyed SWG too.. I'm never playing one of there games again.

  • proteKYFM

    Posted May 15, 2007 5:22 pm PT

    Well, we all saw this coming... hopefully SOE can do something to fix Vanguard: SoH before it's dead for good.

  • nikefreak

    Posted May 15, 2007 4:44 pm PT

    Oh look! Another developer is sucked into the black abyss known as Sony. :\

  • Sheiko

    Posted May 15, 2007 4:34 pm PT

    SOE isn't a good divsion of Sony their too much like microsoft which is kinda ironic since microsoft had a good hand in Vanguard. I would know both are not up to par.

  • Makhdoom82

    Posted May 15, 2007 4:18 pm PT

    Another RPG .... Lets see !!!

  • myomer

    Posted May 15, 2007 4:09 pm PT

    Start the clock gang, Vanguard has started its obsolescence and it'll end up just like Matrix Online. 200k copies for what is supposed to be a high sub game.....

  • conkertheduke88

    Posted May 15, 2007 4:02 pm PT

    lol a CoV and CoH port to consoles... what an idiot... these games were worse than vanguard... and the only thing i ever purchased and liked from sony was EQ and they managed to screw it up

  • ex-paranoia

    Posted May 15, 2007 3:58 pm PT

    Corporations, a beautiful thing.

  • sdkingsht

    Posted May 15, 2007 3:56 pm PT

    not sure about anyone else but city of villains and city of heroes is something i'd love to see on the ps3. or this game too. kind of like an mmo oblivion. but there's a mmo from dc comics in the works right?

  • anime-2k3

    Posted May 15, 2007 3:41 pm PT

    A sad day.

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