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If Smedley's position and bonuses are dependent on conventional businessn standards...
hubertgrove
Member Posts: 1,141
If Smedley's position and bonuses are dependent on conventional business standards...
...by which I mean subscriber numbers, subscriber revenue, market-share and, a softer target, positive PR, how the hell do he and his senior team manage to keep their jobs?
Smedley must be responsible to some corporate officer or board in one of the Sony umbrella corporations. Surely, by every standard of business success, he must have failed to deliver his targets for SWG and the Lucas Arts partnership.
Does anyone have any comments on this? Or any further information to offer - I mean, to whom do SOE and its executives report?
Comments
Shayde - SWG (dead)
Proud member of the Cabal.
It sounds great, so great in fact, I pitty those who canceled
I don't like it when you say things. - A Vanguard fan who does too.
09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0
Come on now, I'm serious. Is it that, to Sony the parent company, SWG just isn't that important a revenue source?
They took a risk.
They failed.
Have you never taken a risk at your job (assuming you're old enough to have one)?
Have you never made a mistake at your job?
As Freeman said, you don't get to the position Smed is in without having taken a few risks along the way.
Other than SWG, SOE is doing quite well. EQ is doing pretty decent for a 8 year old game, EQII is doing better than any other diku fantasy MMO going against WoW, MxO has gotten better. They have a couple MMOs in the works, one of which looks extremely promising (the spy/espionage one).
SWG isn't their only concern. They have other interests.
You don't fire the CEO of McDonalds because the Big N Tasty isn't selling well, and they still have the Big Mac and Quarter Pounder on the menu (and still selling).
They've had some management turnover, no doubt some have even been fired.
You think that taking the best game ever made and turning it into the worst should effect his pay scale? No way man that would make toomuch sense.This IS SOE after all.
Critical thinking is a desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and hatred for every kind of imposture.
Nasedoo: You said traders would get a revamp under my supervision.
Darth Lord Blixtev: I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.
Yes, I have had a job before. I am a forty year old copywriter, if that helps.
I have made mistakes in the accounts I handle - but I don't make mistakes of exceptional severity on a regular or even consistent basis as it it seems that Smedley and his team have done, and certainly I never tried to cover up my mistakes nor told anything but the truth about them.
Now, we all know that the subscriber numbers for SWG have fallen exceptionally thanks to the NGE. We were told - and probably so were Smedley's bosses at Sony - that the NGE was backed by extensive market research and customer focus groups. This has since proven not to be true. The customer base has been told untruths on a regular basis - even Smedley admits that the marketing information accompanying the launch of the Mustafar expansion was false in the light of the NGE that was launched only a few days later.
I agree that EQII must be considered a relative success. Vanguard will probably be a slow grower but a grower nonetheless. But SWG should have been a great and growing success - based rather on the Second Life model rather than the WoW model. Howevber, it has been managed by Smedley and his team into the ground.
It is true that you don't fire the President of Macdonalds for screwing upn the Big N tasty; but you do fitre him if he screws up the Big Mac. So i come back to my original point. Smedley and his team have made extraordinarily poor tactical and strategic errors in the implementation, operation and marketing of SWG. These errors have led directly to tangible results - a decisive fall in revenue/subscriber numbers/brand perception. So, how have they managed to keep their jobs? I'm serious.
Yes, I have had a job before. I am a forty year old copywriter, if that helps.
I have made mistakes in the accounts I handle - but I don't make mistakes of exceptional severity on a regular or even consistent basis as it it seems that Smedley and his team have done, and certainly I never tried to cover up my mistakes nor told anything but the truth about them.
Now, we all know that the subscriber numbers for SWG have fallen exceptionally thanks to the NGE. We were told - and probably so were Smedley's bosses at Sony - that the NGE was backed by extensive market research and customer focus groups. This has since proven not to be true. The customer base has been told untruths on a regular basis - even Smedley admits that the marketing information accompanying the launch of the Mustafar expansion was false in the light of the NGE that was launched only a few days later.
