Sony Online Entertainment Becomes Daybreak Game Company

Have you ever played any other MMO? How many new toons in WoW (the most popular MMO) do you think spend time going back through the Burning Crusade expansion and hitting every dungeon and raid? I'd wager that almost none do. Games progress. New content comes out and negates old content. Players move on to conquer the new challenges that await.

Do you really think that new players starting EQ for the first time want to soak up all the 15 year old lore and raids? I assume that most new players want to get caught up to the endgame so that they can enjoy the current game with the majority of the other playerbase.

What anti-marketing posts? And the fact is people are concerned and venting. It's human nature. This is a big change and enough of us have been through corporate actions to have a healthy respect for how things could go.

It will die down after people have had a chance to recover from the news. Besides some are already trying to derail the thread.

I have been through 5 merger/acquisitions in my career, none of them ever kept the status quo.

Everything will remain essentially the same for 2 years (the time required for something with the law).

After 2 years is when things change, usually there are layoffs starting with the top (presidents, CEO) then regular staff a few weeks or months later.
Not saying this will happen, its just what I have experienced in all 5 of them I went through.

But, software engineers are usually safe, very few of them are cut during these transitions. Its mostly marketing, sales, HR, management and customer support people that are impacted as the parent company usually provides these positions from their headquarters.

Last thing I will say is for the employees, if you get the speech essentially saying there is "Nothing to worry about", run fast and far.. get a new job asap. Nothing to worry about = we are going to have layoffs shortly. The more personal talks that say there may be layofffs, but none of you should be impacted will mean just that.. your pretty much safe.

Very well said, having gone through acquisitions I agree mostly... two points to add my own 2cts

1) Though the "nothing to worry about" can herald in things to definitely worry about it is said by *everyone* in this situation... whether there are good or bad things coming, so I wouldn't consider it a litmus test for something bad coming down, but just write it off as obligatory things that will be said. Much like us as players will get the same thing whether or not there indeed is nothing to worry about.

2) SOE must have been a pretty massive acquisition, smaller acquisitions (meaning 100 million or less, potentially even ones higher than that too though) have a lot more to worry about, since a small investment like that from a source that has a lot of money means they are whole lot less attached to the way things are currently done. They will be more likely to chop things especially after that 2 year window. A bigger acquisition is a bit of a different beast, they do indeed have less personal and cultural attachment to the same things (like keeping old games running) but they are less interested in chop shopping a larger entity minus basic cost efficiency measures (some of which you mentioned, re-using what the base company may already have).

You bring a good point, usually changes happen over time and sometimes they can seem like little changes but when you look at the same company 2 years later you realize how much has changes one step at a time. For personal context though I don't think it's malicious just the way it is, you don't buy a business if you have no interest in affecting it's path.

My $0.02

Media industries have been in cycles of expansion and concentration since the first telephone, film, and radio studios began operations. The pace of these realignments has increased since the mid-1990s with the advent of technology changes, policy changes (primarily at the FCC), and business model changes. Mergers and acquisitions to your cell-phone providers, app developers, publishers, textbooks, television programs, film studios, etc… happen all the time and are not unusual. I believe the folks working on EQ realize this nature of the business they are operating and I trust they are not too freaked-out.

I would also encourage us as audience/users to not freak-out as well. I'm really encouraged by many of the posts in this thread (Love you Mauddib!). Competitive displacement of any technology or content platform is relatively rare in the 125-year view. AM Radio is still broadcasting and you can still buy plain old telephone service if you want it. The best way we can continue to support EQ (and all media content) is to play/watch/listen. A group of engaged, involved players is a manastone for any media producer. Even though the audience for AM Radio has dropped substantially since the 1930s (in the US), owning a radio station is still a money making enterprise. I have every confidence that EQ remains a money making enterprise.

Spatters

Will there still be a new expansion for Everquest this year?

+1, been through 3 corporate mergers and buyouts myself. Each time I've gotten raises, each time assured everything was fine, and that the new company was "fully funded to operate for 2 years without profit". Honestly each time everything looked great for awhile. Sadly every time I've lost co-workers and friends, many of which we all thought were untouchable. Changes do indeed happen start from the top, the O's first, then down to managers, then marketing & support. Corporate like sales people though, especially ones that bring in big money, although this doesn't really apply to SOE.

While software engineers are often safe, mostly due to the fact that good programmers are just so darn hard to find. In this case with SOE/Daybreak, a good number of them are designers. Designers are not safe, especially if corporate heads want to cut cost by bringing in younger, cheaper, and often more motivated individuals to create games for the newer generations. I've said this before, "multi-platform" and "xbox one" are bad words for folks working in the PC department. Console ports mean in comes watered down content, simplified controls, less personal choices, and arcade gameplay feel. It's pretty much the opposite of what people have grown to known Everquest for.

Why there are EQ1 fans cheering this merger on, I have no idea. When the trim comes, it's the older games and older employees that will be in trouble. I can understand Landmark & EQN fans cheering this on, because a lot of them are console gamers or already prefer newer generation games. Planetside 2, well the PC version of Planetside 2 already failed, resources already reallocated elsewhere as we've seen many Planetside 2 devs got moved to other games. The console ports will for sure take up a lot of the remaining resources they have.

As an EQ1 fan, prove to me that you have access to more resources and that those access to more resources will benefit older games like EQ1 & EQ2. Give us a new progression server like we've been asking for in the past couple of years. Let's see better expansions again. Let's see the money.

FanFaire/SOE Live is a VERY expensive event for the company to host. At this time, we had to make the hard decision to cut it this year, and focus on our transition to Daybreak Game Company.

