Sony Online Entertainment Becomes Daybreak Game Company

I give EQ until EQ Next comes out...

Hopefully it lives longer than that though.

Just wondering, did you actually expect to read anything other than what they have there?

I have to say I'm a bit puzzled with all the Chicken Little posts because EQ changed hands. Sony already shut down a bunch of games, fired a bunch of employees, routinely moved EQ devs off EQ onto other projects, and gave us empty promises they didn't fulfill (weekly new content, big expansions). I'm not saying a random investment firm will be any better, but they certainly couldn't be worse.

EQ is simply moving to a new house guys, and change is scary. Relax. There's nothing to break apart and sell off, the value in in the name EVERQUEST, the franchise, the history, the community. Will it go on forever? No, but I think this Change will definitely prolong the ride.

I honestly do not understand exactly what you are asking but I will try.

Many posts here have stated that CNTP was an investment firm who buys up companies and strips them to sell for profit. I looked at their website and, while I only did a cursory search of the other companies under their umbrella, no where did I see the chop shop scenario to be the case. Like I said, only time will tell and, while it does worry me what will happen to EQ, life does go on.

But then 9/10 times when there is no acquisition things change anyway.

Couldn't be worse? If Daybreak *is* SOE like they keep saying, the same SOE staff with Smed at helm, the same EQ dev team and producers, my question is how could it be better? Everything you listed have been decided in the past 10 years by the same people. Would things get better just because the new investment company promises to take Daybreak to multi-platform? Console ports are bad news for PC games, it really is. If you've been gaming for a long time, you should know this.

But action speak louder than words, the first action I've seen is the new investment company opt to not spend money on the fan faire this year. The once a year event that SOE fans looked forward to, where they get excited about new expansions, news about upcoming games, etc.. This isn't debatable, this isn't he said she said. This is the new investment company saying "who cares, they're just fans". Yeah, I wonder how things could get worse.

In all honesty though this does increase the risk of EQ being shut down sooner (under Sony it seemed likely it would persist for a long time) I think this also increases the chances of something fresh being done with EQ to attract more users.

I wouldn't be surprised if they just leave everything as is but I actually am hoping (though preparing for the worst) that this means under new top down direction they are encouraged to put more into EQ again to see if it can thrive more.

Mardy, can you quote the actual spot from Daybreak where they said the decision to not have an event in Vegas this year came from the new investment owners?

There are good things and bad things about console ports, there really are.
1. The bad: Simplified ui for the smaller input set inherent in the console.
2. The good: More money coming in means more investment in game development.

#1 has already occurred since soe already started developing for playstation, so this change wont make that any worse. Thats not to say that consoles wont make it hard on pc games, but that change was already coming and this acquisition doesnt really change that.
#2 can only get better since instead of developing for only a single console they will be developing for multiple consoles which means more money for developing.

Simple, Shadowknight - what could be more evil?

On the other hand, we may very well finally see a gnome monk - in which case I'd expect a class change.

So I'm sure I wasn't the only one wondering what these groups do after the news...talked to my bud who has a management degree in business and economics. In short these companies ensure what they own is profitable and predict when it won't be profitable anymore and make sure they liquidate it in time. I know EQ has been teetering off for years despite the anecdotal "But I see 200 people in Bazaar!"


1) Feedback?
2) Anyone have suggestions for other games I can start looking into? - Have been told DAoC, WoW, Rift, GW2 so far.
3) I've seen a million and one EQ is dying threads over the 15 years I've played but this is the first real sign of a death rattle, so I'm curious what other people think/plan to do.

Honestly? Stick with EQ and wait for EQ:Next.

Other than that, DAoC is the closest to EQ, but it's not any fun (at all) without playing Realm vs Realm. That's something that really only happens at max level. The low level and mid-level PVP realms are empty.

Right now, current and programmed projects are going to go on as planned.

But the new owners . . . are definitely going to want to do something different. After all, if it was making Sony enough money, Sony would have kept it. And investment capital groups typically buy forms because they think they can get more money out of it than the current team. I.e., there will be changes - just they need time to assess and make them.

I can't imagine having a Fan Faire before they decide what those changes are. I mean, we b!tch and moan about getting the bait and switch from Sony . . . can you imagine the hue and cry if Fan Faire was held one month, saying 'everything will continue as before,' and then a month later Daybreak announces changes that potentially a significant part of the player base may not like, or that invalidates half of what they just said at their biggest expo of the year?

Daybreak's owners will need time to come in and look at the fundamentals, likely ask a lot of questions that haven't been asked before (meanwhile we know with mentions of the possibility of developing for Xbox that some of the potential answers are different from before) - and then decide whether or not to provide funds that may not have been provided before, 'recommend' changes to Daybreak, etc.

Until that is done, it would be 'highly imprudent' to schedule Fan Faire.

I expect in a month or two they will have done enough of an initial assessment to determine if they can get these decisions made by the original Fan Fair dates - and it may end up skipping a year.

I wouldn't panic until May - give them time to decide what to do. No word, yea/nay (and why) by then . . . then panic.

There's a bit of a misunderstanding there, most investment firms actually value potential more than profitability. They'll value something that is losing money but with high potential more than something that is weakly profitable (hence why you see tech companies acquired for high amounts that aren't profitable). Everquest as a franchise provides both. EQ and EQ 2 are I suspect low profitability with dwindling sustainability but have been molded into low cost of maintenance. Plus EQ Next which has a big risk but big potential for really hitting big.

My biggest worry would be if EQ Next completely flops (I'm not talking about Landmark btw but EQ Next)... If there is no *big* potential then they will lose interest in investment and going further. While there still is that potential I would suspect EQ will probably be left mostly alone maybe with some effort to monetize better.

I'll still be playing off and on like I always do, and if it shuts down then I'll just find a "sneakier" way to play.

Console ports dumb down games... like Diablo 3... ick.

As for fan faire - they have a lot of non-production work ahead of them.
Rebranding, streamlining, handing over "the keys" to the house, etc.

I don't think cancelling fan faire is indicative of their dedication to the product. I think they just can't manage the event with everything going on.

If any of you have been involved with a company changing ownership, you spend a good month derping around before things run as planned.

linked for the pic:
https://twitter.com/Roshen/status/562346933553856513

The guide program is completely voluntary. The guides take their own time to come in, help CS with trouble, plan events, and help the communities that they love. Yes their main account is free while they are guides, but it is way cheaper to do that ($15.99/month) vs 10-15+/hr for an employee for the same time that they put in. When I was guiding, it was not unheard of doing 15-20 hours per week. At my rate of 125.00/hr that is a lot of money that I gave up on, but I would not change it at all.

And yes, as a lead QA Analyst, I made that much money! Oh the horror of loosing my sight!

Actually the decision to put Fan Faire on hiatus was made by John Smedley, President of Daybreak Game Company, formerly President of Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). Columbus Nova is funding Daybreak Game Company as an independent entity. $medley is making the decisions on what monies get spent where and on what.