I agree that EQII must be considered a relative success. Vanguard will probably be a slow grower but a grower nonetheless. But SWG should have been a great and growing success - based rather on the Second Life model rather than the WoW model. Howevber, it has been managed by Smedley and his team into the ground.
It is true that you don't fire the President of Macdonalds for screwing upn the Big N tasty; but you do fitre him if he screws up the Big Mac. So i come back to my original point. Smedley and his team have made extraordinarily poor tactical and strategic errors in the implementation, operation and marketing of SWG. These errors have led directly to tangible results - a decisive fall in revenue/subscriber numbers/brand perception. So, how have they managed to keep their jobs? I'm serious.
maybe alot of butt kissing? who's going to firer John smedley? hes the boss ... only thing that can happen if Lucasarts pulls out of SOE and go's to bio wareNasedoo: You said traders would get a revamp under my supervision.
Darth Lord Blixtev: I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.
The information I have quoted comes from a variety of links and sources - almost all of them quoted in different posts in this forum. While the subscription figures for SWG are not known - unlike almost every other MMORPG, SOE no longer issues playe numbers - Smedley himself has admitted that subscriber rates are significantly down after the NGE.
Yes, I have had a job before. I am a forty year old copywriter, if that helps.
I have made mistakes in the accounts I handle - but I don't make mistakes of exceptional severity on a regular or even consistent basis as it it seems that Smedley and his team have done, and certainly I never tried to cover up my mistakes nor told anything but the truth about them.
Now, we all know that the subscriber numbers for SWG have fallen exceptionally thanks to the NGE. We were told - and probably so were Smedley's bosses at Sony - that the NGE was backed by extensive market research and customer focus groups. This has since proven not to be true. The customer base has been told untruths on a regular basis - even Smedley admits that the marketing information accompanying the launch of the Mustafar expansion was false in the light of the NGE that was launched only a few days later.
I agree that EQII must be considered a relative success. Vanguard will probably be a slow grower but a grower nonetheless. But SWG should have been a great and growing success - based rather on the Second Life model rather than the WoW model. Howevber, it has been managed by Smedley and his team into the ground.
It is true that you don't fire the President of Macdonalds for screwing upn the Big N tasty; but you do fitre him if he screws up the Big Mac. So i come back to my original point. Smedley and his team have made extraordinarily poor tactical and strategic errors in the implementation, operation and marketing of SWG. These errors have led directly to tangible results - a decisive fall in revenue/subscriber numbers/brand perception. So, how have they managed to keep their jobs? I'm serious.
maybe alot of butt kissing? who's going to firer John smedley? hes the boss ... only thing that can happen if Lucasarts pulls out of SOE and go's to bio wareI disagreel. SOE is a wholly owned subsidiary of, I think, Sony Entertainment. SOE MUST make figures set by SE. Ultimately, all the divisions, affiliates and companies though miust answer to Sony's shareholders. So if a division doesn't make its figures or c=screws up a great business opportunity or is dishonest, then the management is reshuffled. isn't it?
The information I have quoted comes from a variety of links and sources - almost all of them quoted in different posts in this forum. While the subscription figures for SWG are not known - unlike almost every other MMORPG, SOE no longer issues playe numbers - Smedley himself has admitted that subscriber rates are significantly down after the NGE.
but they are not going to do anything. so why we talking about it. SWG all ways going to be here. even with 4k of people they will have all servers up and working...
so again. why we talking about something thats never going to change?
Nasedoo: You said traders would get a revamp under my supervision.
Darth Lord Blixtev: I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.
Yes, I have had a job before. I am a forty year old copywriter, if that helps.
I have made mistakes in the accounts I handle - but I don't make mistakes of exceptional severity on a regular or even consistent basis as it it seems that Smedley and his team have done, and certainly I never tried to cover up my mistakes nor told anything but the truth about them.
