Sony No Longer Owns Sony Online Entertainment

I really hope they don't ruin Planetside 2. Its secretly my GOAT.

SOE mostly made games for the PC and Sony is largely focused on their own platforms. The timing for this is a bit off considering there seemed to be a big push recently to get SOE's games on PS4. You could see this as acknowledgement from Sony that the MMO business is not growing. Or Sony just needs the money to offset their losses from the consumer electronics business.

@top8gamer: Final Fantasy XIV doesn't suffer at all for being on console. I play it on PC and its a fantastic MMO. I don't have any reservations about their games being multiplatform I'm more worried about them being good. H1Z1, from what I've heard, is not great (although it is early access). EQ Landmark is ok but if the combat they have in that game is what they're going to put in EQ Next then I'm not too hopeful for EQ Next. Planetside 2 is a giant cluster fuck most of the time. I want their games to be good, I really want EQ Next to be great, but I'm having a hard time seeing it go that way.

exactly, because that one dude in a forum is not interested in the games they make! ;)

@belegorm: it being sad box does not help genre in anyway yeah be fun to mess with for first hour but still got play boring mmo with same combat mechanics from 90s and multi-class system that been in 6 or 7 different mmo's.

And gw2 has done alot more then just way combat works the that fact they add content every 2 weeks for free and have been messing around with dungeon concept with fractals and made it so your not so dependent on trinity should not be overlooked. gw2 has its problems but atleast arenet trying push things along everquest just feels like bunch of promises and is relying on sandbox aspect to sell to mincraft generation.

@the_ruckus: It's a bunch of promises, but it's still the first real shot at a sandbox MMO that we've had in forever. Saying that it's supposed to appeal to the "minecraft generation" might be partially true but still ridiculous as primarily that's appealing to oldschool UO and SWG players - you know the ones that haven't had much of a game to play in years.

It's cool that GW2 has added content on a consistent basis and mixed things up a bit, but in the end that whole style of game is still going through the current endgame stuff, wait for for the next update, go through that content. It's a story that the developers give you to read, not one you write yourself. At least GW1, which seemed way more interesting, was pretty much a 3D Diablo, not a themepark MMO.

EQN has a shot at the stories of "Oh I set out into the wilderness, found this player town of 5-10 shanties, we banded together against competing factions and slowly grew. And had our shit stolen multiple times by PK'ing rogues. We negotiated to get some crafters but they were attacked on the way by mobs so we had to send out an escort.

Oh and by the way someone just assassinated Lord British."

The above scenario is fictional (except for the assassinating LB thing, which did happen at the end of UO's beta), but you can hopefully see that a group of people banding together in an online world is a very different thing from the post WoW (really post EQ1) thing of "level up to the cap, grind for better gear, rinse repeat, use LFR to play multiplayer with random people you'll never see again" MMO style we've had for forever. I mean plenty of people like MMORPG's as a way to develop their character that grows stronger, but I think the whole point is to interact with people in an online world. Which is something people have often forgotten these days.

SOE was always a strange thing. With the PlayStation brand being such a big deal, Sony owning a separate game developer that kinda just did their own thing was weird. A few years ago I would have kinda expected it to merge into SCE at some point, but with the Sony corporation being in a somewhat precarious financial situation at the moment, selling it off probably makes more sense at this point.

Sure I'll probably check out their stuff on the Xbox.

Ouch... Something is going wrong at $ony...

I'm an original Everquest player and this makes me very nervous. No wonder there was no word on the next 'SOE Live' in Vegas.

Pretty much this. A lot of games come and go for me, but PS2 always manages to stick around.

@belegorm:

i dont hate everquest i have played them in past and enjoyed my time with them just dont think major issues with mmo genre can be fixed by adding sandbox.

my opinion on issue of mmo genre is that A combat has been same forever and relies on trinty and B the way content is often repeated or the ginding in the endgame. these are hard issue to solve.

but do appreciate that everquest trying something to save mmo genre even if not successful and i probably play it at some point.

and i too miss hardcore old school nature of mmo like ultima where lord British was stabbed and i would love someone to make new mmo like that just for fun of ganking people and crazy exploits people discovered in those old games.

Great ms paint job, Alex!!

Being more of a SOE fan than a Sony fan, this news intrigues me. I'd be be more willing to spend money in PS2 now if there was anything worth paying money for.

I think whatever combat system an MMO has, and whether or not the trinity is in it or not is beside the point, the point is what you do with it. And even grind done well can work better than games that try and cut grind out.

The main issue, for me, at least, is that in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, the multiplayer aspect has been nerfed into the ground. You might group up to do an instance, but you don't need to rely on other people at all. Pretty much everyone on GB's staff who has played MMO's in the past play them like single-player RPG's where you might as well not have other people in the world.

On the other hand, my favourite MMO of all time was Final Fantasy XI. I'm not saying every MMO needs to take it to those levels of having to rely on other people to do things, but that game really made you rely on other people.

my giveashit-o-meter remains unmoved due to me not giving a shit about about their games even if they do let me pay to win

To be honest I don't think the games SOE has, nor their desire to keep making MMO games was helping Sony. The business model SOE is trapped (or wanted to be in) was always uninteresting to me.

To be honest this seems like Sony dumping something that was of no real long term tangible value. I have $10 that says in about a year, Daybreak closes as Columbus Nova uses that loss as a tax break.

And, before you say that can't be right, consider that Sony's operating income for the 3rd quarter last year included a 6.2 billion yen ($59 million) write-off of "certain PC titles sold by Sony Online Entertainment." Then at the same time, a year ago, SOE announced that development on four of its MMOs would cease: Free Realms, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and Wizardry Online.

