Sony Online Entertainment Becomes Daybreak Game Company

I don't see this change prolonging anything. I expect the opposite but hope I am wrong.

Not even Roshen knows what is going to happen. All he knows is what he is told and companies lie to employees all the time. That's the problem. And this is not guess work here. A lot of us have gone through corporate actions like this... many times they don't turn out well.

And I don't think Sony was about to shut down SOE. SOE still makes them money. Sony decided as many companies do that get into financial trouble to slim down to their core business interests and divest themselves of anything they don't see as part of that core business. And they do that usually by selling off any thing that is profitable. Heck they mostly sell off the unprofitable stuff too just at a loss.

Its been many years since guides did any CS work. Back when I guided we handled all the stuck toon issues and also vetted petitions passing them on to GMs. Happily that was taken out of the guide program long ago.

I see basically two possibilities. One is that our game will follow the death spiral down to oblivion, as so many have suggested here. The other is that the management, leads, and developers were involved in making this change happen, and have a plan for making the games better (without Sony oversight) that is realistic enough the venture capitalist people signed on.

The latter isn't impossible. It takes passionate, smart people with a lot of initiative, willingness to take risks, and the ability to make decisions quickly. I think the people we deal with daily are passionate about what they do, have too much initiative for a big corporation culture, and are not afraid of risk or decisions.

I was peripherally involved 15 years ago in something similar (the breakaway of Destination Imagination from Odyssey of the Mind, two K-12 creativity programs), and that worked. Today both programs are doing well in their individual niches. That was a non-profit situation but I think there are similarities.

I do believe that if they had to drop EQ to keep the other games going, they would, but there's no reason to believe that will be necessary, and in any case I think they would keep EQ up until EQNext was ready, for it would be insane to just throw away that subscriber base.

So I'm going to post this and go kill something in Mistmoore before bedtime. Happy hunting.

Rowacorn
Den of Misfits
Bristlebunny

I just want to know what happens to our personal information. Will Sony do a wipe of our info., do we need to set up new CC accounts? (I am assuming all that will transfer over, but it would be nice to know for sure).

<a href="https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/...reak-game-company.217508/page-14#post-3166691">Sony Online Entertainment Becomes Daybreak Game Company</a>

One, everyone knew what I meant by this. You did not have to correct such a thing when the post I put was about other things retaining to the sell/buy of the company blah blah. I can tell you did not even bother to read anything said besides The first sentence.

I think there is a lot of things that people just simply don't know about how things worked inside SoE.. SoE for the past 5 maybe even 10 years hasn't been proud of EQ1. They have tried to release countless games since EQ1 and emulate its success, not coming close even once. Truth be told, Everquest IS what has kept SoE going for so long.. All of us and our passion for the game, all of our subscriptions paying for development of failed projects, just to try and get out from underneath the shadow that Everquest created.. How is a gaming company to feel when their shining star is a game that was crated 15 years ago, they don't want the public to know that..

It's very likely that SoE was bought up for its potential... With the success of H1Z1 sales on steam, and the head turning ability of Landmark and Planetside 2.. Nova is about making money, when it comes down to it EQ makes money so I don't see it going anywhere until it dosent.. All of the people spreding doom and gloom are taking the wrong approach in my opinion. Just keep giving them your money, keep supporting the game that we are passionate for.. There is far more potential for good things to happen for EQ under Daybrake then with SoE.

Now is the time people should be campaigning for their "classic servers" show this new company the potential money they can make off of revitalizing it.. Show the company why people are so attached to this game and it wont go anywhere.. start bailing now and you'll just be another nail in the coffin.

I for one will always have an active sub on at least one account supporting the game until it sees the sunset.

"Today, we are pleased to announce that we have been acquired by Columbus Nova, an investment management firm well known for its success with its existing portfolio of technology, media and entertainment focused companies."


So, does that mean what I think it means ?


(EDIT either SOE or photobucket won't let me post the picture)

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad10/torstar1/hamsters.png

LOL!

This could bring back EQOA on android or what?

Who is Linda Carlson? That's a very upbeat and hopeful message.

We wanted this transition to be seamless for our players. Your accounts will continue with all of the same information and membership plans (unless you choose to change it).

Linda Carlson is Daybreak Games' Director Global Community Relations. She is also known as Brasse the dwarf to those of you who have attended a FanFaire or SOE Live in the past.

I new to this game started today but i think with the new company that means less work on the old games and more work on new games.. like other games that i play in the pass.. but i pray not!! I use to play another game call Asheron's call sence 1998 but now with there new company the game is not been work on any more.. i hope this not what happens to this old game.. ?

This is likely to end in one of two ways.
First, is that Colombus Nova and Daybreak will actually give a chit and will be willing to take risk with EQ and understand it should not be killed off but instead improved.

Or two, they will understimate EQ and only work mostly on newer games and only care about how much profit they make in the short term and not care about long term profits (clearly EQ if improved in certain areas such as graphics and gameplay would be more profitable in the long term but lots of big corporations think only in the short term) and stop making new content and sunset it eventually.