Now, we all know that the subscriber numbers for SWG have fallen exceptionally thanks to the NGE. We were told - and probably so were Smedley's bosses at Sony - that the NGE was backed by extensive market research and customer focus groups. This has since proven not to be true. The customer base has been told untruths on a regular basis - even Smedley admits that the marketing information accompanying the launch of the Mustafar expansion was false in the light of the NGE that was launched only a few days later.
I agree that EQII must be considered a relative success. Vanguard will probably be a slow grower but a grower nonetheless. But SWG should have been a great and growing success - based rather on the Second Life model rather than the WoW model. Howevber, it has been managed by Smedley and his team into the ground.
It is true that you don't fire the President of Macdonalds for screwing upn the Big N tasty; but you do fitre him if he screws up the Big Mac. So i come back to my original point. Smedley and his team have made extraordinarily poor tactical and strategic errors in the implementation, operation and marketing of SWG. These errors have led directly to tangible results - a decisive fall in revenue/subscriber numbers/brand perception. So, how have they managed to keep their jobs? I'm serious.
maybe alot of butt kissing? who's going to firer John smedley? hes the boss ... only thing that can happen if Lucasarts pulls out of SOE and go's to bio wareI disagreel. SOE is a wholly owned subsidiary of, I think, Sony Entertainment. SOE MUST make figures set by SE. Ultimately, all the divisions, affiliates and companies though miust answer to Sony's shareholders. So if a division doesn't make its figures or c=screws up a great business opportunity or is dishonest, then the management is reshuffled. isn't it?
yeah but thats not going to help SWG ... i mean come on.. they added to much shit. and screwed around with SWG for a few years now since pre-cu was gone.. it would be very hard and iimpossible to put pre-cu back in... and fix the bugs it brings
Nasedoo: You said traders would get a revamp under my supervision.
Darth Lord Blixtev: I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.
Actually, I believe not only would he still have a job, he'd get huge bonuses for Sigil deal combined with the layoff of 10% of the staff in Europe. You need to remember, what you call failures and what companies call failures are two different things. Companies care about profits above all else and Smedley can squeeze $$$ out of any game, dead or not. Sony is making HUGE money on their servers where RMT is legal and expect that to expand to all of their games including Vanguard. Sooner or later, Brad McQuaid will sell out to Smedley and ride off into the sunset. I honestly believe Brad is about to get his golden parachute and Vanguard will be a HUGE win for the SoE MMOG empire.
Share holders care about one thing and that is dividends. Smed gives that to them by the bucket loads so he is safe.
Fear not fanbois, we are not trolls, let's take off your tin foil hat and learn what VAPORWARE is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware
"Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product."
The information I have quoted comes from a variety of links and sources - almost all of them quoted in different posts in this forum. While the subscription figures for SWG are not known - unlike almost every other MMORPG, SOE no longer issues playe numbers - Smedley himself has admitted that subscriber rates are significantly down after the NGE.
but they are not going to do anything. so why we talking about it. SWG all ways going to be here. even with 4k of people they will have all servers up and working...
so again. why we talking about something thats never going to change?
We're talking about it because it's interesting. And how do you know 'they are not going to do anything'? I am guessing you are a European - I am from the UK myself and our ideas of corporate governance are closer to those of the US. IE. if business managers screw up or are dishonest, they get fired bu the board of directors.
The information I have quoted comes from a variety of links and sources - almost all of them quoted in different posts in this forum. While the subscription figures for SWG are not known - unlike almost every other MMORPG, SOE no longer issues playe numbers - Smedley himself has admitted that subscriber rates are significantly down after the NGE.
but they are not going to do anything. so why we talking about it. SWG all ways going to be here. even with 4k of people they will have all servers up and working...
so again. why we talking about something thats never going to change?
We're talking about it because it's interesting. And how do you know 'they are not going to do anything'? I am guessing you are a European - I am from the UK myself and our ideas of corporate governance are closer to those of the US. IE. if business managers screw up or are dishonest, they get fired bu the board of directors.
will some one needs to start fireing people.... i get a happy win some one from SWG/SOE gets fired. makes me feel good and give s me a tiny bit of hope that some day SOE would see the light and make Pre-cu
Nasedoo: You said traders would get a revamp under my supervision.
