So Daybreak, do we need to be worried? Are you about to split up into Darkpaw Games, and Rogue Planet Games? I know you guys haven't made a official announcement yet and will not until you are ready. Im just wondering how this community will be affected.
I wonder how subscriptions especially lifetime subscriptions will be handled if there’s a change at corporate.
This. EQ is profitable and funds development of all their other games. We have no reason to be worried. Maybe some of the other games do, but not us. If the rumors are true that (Fippy) Darkpaw will be for EQ development and Rogue Planet will be for planetside, maybe EQ will finally get some of it's profits reinvested instead of being siphoned off to try (and fail) to launch other games. That's the dream anyway.
It's just something that almost every game publisher/development studio does that Daybreak just hasn't done yet for whatever reason You set it up so that the "Daybreak Games" portion is the publisher / main management / PR / marketing / etc, then you have each studio be its own semi individual piece below that, in theory it would give more power to the president of each studio so they can better like lead the studio to where it needs to be, without having a lot of upper management try to control it and boss them around I don't know how much management people they have, but potentially it could dump a most of those people too to cut down to the bare minimums The obvious choice for that would probably be someone like Holly for the "Darkpaw" (EQ, EQ2 and future EQ's), which in theory should be beneficial unless they are stuck with really harsh values (budget vs returns required) On the negative side it makes it easier to sell off a studio and its IP by separating it out like that it makes it more clean to potential buyers
Likely last expansion, Player Studio changes, company restructure, TBL a dud for non-raid players, and other games looking better and better ... yeah, we're fine. Nothing to see behind the curtain.
A belief that Everquest will never end is absolutely wrong. Nothing can last forever, it's called entropy.
So why even worry? I'm not worried. If it ends, it ends. See ya later. Sayanara. Until then ENJOY YOURSELVES!
I'm with ya there. I haven't spent any money in years (on anything DBG), I just keep getting checks from them. The longer it lasts the better for me.
That is not what I was getting at. My point is that after every expansion, when it was folded into sony, when it was sold as daybreak and for other things people have said that it is the end of everquest and it wasn't. We will unlikely know about it until they announce that they are no longer making expansions and even then it will continue on until the revenue from players no longer covers the expenses of running the game.
This is only one of many possible outcomes, but sounds about right. So after 20 years, how much longer can they last? And is that time lengthened by dividing the studio and actually devoting the profits from EQ back into EQ? Or is this just one more cut in a death by a thousand paper-crits? *edit* We shall all just have to wait and see. But curious minds want to Forum Quest about it.
Here's my take: DBG incorporates as the publisher Darkpaw Games pursues EverQuest-related ventures Rogue Planet games pursues other ventures Less-profitable, or otherwise in-the-red titles are sunset And now for fairy-tales: New EverQuest title announced. The best of every EverQuest game re-imagined into one, singular title. EverQuest veterans are granted remuneration in this new title for their years of dedication (think permanent XP bonus, evolving gear, early entry, perhaps based on achievement scores) Lifetime subs are honored in this new title. Spinoff titles include a real EverQuest mobile platform game, and unlocks include the ability to advance non-PVE character advancement (tradeskills, collections, XP bonuses). ….etc, etc various dream MMO features
DCUO is a huge deal for them to have with an epic franchise. You might want to include that in where you assign the names. Or will that go with the 'mother' Daybreak LLC? Rogue Planet would likely be for Planetside 2 and Planetside Arena (still being delayed after refunding money, but not cancelled yet). H1Z1s sunset? And we are all assuming Darkpaw is EQ EQII and whatever possibly EQ related possibly mobile game they're working on. Sounds possible.
Another reason to split them up would be preparation for selling one or the other part of the business. But I truly have no idea what will actually happen.
Found this if anyone is interested or hasn't seen it yet. https://tagn.wordpress.com/2019/07/11/is-darkpaw-games-the-new-future-for-norrath/
This IS possible, but highly unlikely. Really appears to be a corporate restructuring to achieve several goals: Structure the organization to mitigate redundancies and leverage synergies, and to bring the formal organization of the company in line with the rest of the gaming industry. Bring clarity to revenues and expenditures to drive data-based strategic ventures and enable more precise measurement of outcomes. Allow specialization of departments to focus on what they do best inside of a highly organized structure. Ensuring a higher degree of accountability and service level adherence. Who knows? Maybe EQ gets the axe. Maybe it gets sold. Maybe they double-down on EQ.... ForumQuesting is so unpredictable!