I hope these companies can do well for EQ. Many mergers and buys can be successful. I work at CVS/caremark which is a successful merger between CVS retail pharamacy and Caremark mail order pharmacy and that worked out wonderfully without chaotic mass layoffs firings etc.

Maybe now is the time for people to start new characters (non-boxed, pretend like you are a new player who knows no one in EQ).
Do not accept power levels, do not accept gear handouts. Don't access your friends list.

Play the game as a true newbie would and OBJECTIVELY write down the flaws you see, and note how crappy the game is for a new player. We could always start a thread, if you guys care any about this game - it needs to have new blood come in and play before they'd consider spending money on it.

Maybe Daybreak management will be open to suggestions to help make EQ stand-alone.

I played an alt Ranger.

No support from my guild.
Not very much support from those I regularly group.

He blazed through early levels (thanks Hot Zones, Hot Zone augs, and Defiant armor) almost entirely solo (he grouped extensively when Hot Zones first appeared). He made extensive use of various low level player guides.

He made a small fortune by camping High Quality Lion Pelts when Prescient Fleeting Quiver was a highly desirable item. He made another by farming tradeskill items when players were maxing their tradeskills as part of the Shawl quest. He could have, but didn't, make a third small fortune by farming collections.

Between selling and trading assets with my main Glowing Othni armor and various othe Hardcore Heritage items were a gimmie. He took full advantage of Headshot soloing (my Paladin alt took full advantage of swarming undead - nearly every class has prefered content). He was capable tanking DH HA's in group gear.

He took advantage of the Heroic Character upgrade after he'd already reached level 85. Got his good familiar and J5 merc prior to the Heroic Character offer (only started buckling down when it was announced Heroic Characters were otw - he was level 70 at the time).

1. He would have gotten FAR better results had he joined a casual/family guild and built a social network.

2. He would have gotten FAR better results if he had been played like a serious main.

3. Everything he needed to know he found on the internet.

The truth is it's easy. Casuals and new players get an amazing amount of support. So much so one sometimes wonders why anyone in their right mind would be a hardcore player - the "gap" isn't wide enough/the path of least resistance has barely any resistance at all.

Hopefully the new situation will result in a game that is less like a console game pandering to players who make little effort and expect uber results.

I for one welcome our new overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a hardcore raider, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.

In contrast many least effort players discourage others by their constant carping about how difficult it is. It isn't difficult.

I am normally not a doom and gloom type.

but why when you take over a company and they have a fan faire tradition do you not keep it going?

since everquest has been acquired by another company, does that mean we will or will not keep all of our current and awesome game developers? or will they force new developers down our throat and take the game in a completely different direction?

for now I have made my 2 box accounts F2P and only my raid main account is gold.

once we see for sure there are no big ripples in the game we have all grown up with I will reactivate these accounts. (I did not make them F2P as some form of threat fix this or lose me) I did it because I am worried about the game and I hope for the best. I hope for another 15 years or more of EQ

It's not unusual for a capital investment company to reduce expenses/make a client leaner and to narrow it's focus.

Daybreak has characterized this as a white knight situation enabling them to do more with console and mobile game development while maintaining [BA: profitable] existing efforts. I see no good or constructive purpose for pessimism in the face of their optimism.

In fact, pessimism and anti-marketing posts are likely to be counter productive if EQ players actually want EQ to be profitable and to have a future.

(BTW, TDS is one of the best expansions evah - just sayin').

So you had an easy grind skipping 11 years of content.

You:
a.) Never took down nagafen or vox and never learned of their importance
b.) No hate, no sky, no fear
c.) No Venril Sathir, no Trakanon, Serverlious, Gorenaire, chardok royals
d.) No velious...
e.) No luclin...

Do I need to go on about how you skipped 90% of the game's content and lore and that that's the problem?

You missed the whole point.

One can't speed through 90% of the games content and lore through acceleration or achieve the same result by skipping it entirely by taking advantage of Heroic Character and still enjoy the scenery of that first 10+ years.

Choosing to do Hero's Journey however does hit many of the highlights if one elects a more leisurely pace. Starting a level 1 character on a new locked progression server (providing one exists when you start a character) will also work if your goal is to see everything rather than to catch up quickly and play in content where others are playing.

EQ does support a variety of playstyles and acceleration/see everything tradeoffs.

(

Did OOM Vox with my main day before yesterday. Could have played my alt Ranger instead. Old content pickup raids especially given Epics are fairly common - especially for casual/family style guilds.)

Looking a glass that's 3/4 full and saying so is not the problem. Calling that glass practically empty is. But, it's not all that useful to engage in a discussion with someone who misses the whole point so I'll fall silent....after noting that:

Pessimism and anti-marketing posts are likely to be counter productive if EQ players actually want EQ to be profitable and to have a future.