Darth Lord Blixtev: I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.
Actually, I believe not only would he still have a job, he'd get huge bonuses for Sigil deal combined with the layoff of 10% of the staff in Europe. You need to remember, what you call failures and what companies call failures are two different things. Companies care about profits above all else and Smedley can squeeze $$$ out of any game, dead or not. Sony is making HUGE money on their servers where RMT is legal and expect that to expand to all of their games including Vanguard. Sooner or later, Brad McQuaid will sell out to Smedley and ride off into the sunset. I honestly believe Brad is about to get his golden parachute and Vanguard will be a HUGE win for the SoE MMOG empire.
Share holders care about one thing and that is dividends. Smed gives that to them by the bucket loads so he is safe.
I agree that Smedley has done some smart massaging of the figures - one of the reasons that SWG's subscriber figures are so hard to fix precisely is because Smedley introduced the Station Pass concept so that SWG's declining subscriber base can be hidden in the stable and perhaps subscriber base of EQ2 and now Vanguard.
SWG in 2003 had a quarter of a million subscribers. Now, according to all the best estimates, it has less than 100,000. If they all paid - for the sake of argument - $10 a month that means the revjnue from SWG fell from $30m per year to $12m. That's a vast business failure right there. So - why hasnt' Sony come down on him hard?
I agree that Smedley has done some smart massaging of the figures - one of the reasons that SWG's subscriber figures are so hard to fix precisely is because Smedley introduced the Station Pass concept so that SWG's declining subscriber base can be hidden in the stable and perhaps subscriber base of EQ2 and now Vanguard.
SWG in 2003 had a quarter of a million subscribers. Now, according to all the best estimates, it has less than 100,000. If they all paid - for the sake of argument - $10 a month that means the revjnue from SWG fell from $30m per year to $12m. That's a vast business failure right there. So - why hasnt' Sony come down on him hard?
I think you may not be looking at the "whole" picture. Perhaps like many say, SE is only interested in profits, so if SoE as a whole is doing well, ( EQ 2, MxO, other MMo's) than SWG may be overlooked. SE may also be looking at SWG like some MMo with a life of about 4 years after release. The subscriber delcine might be seen as "acceptable" if its looked at as natural MMo life cycle. While I agree that NGE deffintley killed the player base, it was and always would of been innevitable that SWG would losea significant amount of those 500,000 ( especially with WoW dominatingf the market )
So in short, SWG might not be looked at as a HUGE failure but rather a tiny one when compared with the total profits of SoE.
Vangaurd on the other hand... someone's losing something over that
Yes, I have had a job before. I am a forty year old copywriter, if that helps.
I have made mistakes in the accounts I handle - but I don't make mistakes of exceptional severity on a regular or even consistent basis as it it seems that Smedley and his team have done, and certainly I never tried to cover up my mistakes nor told anything but the truth about them.
Now, we all know that the subscriber numbers for SWG have fallen exceptionally thanks to the NGE. We were told - and probably so were Smedley's bosses at Sony - that the NGE was backed by extensive market research and customer focus groups. This has since proven not to be true. The customer base has been told untruths on a regular basis - even Smedley admits that the marketing information accompanying the launch of the Mustafar expansion was false in the light of the NGE that was launched only a few days later.
I agree that EQII must be considered a relative success. Vanguard will probably be a slow grower but a grower nonetheless. But SWG should have been a great and growing success - based rather on the Second Life model rather than the WoW model. Howevber, it has been managed by Smedley and his team into the ground.
