SOE

Goberpiles316 · 30 Jul 2007 at 09:29

I was looking over http://www.mmogdata.com/ I am not sure how accurate it is but look at SOE's stats for SWG and Vanguard:

By goberpiles at 2007-07-30

I havent been following SOe recently I was an ex player of SWG for a number of years, I viewed EQ2 also it seems that SOE dont even have 500,000 paying customers over 4 games, how they ever manage to run a business I will never now, it seems on Vanguard they managed to lose 100k customers in less then 5 months.

TheDean · 30 Jul 2007 at 09:36

Does the massive fall happen to coincide with the release of the WoW expantion and/or Lord of the Rings MMO?

Goberpiles316 · 30 Jul 2007 at 09:42

The SWG one was the Combat Upgrade, the vanguard one seems to be that they released an unfinished game from the reading up I have done.

Fireskull · 30 Jul 2007 at 09:46

TheDean said:
Does the massive fall happen to coincide with the release of the WoW expantion and/or Lord of the Rings MMO?

Nope, well vanguard might have been, but SOE no they killed the SWG a few months before WOW came out

Goberpiles316 · 30 Jul 2007 at 09:52

Just having a read on a game I am looking forward to Pirates of of the burning sea, seems SOE is being used to launch the game but the developers stay as they were which means SOE have no say in the game:

http://www.burningsea.com/pages/page.php?pageKey=news/article&article_id=10349

You can see no one trusts SOE by the devs replies assuring everyone that SOE have nothing to do with the game development.

afraser2k · 30 Jul 2007 at 09:59

They said the same thing about Vanguard. I think that's why no-one trusts the PotBS devs statements.

Dano · 30 Jul 2007 at 10:10

afraser2k said:
They said the same thing about Vanguard. I think that's why no-one trusts the PotBS devs statements.

Yes, but it was either SOE stepping in to take over or VG going the way of the fly zapper, can't blame SOE really.

afraser2k · 30 Jul 2007 at 10:28

True, SOE did save Vanguard. However, I do think that many players won't believe the PotBS devs about eventually selling to SOE if it flops.

Dano · 30 Jul 2007 at 11:00

Again though, if it flops they have two choices, let it die or have someone like SOE come and bail them out and allow the game to actually continue, I know which I'd choose.

Edinho · 30 Jul 2007 at 11:16

Goberpiles316 said:
I was looking over http://www.mmogdata.com/ I am not sure how accurate it is but look at SOE's stats for SWG and Vanguard:

I havent been following SOe recently I was an ex player of SWG for a number of years, I viewed EQ2 also it seems that SOE dont even have 500,000 paying customers over 4 games, how they ever manage to run a business I will never now, it seems on Vanguard they managed to lose 100k customers in less then 5 months.

Shows why you dont run a business, probably.

500000 subscribers would bring in roughly $60m+ annually.

Anyhow whats your point? Vanguard was a big pile of crap before SOE bailed it out. And to say SOE dont make a profit they have turned out more content and a better game than Blizzard have. But wait all that matters is subs and giving SOE a bash.

afraser2k · 30 Jul 2007 at 11:21

Dano said:
Again though, if it flops they have two choices, let it die or have someone like SOE come and bail them out and allow the game to actually continue, I know which I'd choose.

Exactly, which is a reason why the SOE-haters won't touch it.

Fireskull · 30 Jul 2007 at 11:23

Edinho said:
Shows why you dont run a business, probably.

500000 subscribers would bring in roughly $60m+ annually.

And thats the problem with SOE lol they make looots of money, screw over the game and the players and thats about it lol, if they made the games better they would make loots more money but they dont seem to realise that.

Goberpiles316 · 30 Jul 2007 at 11:40

Edinho said:
Shows why you dont run a business, probably.

500000 subscribers would bring in roughly $60m+ annually.

Anyhow whats your point? Vanguard was a big pile of crap before SOE bailed it out. And to say SOE dont make a profit they have turned out more content and a better game than Blizzard have. But wait all that matters is subs and giving SOE a bash.

How can SOE of turned out a better game then Blizzard when one of Blizzards games has a player base of 9m paying customers?

I admit I enjoyed SWG better then WOW before they compleatly changed it and I think that the POBS looks awsome, I heard Vanguard was hyped to be good but you dont lose 100k paying customers if the game rocks!

http://www.mmorpg.com/index.cfm?bhcp=1 had EQ2 ranked as one of the highest games on the site yet it has 170k paying players

If you continuely to release a game after game that flops and you do not listen to the players how can you expect people to come back to you time and time again?

KNiVES · 30 Jul 2007 at 11:59

Edinho said:
And to say SOE dont make a profit they have turned out more content and a better game than Blizzard have. But wait all that matters is subs and giving SOE a bash.

lol? SoE is awful compared to Blizzard.

afraser2k · 30 Jul 2007 at 12:10

Goberpiles316 said:
How can SOE of turned out a better game then Blizzard when one of Blizzards games has a player base of 9m paying customers?

I admit I enjoyed SWG better then WOW before they compleatly changed it and I think that the POBS looks awsome, I heard Vanguard was hyped to be good but you dont lose 100k paying customers if the game rocks!

http://www.mmorpg.com/index.cfm?bhcp=1 had EQ2 ranked as one of the highest games on the site yet it has 170k paying players

If you continuely to release a game after game that flops and you do not listen to the players how can you expect people to come back to you time and time again?

MMORPG.com is a site where the members usually argue over features of the game to make it the best, rather than subscription numbers. The news of WoW reaching 9 million subscribers just brought out people complaining that it was a rubbish game and that the only reason it did well was because it "dumbed down" the MMORPG style to make it attractive to casual gamers, even given the number of long-term subscribers it seems to have.

kola · 30 Jul 2007 at 12:12

I couldn't be more happy what SoE have done to EQ2 over the years. But I understand the hate after the SWG fiasco

Tical · 30 Jul 2007 at 12:17

SOE had almost nothing to do with Vanguard for the first 2 months of release, and no say in the development phases either. You can place the blame right on the shoulders of Brad McQuaid. SOE only marketted and published it, then bought the intellectual rights from McQuaid when the game flopped big time.

Even 2 months later I still can't believe McQuaid admitted to having employed only 1 internal tester for 95% of the development process.

I actually quite like SoE, they're there obviously to make the big bucks, but sometimes their devs have moments of clarity and create something great.

afraser2k · 30 Jul 2007 at 12:21

Tical said:
I actually quite like SoE, they're there obviously to make the big bucks, but sometimes their devs have moments of clarity and create something great.

I'm currently playing SWG casually until other games come out. I don't hate them either I just understand why some players do (for whatever reason).

Zefan · 30 Jul 2007 at 12:39

Don't even get me started on SWG.

RIP old friend

kola · 30 Jul 2007 at 12:56

afraser2k said:
I'm currently playing SWG casually

But it's just awful