This is what happens when non gamers run a gaming company. They have no passion and only see the bottom line. You can already see this with the shift in focus in H1Z1 by splitting it into 2 games to monetize the franchise. The original H1Z1 vision will never be realized
It's a shame really. Are there ANY good games on the horizon? Admittedly, I didn't know much about this game, but I thought they little I saw was promising.
I would love some insider information about the sale and what DayBreak was told when they purchased this failing Sony division. Can you imagine how disappointed the DayBreak execs must be when they realized that the big IP they were buying was no where near as ready or fun as they were let on? If I were them, I would scuttle the entire division and put the remaining games on life support while trying to recoup my investment.
"Sean (Murray) saying MP will be in the game is not remotely close to evidence that at the point of purchase people thought there was MP in the game." - SEANMCAD
Not surprised here, it was too quiet for way to long. Experience teaches that if they don't talk about a hyped game for over a year then its pretty much done for. All the new you got to read was bad news. As soon as Sony ditched Sony online and sold it i feared for this project.
Though what i don't get is that they made the decision recently, but still haven't pulled Landmark from Steam. They didn't develop a damn thing on it for a long long time. Sounds a bit scammy to me to be honest. They didn't bring out any patch in like forever. The least thing they could do is pulling it off steam.
"Everquest" is a franchise. The name and trademark hold significant value. They will release a new title one day or they will sell it.
I did not consider the possibility to sell EQ to another company. You are right.
They may not own the brand.
At the time of the takeover Storybricks suggested that a) Sony wanted more money than Storybricks were offering and b) Sony accepted a lower offer from CN than Storybricks was offering. Odd yes?
There were some fairly consistent rumors (from the Storybricks people themselves) that Storybricks offered more for SOE than did CN, but that Smed was not offered a job if Storybricks took over.
Add to that, the fact that by some accounts Smed was an equity partner/owner in SOE, and that SOE was not a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony. More like Sony brought Veriant under the Sony umbrella, for a percentage of the profits and access to financing.
I guarantee, the IP for Everquest was part of what CN bought, it was one of the few things that made SOE worth anything.
I certainly remember the rumours. If you know for sure that the IP was included np. And there would certainly be ways to structure any deal that would give CN ownership with the final value on the IP worked out some years down the line. All sorts of stuff could be agreed.
If CN own the IP then I think we are looking at EQ's sunset, twilight and fade to black.
Of course DCUO is a partnership ....... couple of other companies involved that will, for sure, take a percentage of any profits. Always assuming it does make it of course.
Such grand promises. Such a failure. Saw 'Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen' on Twitch today. Heh, there is true 'Everquest' legacy. People can hate McQuaid all they want, truth is he was behind original game.
I wonder how many people pull out when they find out about this from 'Landmark'.
This, to me, is 100% the fault of Columbus Nova, EQN was going to need further funding & they are at zero interest level in spending money, only milking it from their holdings, they have a lot of prior form on cutting staff & not investing, essentially putting businesses into a holding pattern, stagnant, but efficient & churning out those dollars. The layoffs were just the start & followed the familiar pattern these parasitic buyers have
EQN was in development for 10 years already (9 before Columbus nova bought it). Just how many more years did you expect this project to get funded?
At some point it just becomes throwing good money after bad. This game was doomed before Columbus Nova bought it.
Saying it wasn't fun is such a cop out, the truth is SOE was loosing money and was bought out by a company that has no business being in the gaming industry, they fired important staff members and are sinking that ship hard.
While I expected this it still is sad to hear. Glad they are still committed to EQ & EQ2.
Don't believe them when they say that, they said they were committed to the community after firing John, they said they were focused on EQN development and have cancelled it, they are money hungry liars they will shut down EQ1+2 just watch.
Things will only improve for mmorpgs after all the dinosaur approaches hit rock bottom and we have a long, uncomfortable silence. When all hope is lost, then some fledgling game will come from nowhere and wow us. And each and every one of you are that new hope for this dying land forgotten by the gods. Only you can return the world to...
Ironically, the first in-game stream from Pantheon happened tonight showing group play and it was pretty awesome. Immediately pledged 100 bucks to that game I was so impressed. The true EQN may turn out to be Pantheon. It looks so much like a modern version of EQ1 it was striking. Fizzling spells. Class interdependence. Holy trinity with crowd control. Looked amazing considering it's pre-alpha.