It is true that you don't fire the President of Macdonalds for screwing upn the Big N tasty; but you do fitre him if he screws up the Big Mac. So i come back to my original point. Smedley and his team have made extraordinarily poor tactical and strategic errors in the implementation, operation and marketing of SWG. These errors have led directly to tangible results - a decisive fall in revenue/subscriber numbers/brand perception. So, how have they managed to keep their jobs? I'm serious.
maybe alot of butt kissing? who's going to firer John smedley? hes the boss ... only thing that can happen if Lucasarts pulls out of SOE and go's to bio wareI disagreel. SOE is a wholly owned subsidiary of, I think, Sony Entertainment. SOE MUST make figures set by SE. Ultimately, all the divisions, affiliates and companies though miust answer to Sony's shareholders. So if a division doesn't make its figures or c=screws up a great business opportunity or is dishonest, then the management is reshuffled. isn't it?
SOE, as a whole, has less total subscribers today, across all their games (including the Station Pass subscribers), as they had with just EQ a few years ago. The company has to maintain more games with less income. I think John Smedley is pretty safe in his position sue to how much stock he received as part of selling Verant to Sony. Then again, across all of Sony's divisions completely baffling decisions have been made which have cost the company large amounts of money. It is also quite possible that making bad decisions and failing are a part of Sony's business culture, and since John Smedley has achieved both, he is held up by the company as a standard of success.
Yes, I have had a job before. I am a forty year old copywriter, if that helps.
I have made mistakes in the accounts I handle - but I don't make mistakes of exceptional severity on a regular or even consistent basis as it it seems that Smedley and his team have done, and certainly I never tried to cover up my mistakes nor told anything but the truth about them.
Now, we all know that the subscriber numbers for SWG have fallen exceptionally thanks to the NGE. We were told - and probably so were Smedley's bosses at Sony - that the NGE was backed by extensive market research and customer focus groups. This has since proven not to be true. The customer base has been told untruths on a regular basis - even Smedley admits that the marketing information accompanying the launch of the Mustafar expansion was false in the light of the NGE that was launched only a few days later.
I agree that EQII must be considered a relative success. Vanguard will probably be a slow grower but a grower nonetheless. But SWG should have been a great and growing success - based rather on the Second Life model rather than the WoW model. Howevber, it has been managed by Smedley and his team into the ground.
It is true that you don't fire the President of Macdonalds for screwing upn the Big N tasty; but you do fitre him if he screws up the Big Mac. So i come back to my original point. Smedley and his team have made extraordinarily poor tactical and strategic errors in the implementation, operation and marketing of SWG. These errors have led directly to tangible results - a decisive fall in revenue/subscriber numbers/brand perception. So, how have they managed to keep their jobs? I'm serious.
maybe alot of butt kissing? who's going to firer John smedley? hes the boss ... only thing that can happen if Lucasarts pulls out of SOE and go's to bio wareI disagreel. SOE is a wholly owned subsidiary of, I think, Sony Entertainment. SOE MUST make figures set by SE. Ultimately, all the divisions, affiliates and companies though miust answer to Sony's shareholders. So if a division doesn't make its figures or c=screws up a great business opportunity or is dishonest, then the management is reshuffled. isn't it?
SOE, as a whole, has less total subscribers today, across all their games (including the Station Pass subscribers), as they had with just EQ a few years ago. The company has to maintain more games with less income. I think John Smedley is pretty safe in his position sue to how much stock he received as part of selling Verant to Sony. Then again, across all of Sony's divisions completely baffling decisions have been made which have cost the company large amounts of money. It is also quite possible that making bad decisions and failing are a part of Sony's business culture, and since John Smedley has achieved both, he is held up by the company as a standard of success.
He he. A good if mad but probably accurate point.
Yes, Smedley and SOE took a risk and they failed, not just failed but failed miserably. It happens to companies all the time but the big difference here is Smedley and company seem to fail time after time after time. Yet, Sony keeps this guy around. Go figure.
The on-line gaming community knows Smedley and SOE are the gaming worlds laughstock. This is no secret.
SOE's reputation is of a company that takes games and completely demolishes them to the point no one really wants to play them. They have a stable of the crappiest games out although many like Galaxies didn't start off that way.
How they manage to stay afloat is a wonder in itself.
