You won the lottery or whatever you did to make a few hundred million after taxes, would you attempt to buy the EQ franchise?
If i won a few hundred million i would burn my computer in the street and work on my tan while traveling the world.
No. I'd only go that route if I wanted to dump big $$$ into it for my own enjoyment with no real expectation of profitability. Much better investments out there that don't have an emotional side to them.
I would. But that begs another question. What is the cost of the franchise? I don't expect to find myself in this position, but I am curious as to the fair market value of Daybreak Games.
Hmmm tempting. Probably be less expensive to start from scratch, and make a new ip. I mean sure you buy EQ/EQ2, but what do you have? Some older games that have so many issues, that they can never really be fixed; you'd need to start all over anyway. The brand just doesn't have any value outside of us old farts who still love it. I guess I could buy it just to have the satisfaction of firing a bunch of people who have slowly killed the brand...
No, because if I got-rich-quick, I'd retire. I don't want to run anything, and there are better investments out there. At first, I thought it'd be kinda fun to tell everyone I own the game.. but then, I'd probably also be bombarded with tells every time I tried to play the game.
Well, if someone ever does it, I hope they pay in some obscure currency like Cuban Pesos or something, to inflict upon them a rough equivalent of the noble exchange/spending process.
There are three factors that would absolutely with no hesitation make me purchase EQ if I were to suddenly become Opera rich. 1) Dedicated, die hard player base. 2) A Development team that legit loves this game and wants to do the best job they can with this old game. 3) What EQ does better than any other MMO, ever is that players matter. What I mean is, you can't play this game and accomplish all that you can without great strife without meeting friends and grouping. Most importantly, Guilds matter. In other MMO's they really do not and it hurts the product - badly. You need a social circle in a Massively Online game or it's just a single player MMO. That's not an MMO that will last. There's a more mainstream MMO that has a Looking for Raid feature. Can you imagine? (guess what the playerbase replaces the word "raid" with, don't think too hard!) After 21 years and counting, the EQ model keeps going on and on while other MMO's limp harder or just plain sunset. Can you imagine what EQ could do with the investment of being a 64 bit game, alone? The newer and more higher end your computer is the more difficult it is to make it run EQ, it seems. What if modern hardware mattered, oh my Tunare! I can't stand up for a few minutes. I'll hurt something...
At this point, I'd be surprised if it's over 20 million USD, not including any assets like real estate, etc. There's no real brand name value, no new game in development, and just an aging demographic. So, I don't think you're going to see a lower end cash flow multiple, if any. SoE sold at a loss to Columbus Nova. Based off my experiences with other private equity firms, they put their investments into 10 year packages, so look out for a sale in a 4-5 years.
I highly doubt it, though I do admire his fire for gaming. He's one of the biggest winners in MLB play off history and has the regular season stats for induction into the Hall of Fame and just can't get the votes because of how he behaves. He also can't even get support from the populace of Massachusetts for his political ambitions - a state that was the benefactor of his play in 2004 when the Red Sox ended the longest championship drought in American sports history. Do you know how rabid we Red Sox fans are? We still won't support him because...well...he's kind of suffers from "Cranius Rectus".
Yea, he hasn’t exactly boosted his public favor after retiring. I wonder, if he plays EQ still? If he does, he’s got to be a P99 guy right?
I would think so. I don't think he played his monk after like PoP when he played with his Philly teammates when they were on the road haha
Good catch, I think I confused that with Sony’s need to sell SOE to offset their projected revenue loss. I just Googled some old articles and they’re a pretty funny read. Smedley was excited to develop games for XBOX and mobile, and the launch of Everquest Next in the near future was even mentioned.
If I was given and investment of millions to use on it yes, and eq would do what it did to start with all over again on that scale, and spawn a host of imitators to support it, So damn straight. It would be a unique opportunity that was literally handed to me pre set with logical thought given the times to succeed if played well. It would again be more Iconic. This is because of the times not in spite of them. I don't believe in nostalgia when it comes to preferences or really at all. When you think of it placing the sort of thing you like in that context ''one of nostalgia'' is like a curse or a death sentence. Not just to that form of it ie the game, but to future forms of such art in other ways. The human brain cannot on a subconscious level make temporal ''comparative relativism'' distinctions where you place the thing away from reality, and so the translation is: game is dead. Competitors have put things in the nostalgia category to deal a hammer blow sense before the word existed, even tricked there competitors into using it themselves. Its physiological marketing tactics based on a fallacy and relativism. ''Look at minecraft, flash games,, or even stationary picture, Dialog/romance games on phones'' to the wise, words are just words my friends''. Read this for example: Everquest is highly sophisticated for its type, with loads of content, interactive game environments built and improved upon for years! It has great and proven potential with systems and sub game systems/factions and mechanics in place, to be built upon in future. The game is ongoing in a limited but still active state of development and growing. So established and evocative in fact, its as new again, and refreshing. Many agree then, aside from its great lore, challenging game play and balanced improvements, it incorporates a type of witty camp, a cult favorite style, all its own, even in its earliest designs. This alone would seem to account ''for some'' as one of the reasons for its unusual popularity and ever increasing upsurge of contemporary relevance within its genre. Yet this is perhaps too cynical and incomplete in my view. You will indeed find EQ Providing innovative challenges, in combination with its continuing progressions and stability that many less established games simply cannot be counted upon to offer. EQ is in fact a venerable Tiamat of MMO's, having proven in its long established history, to have much to offer any style of game play. It is quite understandable then, why Everquest comes highly recommended for and by the smart, and discriminating, gamer. Or merely those seeking a new experience unlike anything they have attempted before. Those not so easily satisfied with the less palatable fare of flash in the pan mmorpgs, that rise and fall with the tides. ''See what I did there?''' Words. Beats Nostalgia.
If I had they money I would definitely purchase EQ and make sure it runs for at least another 20 years. And I have soooo many things I would nerf.
Having been retired since age 35, I am bored to death most days. So if I suddenly had the funds to purchase this franchise I would. Then I would look to build the game back up, possibly with a relaunch under new textures, some custom content added etc to entice players to return.
I really hope everquest is never sold to an individual who would want to have lots of say in the game.