I guarantee, the IP for Everquest was part of what CN bought, it was one of the few things that made SOE worth anything.
Why? What do you think makes the Everquest IP so valuable?
Curious what people think that Daybreak/Columbus Nova might do with that property to make it so valuable? It doest look lik ethey are going to develop a game based on EQ, so what then?
Because they can sell it.
When CN bought SOE, they got everything: the MMOs that were running, the MMOs in development, the IPs behind SOE titles, and all the other code for anything SOE has made, plus all other work product (plans, game designs, game production outlines, and the like).
One of the primary ways VC companies make money, is that they come in and buy a distressed company (which SOE surely was) cheaply, provide adequate funding to get a product or IP to market (H1Z1 in this case), and then take in the revenues.
Add to that everything else that generates profits in the meantime, i.e. existing product lines (EQ1, EQ2, and the other junk SOE had going) are allowed to run along until the VC company takes a certain amount of money, known to them (i.e. return on investment), and then they launch their exit strategy, which usually involves the selling off of remaining viable assets to other companies in the sector, and liquidate everything else for what prices they can get. (Depending on the price they originally paid, VCs can make a LOT of money doing this.)
And then move on to the next company.
That is what VC companies are, and what they do.
So, expect CN to sell off DBG's existing MMOs either singly or as a whole, and then the IPs (including EQ) and then anything else that is worth anything.
I have mixed feelings but I do think it may have been for the best. I don't have to recount how many posters in forums flamed EQN for (1) being a Sony product, (2) having John Smedley involved, or having Daybreak involved [and then being upset Sony was no longer involved as a partner financially].
The majority of forum topics were some type of unhappiness involved in the game and that was probably enough to sink the game alone if a big investment firm came in and saw the complaints. I'm probably in the minority in this view and what I'm going to say but companies have to have equal measure good games out and bad games out.You're never going to have a consistent number of hits but I remember how during pre-development and initial release everyone called out CCP for EvE Online failing and that the "writing was on the wall": it was too hard to play, too challenging, no walking on planets or stations or in the ship or anywhere for that matter, too many "care-bear" zones, not enough PvP/vE/vPvE or that the economy was too structured and that piracy had too high of a premium.
There are games that people assume will fail an, when they do, we at least get a chance to say "hey they did this well but messed up that TONS". You see it also in all genres and it does at least give the community on both the player and devs end a right to say "tried this and it really really sucked" and there's a renewed focus on what to avoid in making so that it doesn't suck!
I personally would've liked to see EQN get released if only to see the type of product they could've delivered and, worse case scenario, hey it was a f2p and players, while they might gripe, wouldn't complain about the whole investment of $0 and a few hours.
That there was the real loss that the majority of posters would've preferred this game to be buried versus letting it get out and hope it does something right where another developer can utilize an idea none of us thought of. It happens now and then but it does require a game getting released, even if it was a failed game.
Things will only improve for mmorpgs after all the dinosaur approaches hit rock bottom and we have a long, uncomfortable silence. When all hope is lost, then some fledgling game will come from nowhere and wow us. And each and every one of you are that new hope for this dying land forgotten by the gods. Only you can return the world to...
Ironically, the first in-game stream from Pantheon happened tonight showing group play and it was pretty awesome. Immediately pledged 100 bucks to that game I was so impressed. The true EQN may turn out to be Pantheon. It looks so much like a modern version of EQ1 it was striking. Fizzling spells. Class interdependence. Holy trinity with crowd control. Looked amazing considering it's pre-alpha.
And the cycle goes on. A couple of years ago gamers dropped $100 on EQN. It was a more reliable bet from a more stable company. Why not wait until they actually come out with a game before shoving $100 in their g-string.
I wouldn't say the cycle goes on (at least in my case). I didn't invest in Landmark or EQN because I was never sold on it despite being a huge EQ fan. I generally don't do the whole Kickstarter thing and I shy away from early access unless I have reason to believe it's a game I will play.
Up until this point I have sat on the sidelines with Pantheon because I was more than a little apprehensive but after watching the live stream and seeing their actual progress I wanted to support the project precisely because they are not a "stable" company with deep pockets or resources and I feel Brad is really the only one with the track record of good MMO design that is willing to make a niche game. I say this knowing full well that he's imperfect and his games have had major issues (especially VG).