You are missing the point. The chances are very minimal that the share holder collecting profits from SoE shares also play MMOGs. If they are playing in the stock market, they have a lot better things to do than worry about SWGs getting bonkered. All they care about is profits are up, up, and up! My money says Smed will the biggest bonus of his career this year because of the Vanguard deal and the expansion into Asia.
Fear not fanbois, we are not trolls, let's take off your tin foil hat and learn what VAPORWARE is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware
"Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product."
I agree that Smedley has done some smart massaging of the figures - one of the reasons that SWG's subscriber figures are so hard to fix precisely is because Smedley introduced the Station Pass concept so that SWG's declining subscriber base can be hidden in the stable and perhaps subscriber base of EQ2 and now Vanguard.
SWG in 2003 had a quarter of a million subscribers. Now, according to all the best estimates, it has less than 100,000. If they all paid - for the sake of argument - $10 a month that means the revjnue from SWG fell from $30m per year to $12m. That's a vast business failure right there. So - why hasnt' Sony come down on him hard?
I think you may not be looking at the "whole" picture. Perhaps like many say, SE is only interested in profits, so if SoE as a whole is doing well, ( EQ 2, MxO, other MMo's) than SWG may be overlooked. SE may also be looking at SWG like some MMo with a life of about 4 years after release. The subscriber delcine might be seen as "acceptable" if its looked at as natural MMo life cycle. While I agree that NGE deffintley killed the player base, it was and always would of been innevitable that SWG would losea significant amount of those 500,000 ( especially with WoW dominatingf the market )
So in short, SWG might not be looked at as a HUGE failure but rather a tiny one when compared with the total profits of SoE.
Vangaurd on the other hand... someone's losing something over that
SOE has fewer total subscribers, with all their games combined, than they had with just EQ a few years ago. There has been a subscriber decline across all their games in the past two years (EQ2 is currently experiencing a small subscription 'bump', but it was losing subscribers until the last expansion came out). EQ2, SOe's biggest game currently, doesn't even have as large of subscription numbers that SWG had at its peak.
SOE as a company is doing worse than they were a few years ago.
Revenue is down. No doubt. But the game HAS recouped development costs, therefore it CAN take a hit in revenue but remain profitable. The business model says "X number of subscribers times X months = initial development costs recouped". Every game is built around that. And SWG for up to two years after launch still had a fairly decent sub base (150K to 200K is rumored). It was after that two years that it rapidly begin to decline, according to educated sources.
Nobody knows that sort of deal SOE has with LA with regards to the Star Wars IP (Did they 'buy' it for a lump sum at the beginning? Did they put up cash, then promise percentage of revenue? Did they offer a fixed amount per month/year?). NOONE knows. Not the mythical 10 mil per year babbly some of the other chuckleheads say it is.
The game NEEDED 30 mil per year for the first two years to recoup dev costs and ongoing expenses. Now? 12 mil per year is probably making all kinds of money for SOE, because SWG likely doesn't cost all that much money to operate (skeleton dev crew, shared CSRs with EQ/EQ2/Mxo/etc, central billing via the Station Pass).
Anyone know how long Smed has been the CEO at SOE?
I rememeber reading somewhere that any CEO that has remained in his position for longer then 6 or 7 years has become stagnant in his field. If Smed is an ambitious man (whcih I'm certain he must be) then I'm sure he's feeling the industry presure to move on.
Now, if we can only get some company to take him in.
They got caught, but they did business as usual.
So does everyone else.
Or wasn't this what you were asking?
To put things in perspective - SOE is still here. But there's thousands of game developers that go out of business every year. So they are doing everything right, they are making money, and executives get awarded for that.
If there's money, it's split between employees. 1% between grunts, 99% between CxOs. If there isn't any money left, Chapter 11 is filed, and company sold off, with profits from sales given to CxOs.
These are business standards.
I.E. planetside (which isn't bad actually) has not had a real update or content patch in a very, very long time.
EQI is drowning in its own bile.... if not only because it's old....