Goes right along with the rather precipitous news earlier this year that H1Z1 concurrent user figures had dropped 91%, from often being the 3rd most played game on Steam at 151K to struggling to break 9K with the success of PUBG and Fortnite.
Bodes ill for their planned professional sports league, or even their upcoming May PS4 launch
As the robot says on Lost in Space....."Danger Will Robinson"
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Actually, this does surprise me as I consider their old games as popular as any of the other of the other titles in that age group, except WoW of course. Does this mean that old games aren't able to sustain a studio or publisher? Are other old titles straining their reasons for staying open?
For example, EA can afford to sustain a game like UO if it's barely profitable. They may even use it as a write-off of some sort when it's not. A small business doesn't have the resources to float titles flagging behind in revenue.
They are the only ones in that group that continue to put out.. 'expansions', charge 40 dollars for them but contain nothing more then a few dungeons with very little content. DBG actually had the nerve in EQ2 to release an expansion with very little itemization in it.. same item dropped over and over. That's insulting to the gamers and is basically a bait and switch.
Other games such as DAOC remain active, but at least they respect their gamers.
This shouldn't surprise anyone, if you have played their games and bare witness to what they have done to the EQ franchise it's actually shocking they didn't go out of business years ago. If the employees that are left have any integrity they would just quit.
Surprisingly employees value having a job and being able to support their families more than some forum zombie's nostalgia.
You realize that game developer jobs are basically the worst software development job you can have right? Usually they are crap befits with not as good pay... trust me they would be doing their families a huge service by getting into another industry.
it was the h1z1 teams that took the brunt of the layoffs the eq1-2 planetside teams were not hit to hard and are still making content with eq1 turning 20 this year expect good things from that team
Goes right along with the rather precipitous news earlier this year that H1Z1 concurrent user figures had dropped 91%, from often being the 3rd most played game on Steam at 151K to struggling to break 9K with the success of PUBG and Fortnite.
Bodes ill for their planned professional sports league, or even their upcoming May PS4 launch
As the robot says on Lost in Space....."Danger Will Robinson"
You've been watching the new Netflix Original Series, haven't you?
Goes right along with the rather precipitous news earlier this year that H1Z1 concurrent user figures had dropped 91%, from often being the 3rd most played game on Steam at 151K to struggling to break 9K with the success of PUBG and Fortnite.
Bodes ill for their planned professional sports league, or even their upcoming May PS4 launch
As the robot says on Lost in Space....."Danger Will Robinson"
You've been watching the new Netflix Original Series, haven't you?
I did, I never yelled wtf at the tv screen so much in my life.
What % of their workforce are we talking got laid off here? It's a little premature to start crying "the sky is falling" without more info.
According to a post in Massively from someone claiming to have "sources" it's in the 30-40% of the entire workforce range.
If true, that's brutal.
In one of the other threads @DMKano said nearly half the workforce - he has friends who have been laid off he said. So that would support 30-40% or suggest maybe even more. Probably difficult to know exactly since its across all studios.
Actually, this does surprise me as I consider their old games as popular as any of the other of the other titles in that age group, except WoW of course. Does this mean that old games aren't able to sustain a studio or publisher? Are other old titles straining their reasons for staying open?
For example, EA can afford to sustain a game like UO if it's barely profitable. They may even use it as a write-off of some sort when it's not. A small business doesn't have the resources to float titles flagging behind in revenue.
Broadsword run UO along with DAoC. Broadsword being the "indie" company that EA set up. Same thing that WarnerBros did the same with SSG as well when they let LotR and DD go.
Hopefully someone buys the Everquest IP when they inevitably go under.
If it goes that route, hope that someone who will treat the IP well buys it. Hope it doesn't go the way of City of Heroes and Auto Assault. Maybe Perfect World will buy it and add it to their stable.
I'm wondering if Daybreak really *could* sell the EverQuest IP. That whole 'Sony still owns 10% of Daybreak' news made me question if Sony had retained IP transfer rights to EQ. Similar to saying "you can use the license and operate the existing games, but don't own it". That *might* be about 10% of the value of Daybreak.