SOE was a black hole sucking resources, so selling it to some shady sounding holding company does not speak to SOE's health.

Should have named the new company "Gamebreak Game Company" if ya know what I mean, eh?

I did not see this coming today.

"We are excited to join Columbus Nova's impressive roster of companies," said John Smedley, president of Daybreak Game Company. "They have a proven track record in similar and related industries and we are eager to move forward to see how we can push the boundaries of online gaming."

What is this company? Do they make video games? Has anyone heard of Columbus Nova before today? My one source for all things, wikipedia, apparently also never heard of these guys before today. Yes they've been around since 2000 in NYC but doing what? Would have been nice if he had named one other thing from this "proven track record" to give us an idea where the hell they just went.

Buying SOE is like buying a shit factory!

I think you guys might take a look at this. https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/ I was a huge fan of early SWG BECAUSE you had to interact with other people, build relationships in order to survive. I think the term MMORPG got lost in translation somewhere down the line. Creating an SP game, yet touting how many players can be on screen at once. Yay?....

I was thinking about this last night, particularly about Jeff and minecraft. A lot of people want things spoon fed to them, rather than being captured by their imagination, like when they were a kid. Sure it takes a lot of work, and time investment but, I think the payoff is far greater in the end.

I'm pretty sure I've never played an SOE developed game.

So the answer to that last question is no, @alex

I haven't hopped on board yet as that game seems a tad too... early for me, but as a big fan of oldschool Ultima I'll definitely be checking it out at some time.

You have summed up my feelings about MMO's perfectly. I miss my days playing SWG. My server wasn't the largest but it had an amazing community. I made so many relationships. I knew my allies, my enemies, I knew which crafters would give me a good deal and which ones would try and rip me off. If I wanted to do some space PVP I knew who to get in touch with and which crafters specialized in making ship parts. You get the idea.

It will never be like that again but I don't think i've fully accepted that fact yet.

No real surprise here. SOE just hasn't been a big name in the MMO space since WoW came out, and with Sony needing to cut the fat desperately, this seems as sensible a sale as any.

@xeirus: I would have to assume so. Why would any company buy SOE but not the rights to their most successful IP? And since the head of the studio has said they are going to bring their games to Xbox going forward I can't imagine Sony remains involved in any way.

This is nuts to me!

Well. I know Sony's not been doing so well. This probably a good move to let every keep their jobs while letting Sony shed off some of their assets to stay afloat.

I guess everyone wins?

SOE will always have a place in my heart due to the impact Planetside & Star Wars Galaxies had on my childhood. Where it goes from there? Who knows. It would be really cool to see Planetside 2 make its way over to Xbox One.

I bought my way into EQ: Landmark and don't know that would translate over, but maybe Next would?

UNTOLD LEGENDS COMEBACK, BABY

@bipa: i think it can but it take current mmorpg design going away or genre will have to change in some meaning full way that encourage that type of cooperation to be important and fun to deal with.

Huh, looks like I am in a minority as I've enjoyed just about everything SOE has put out in the past 15 years (I have no interest in H1Z1 though, and Wizardry Online was garbage, but it wasn't developed by SOE).

In other news: Video games are wierd.

Maybe someone will revamp the the whole service, SOE and their station system for accounts was a disaster.

Never 4get Star Wars Galaxies

what happens to all the games with SOE logins? will they get cut off from the playstation account side of things?

@babychoochoo: I only tried out DCU because of the license and it would let me play as a Green Lantern. I played for about 5-6 levels and then never went back to it because it just seemed so utterly devoid of life. I think it was the instances which killed my interest because they just ended up being smaller versions of the world map and you did the same stuff in them.

What an unfortunate name and an absolute gift for the headline writers once any of their games appears in a less than playable state (aka "2014 style").

"Daybreak Games? Yes they do."

Care factor = 0%

@alexw00d said:

To be fair, when you see that both Last of US and Uncharted 3 have a "pay to win" option then you get a hint that Sony are the ones behind it .

@giant_gamer: Sony are behind GiantBomb

When I first saw H1Z1, I said to myself "Oh, it's being made by Sony, so at least there's some responsibility/oversight there."

Your bad games are now on more platforms. Rejoice. Except for pre-NGE Star Wars Galaxies that stuff was alright.

@somejerk: Are you saying that giant bomb is nothing but a tool for Sony?

A tool that they will use to brainwash whoever is dumb enough to step into its medium... This is.. A conspiracy!

those jokers could never get their games out on playstation platforms quickly enough. So why does sony even need a PC dev?

@reisz: Some SWG fans just don't want to give up hope, do you?

Maybe Daybreak can finally bring back Tanarus. It's the only Sony game I've ever given a shit about. It's extremely disappointing that nothing remotely close to a spiritual successor to Tanarus has surfaced. Once they removed the $15/month subscription I played nothing but that game. Was super bummed they took down the servers. A new Tanarus would do fantastic in todays F2P market (i.e. pay for cosmetic shit for your tanks).

@xeirus: It honestly isn't that crazy in my mind. SOE was originally an entire different branch of Sony from SCE and even when they were both put under the same umbrella, SOE remained a mostly separate entity. And while SCE is among Sony's most profitable divisions, the SOE part of it likely isn't nearly as profitable considering the company hasn't had a major hit in years. Add to that the fact that the MMO as a genre has not had a major hit in several years and you can see why Sony would want to get rid of that studio. If they want to make a MOBA or a DayZ style survival game they can do so under the SCE name. That is where the money is these days in the PC realm, not in classic MMORPG's, which was SOE's bread and butter.