Sony Online Entertainment Becomes Daybreak Game Company

As mentioned by others, this subject was broached prior, as I then responded; did anyone share the same concerns that Sony was based in Tokyo, with Corporate Affiliates spanning the globe? Nah, we played the game, everyone has heard of Sony.

What I'd wanted to add: In huge corporations, one division may not even know the other exists. ie. when a Sony Rep came to my old office to demo their line of IP Surveillance Cams, we chatted after. He seemed the gamer type, in a techie field. I mentioned EQ2 and SOE, wondered if their other divisions got some sort of employee perk. He did not even realize that SOE existed, nor that they were part of Sony. So, other than on financial documents, will Daybreak's day-to-day operations be a concern for parent company Renova? IMHO, I'd think it is just another line of revenue.

Speaking of revenue, think I'll grab more coffee and harvest See you in-game.

Kitty

ask if you can share and he will probably say yes. the people need to see such nice messages now. would be good for you to share his message with us

has this been posted to the forum yet?
http://kotaku.com/big-layoffs-at-everquest-studio-today-1685243961

i found the newest replies so interesting. seems there is an ongoing dialog there.

from http://www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/Rudyard_Kipling/kipling_if.htm

I won't quote the entire poem but it seems appropriate in this time.

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

let's keep our heads and wait to see what happens next

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/236266/Layoffs_sweep_SOE_as_it_transitions_to_Daybreak.php

and in other breaking news
http://siliconangle.com/blog/2013/0...moving-public-data-about-everquest-character/

most interesting article on you feldon, like they say good publicity, bad publicity - just don't get the name wrong- any publicity is good.

(ps- that is called a diversion meant to break tension and get our minds away from this for a couple of minutes. very good article though and quite enlightening)

With all the concern being expressed, I have to ask, are we really worse off? This is not the first round of layoffs we have seen, nor is it anywhere close to the most brutal. And there is plenty more to consider.

Since 2004, online PC gaming from SOE has had an interesting run.

The Matrix Online - Quite mixed reviews, not as popular as expected, shut down in 2011.
Star Wars Galaxies - I never played that game, but the common message is pain. Great pain.
DCUO - Went FTP so fast that "The Flash" was impressed.
The Agency - yea, that game.. How many millions of dollars were spent?
Vanguard - It looked like a slow, painful, drawn out execution.
EQNext - How many times have they scrapped it and started fresh? 5? More? And where are we now? I hope for a great game.
EQLandmark - Quasi test server for EQNext. Players test mechanics & design architecture for SOE, for free. Many even paid for the "privilege" of doing it. Just don't make good stuff until it goes live, or you get diddly!
H1Z1 - Talk about drumming up brutal negative publicity. It may still do well, but not a good way to get rolling.
Free Realms - Do I need to explain?
EQ2 - Remind me of how much Smed likes this game, again? And how much he likes those who play it?

What good came from being associated with Sony since 2004? This association made our beloved EQ2 a popular target for hackers and DDOS attacks. It is entirely possible that Sony (parent company) provided monumental behind the scenes support to the team at SOE, but I would be pleasantly surprised to learn such was true.

So from where I stand, the Daybreak transition could be a much needed boost. From my perspective, the transition may have sped up what was happening to begin with (a downward direction), but this change provides the chance to turn things around for the better. Only time will tell.

An example of what would actually made me concerned (hypothetical), is if an independent studio had released EQ1 (1999) and EQ2 (2004), and in 2015 a company called Sony bought them out... The Wilhelm Scream would not do it justice.

Sony has Canceled home support? Last couple days you can't even call in there must be some firing going on. I wonder if Eq or EQ2 will even get another expansion.

Oh, I'm sure they'll get expansions, way too much money in them to let them fade, and too much of an ongoing revenue stream.
they are what support/fund the development efforts on the other games I'm sure

Most of the community relations staff was let go a few days ago.

I'm more inclined to believe that both EQs' fates are linked. As one goes, so will the other. EQ1 remains profitable, has lower overhead, and continues to get expansions (although the last one was widely panned for myriad reasons). And a significant number of people play and buy stuff in both games whether they admit to it or not.

To those following the bread crumbs and then proclaiming "ah-HA!", I'd just point out that in this age of Globalization, pretty much everyone owns everyone else.

Before you finish today Afista, I'd like to thank you for all you've done in the all too short time you were with us. You were one of the best community managers we had as you were lively, engaging, honest and always willing to help or change things around to help us international players. Kudos to you for carrying on with such good grace considering all you've been through this week. Best wishes for the future.

Yes Afista, you were my favorite CM as well-- always attentive and upbeat, but never pushy! Every layoff here including yours saddens me, and I hope all of you find other jobs soon. Feel free to use us all here as references. If you can make this crazy crowd happy, you'll make it anywhere!

they are probably in the process of changing phone numbers and switching over. if you write in, you can get help. just petition. and the devs are great about answering ingame requests right away. also they answer on the support part of the forums.

At least we know we will still have you around Afista. We will miss you being on the team but will be very happy for your input as a player in all of the forums. and who knows, after the dust settles there may be something new for you to do.

when one door closes, two more open.

i do want to say "thank you" to Daybreak and CN for doing this in February. Our guild's anniversary is in May and we are planning an event. I would be very sad if this had happened then and all of the attention was diverted from our plans.

Our Customer Support staff is still here to diligently work on tickets. If you have a ticket in that has not been responded to yet, I assure you they'll get to it as quickly as possible.

Again, I thank you all for the kind words. I've enjoyed every minute, even the minutes when you all weren't so nice There is still an amazing team of developers here and many more exciting things to come in game!

The only reason most of us would buy the offline/intranet single player version is if they Do decide to shut it all down. Such as they already have with other popular games in their stable. As long as they keep it alive there is no need, if they shut it down having such a version available would at least soften the shock & hatred their customers would be going through. There are several of their sunsetted games that previously loyal customers would be happy to buy such a version if it was available.

I'm a grown woman, but I'm still going to cry for the lost team members. Who am I kidding? I'm throwing a tantrum! Just not very loudly.

I stopped playing more than a year ago, but I wanted to express my sadness for all the very good people that were laid off last week. I hope you'll find another job soon and that it will bring you as much joy as the previous one did and that you'll get the same love from the players.

Good luck for all the team that stays around with special hugs for Kaitheel and my oh-so-yummy Gninja (it seems you won't be buried in your tomb yet ;p)

Hugs to you all (and not zombifying hugs, mind you!)

a very well written article
http://eq2.zam.com/story.html?story=35719

thanks Zam and all the great folks there for bringing it to us and for your support of players in this time

the author also linked an article to zam- wish i had thought to link a similar one here. he is so right on target

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/07/opinion/la-oe-0407-silk-ring-theory-20130407