As mentioned by others recently, the first FanFaires weren't run by SOE/Verant... they were run by fans. You can find fans that are planning an event with fans of our games this summer in Las Vegas if you look for them, but this will not be a Daybreak Game Company sponsored event.

We're transitioning, but the company is the same (we just have a different name). The people who are best to work on EverQuest, are those devs that already know our systems, lore and player community. While it's possible devs will move between teams (like they always have in the past), you'll still see familiar names talking to players about EverQuest.

The business plan for EverQuest hasn't changed. While we haven't announced the next expansion for EverQuest, once we're ready we'll certainly do so.

That's my point.

If something isn't done to make the game fun from day 1, the game is dead.
Now, we all know that the content and lore of EQ is a blast, but why do new players just walk away from it? Because they don't get to meet people at the same skill level, at the same player level and group with them.

They end up having to put up with 15 year veterans telling them how much more fun it is at level 100+

"Only 99 more levels until fun... this is the best MMO ever!" (said no one, ever)

Remember that we all continue playing because we have a warm-fuzzy about this game, and we love Norrath and the lore. But, if we want this game to continue on, development needs to be made on the newbie front, not on a new expansion that's only targetted at max level. They need to take the old raids and tune them down for 4 players + mercs with level scaling, preferably in an instance so the oldgame is retained.

Yes. Redo raids into Heroic Adventures for level 40+ so everyone gets a chance to finish expansions and live the lore that made this game so awesome.

I don't know any of the lore past Planes of Power and Omens, yet I've been playing since 1999. I pretend that GoD never existed lol

Telling new players that all content prior to the current expansion is outdated won't get them excited about playing either since they have to slog thru all of that obsolete content before reaching the "fun" stuff.

I've played EQ since 2000, and I know very little of the game's lore. Honestly, lore is something that I don't care about at all. I play EQ for the character advancement and raiding/progression aspects. They've sent my character from jungles, to frozen tundra, to the moon, to alternate planes, to buried seas. I have no idea why, and I don't really care. Just keep creating content for me to conquer that drops loot that improves my character. If they stop doing that to pour all their resources into completely redoing the game for beginners, I go find something else to do and they lose me and my multiple gold accounts. Many of the people I play with are like minded.

EQ has been around for almost 16 years. It has been wildly successful for the most part. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Just keep making a great game that people want to play. There are newer, shinier, flashier games out there that are going to attract a lot of the new gamers. EQ can't compete on that front. What it can do is try to put out the best content it possibly can for its players and hope that the word gets around. Current players tell friends. Those friends tell their friends, and pretty soon, you have a player base increase. That is how a 16 year old game is going to grow, IMO.

This is why I say: "the only thing wrong with EQ is it's community."

It's not that the community is bad, it's that they don't remember what made EQ so successful to begin with and they fight against it when it's brought up.

You've just described Diablo.
EQ was popular when it WASN'T Diablo.

It is so obvious what slowed EQ down, and it wasn't what everyone thinks. You need to recruit new people. Well, Heroric toons won't do that. although it is a great feature for existing servers. First, don't be afraid of merging servers. That would only help. Second, always have a new server, one that people cannot transfer to for the first 6 months to a year, BUT, also, gradually introduce expansions. Call it TLP's or not, but that is how you get new people and old customers back. EQ is unique. If you don't use your advantages, just give it up.

When the BIGGEST complaint or REQUEST is a new server where people can start from scratch ALONG WITH EVERYONE ELSE , you should pay attention. And for God's sake, ignore the same old forum dwellers that have done nothing in their life but play EQ and live on the forums. Quite obviously, this wouldn't appeal to them. But then, you have them locked in already.

Actually, I didn't describe Diablo. I described what EQ is to me and a lot of the people that I play EQ with. I'm sorry that our interests are different.

EQ was most popular when it was the revolutionary big fish in the sea. Now, the MMORPG market is extremely saturated. If you're expecting EQ to return to its pre-WoW dominance, your expectations are unrealistic.

One last thing, and then I'm going to wash my hands of this thread. I couldn't disagree with this opinion more. The EQ community is the absolute best thing about the game. The people I've met and relationships I have established through this game over the past years trump any pixelated item, lore, or raid victory. The community is the lifeblood of this game. Always has been and always will be.

Lots of "one hit wonders" can milk that success for decades.
Woe be to the band that only wants to "play the new album" at their concerts.

-R

And that's typically done at Fan Fair. (gulp!)
-R

Sound business practice, focus on what is and get all the kinks of the move worked out then work on other things like marketing.

Since it became a topic, i can add what slowed Eq down from my experience (my own feelings, and those of old friends i have talked to).

And what came to light there, it's the lack of places to explore and group in that gave us the feeling of really doing adventure in an interesting virtual world.
The sorts of Sebilis, Howling Stones and many other great dungeons of the past.
My friends are not interested in Partisan, Merc, Hunter or Collection Quests.
Also not interested in instances like Heroic Adventures.

Me and them, we liked to set our own goals. Decide where we want to go, without exactly doing it for just named camping or (for us boring) progression.
Working on long, real quests like BIC was fun on the other hand, but the current stuff does not compare.

So this is where i think Eq lost many of it's players.
It used to be an open world, not exactly a "sandbox" but it didn't take players by the hand.
This feeling is lost when most groups (real, boxed or even solo) always head out to get through zone progression, like following a scratch list.
Eq should be all about adventure, seeing and learning to like places.
That's how the very old expansions like Kunark shined, and i wonder if we can't just try something like that again.

And yea, i do think this is relevant.
You need to show your new money source that you still have a vision for this game.