Big companies have shown time and time again that they are too afraid to do anything but attempt to appeal to the masses in a misguided attempt to be the next WoW or just be all things to all players. This approach has failed and has produced some awful games and awful payment models as well. Pantheon is really the last project that I'm interested in that I feel has a chance of making an old school style MMO with features and systems that I like.
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Though what i don't get is that they made the decision recently, but still haven't pulled Landmark from Steam. They didn't develop a damn thing on it for a long long time. Sounds a bit scammy to me to be honest. They didn't bring out any patch in like forever. The least thing they could do is pulling it off steam.
If CN own the IP then I think we are looking at EQ's sunset, twilight and fade to black.
I wonder how many people pull out when they find out about this from 'Landmark'.
It's dangerous to go alone, Bill. Take this...
On a serious note.. I'm surprised to see this news, but not really surprised. If that makes any sense.
Oh well
Here's to Pantheon and Camelot Unchained, don't be like DBG/SOE, please finish your games.
At some point it just becomes throwing good money after bad. This game was doomed before Columbus Nova bought it.
Mystery Bounty
Mystery Bounty
Don't believe them when they say that, they said they were committed to the community after firing John, they said they were focused on EQN development and have cancelled it, they are money hungry liars they will shut down EQ1+2 just watch.
Mystery Bounty
When CN bought SOE, they got everything: the MMOs that were running, the MMOs in development, the IPs behind SOE titles, and all the other code for anything SOE has made, plus all other work product (plans, game designs, game production outlines, and the like).
One of the primary ways VC companies make money, is that they come in and buy a distressed company (which SOE surely was) cheaply, provide adequate funding to get a product or IP to market (H1Z1 in this case), and then take in the revenues.
Add to that everything else that generates profits in the meantime, i.e. existing product lines (EQ1, EQ2, and the other junk SOE had going) are allowed to run along until the VC company takes a certain amount of money, known to them (i.e. return on investment), and then they launch their exit strategy, which usually involves the selling off of remaining viable assets to other companies in the sector, and liquidate everything else for what prices they can get. (Depending on the price they originally paid, VCs can make a LOT of money doing this.)
And then move on to the next company.
That is what VC companies are, and what they do.
So, expect CN to sell off DBG's existing MMOs either singly or as a whole, and then the IPs (including EQ) and then anything else that is worth anything.
That is what's coming.
The majority of forum topics were some type of unhappiness involved in the game and that was probably enough to sink the game alone if a big investment firm came in and saw the complaints. I'm probably in the minority in this view and what I'm going to say but companies have to have equal measure good games out and bad games out.You're never going to have a consistent number of hits but I remember how during pre-development and initial release everyone called out CCP for EvE Online failing and that the "writing was on the wall": it was too hard to play, too challenging, no walking on planets or stations or in the ship or anywhere for that matter, too many "care-bear" zones, not enough PvP/vE/vPvE or that the economy was too structured and that piracy had too high of a premium.
There are games that people assume will fail an, when they do, we at least get a chance to say "hey they did this well but messed up that TONS". You see it also in all genres and it does at least give the community on both the player and devs end a right to say "tried this and it really really sucked" and there's a renewed focus on what to avoid in making so that it doesn't suck!
I personally would've liked to see EQN get released if only to see the type of product they could've delivered and, worse case scenario, hey it was a f2p and players, while they might gripe, wouldn't complain about the whole investment of $0 and a few hours.
That there was the real loss that the majority of posters would've preferred this game to be buried versus letting it get out and hope it does something right where another developer can utilize an idea none of us thought of. It happens now and then but it does require a game getting released, even if it was a failed game.
........didn't see this one coming
........who'da thought
Up until this point I have sat on the sidelines with Pantheon because I was more than a little apprehensive but after watching the live stream and seeing their actual progress I wanted to support the project precisely because they are not a "stable" company with deep pockets or resources and I feel Brad is really the only one with the track record of good MMO design that is willing to make a niche game. I say this knowing full well that he's imperfect and his games have had major issues (especially VG).
Big companies have shown time and time again that they are too afraid to do anything but attempt to appeal to the masses in a misguided attempt to be the next WoW or just be all things to all players. This approach has failed and has produced some awful games and awful payment models as well. Pantheon is really the last project that I'm interested in that I feel has a chance of making an old school style MMO with features and systems that I like.