It wouldn't seem unreasonable to have sold the operation and limited rights to the existing EQ, but retain some degree of control of the future of EQ. After all, most people associate "EQ" as a "Sony" product, and are oblivious to the actual company history behind EQ.
You could be right.
At the time of the sale to CN I commented that it would be possible to value the cash flow from games that had launched; a strict budget could be allowed for finishing EQN - based on Brad's "its launching this year" comments etc. but valuing the IP would be pretty much impossible to do - probably leading to provisions in the contract. All companies - these days - want to "do a Star Wars" i.e. sell rights cheaply which then go on to make billions! So a clause allowing them to match any purchase price maybe - absolutely possible.
Nor will DBG be able to "sell" DCUO simply. WarnerBros and DC are going to have rights since DCUO is a joint venture. So DCUO could be spun off.
I hope people are not so blind as to think this is just NOW falling apart?
Ever since the H1Z1 nonsense,nothing has looked promising within this studio and even before the takeover,i never once thought this was going to end well.
They are not and never will be producing a legit game, they have been fluttering cheap content onto existing games.The entire EQ/EQ2/SOE team was imo pretty good at doing their job,i never once believed they had a large enough team to pull it off and after the buyout an even smaller team. IDK how many hours they work but the very small team left standing should at least get some credit for pulling off what they have been able to pull off.Having played BOTH EQ2 and Wow recent expansions,i would say i had more fun inside of EQ2 than i did inside of Wow and Blizzard has a much larger team and a lot more money.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
You all are excited about another company possibly taking the reins of the EQ franchise, I would be more excited about a reputable company getting ahold of the assets of Vanguard and making something of that. That's just wishful thinking though...
You all are excited about another company possibly taking the reins of the EQ franchise, I would be more excited about a reputable company getting ahold of the assets of Vanguard and making something of that. That's just wishful thinking though...
I'm sorry, I just can't take anything serious Pee-Wee Herman says.
For me I think the EQ franchise has run its course.....It was a great run but do we really need this to keep going for years and years? Both games have been expanded to death...I guess if some still like it and they make a profit more power to them.
They should find a way to keep both EQ's or at least EQ for those loyal players who have played it for such a long time. Maybe they can pass it off to SSG to keep the servers up and running.
When you are in strict maintenance mode you are going to lose clientele, hence a reduction in workforce is bound to happen. You have to wonder how long the dedicated EQ players can keep the company solvent.
Until Pantheon arrives......I am sure this will satisfy a lot of the EQ players out there.
Comments
Bodes ill for their planned professional sports league, or even their upcoming May PS4 launch
As the robot says on Lost in Space....."Danger Will Robinson"
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
The executives on the other hand.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Other games such as DAOC remain active, but at least they respect their gamers.
Nope, that's where I wanted to go.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
moo all
At the time of the sale to CN I commented that it would be possible to value the cash flow from games that had launched; a strict budget could be allowed for finishing EQN - based on Brad's "its launching this year" comments etc. but valuing the IP would be pretty much impossible to do - probably leading to provisions in the contract. All companies - these days - want to "do a Star Wars" i.e. sell rights cheaply which then go on to make billions! So a clause allowing them to match any purchase price maybe - absolutely possible.
Nor will DBG be able to "sell" DCUO simply. WarnerBros and DC are going to have rights since DCUO is a joint venture. So DCUO could be spun off.
Ever since the H1Z1 nonsense,nothing has looked promising within this studio and even before the takeover,i never once thought this was going to end well.
They are not and never will be producing a legit game, they have been fluttering cheap content onto existing games.The entire EQ/EQ2/SOE team was imo pretty good at doing their job,i never once believed they had a large enough team to pull it off and after the buyout an even smaller team.
IDK how many hours they work but the very small team left standing should at least get some credit for pulling off what they have been able to pull off.Having played BOTH EQ2 and Wow recent expansions,i would say i had more fun inside of EQ2 than i did inside of Wow and Blizzard has a much larger team and a lot more money.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Until Pantheon arrives......I am sure this will satisfy a lot of the EQ players out there.