Sony Online Lays Off More Than 200, Cancels The Agency

News began bubbling yesterday via the Twitter feed of well-informed game developer/frequent employment death knell-sounder George Broussard that publisher Sony Online was cutting a significant chunk of its development staff. That news was sadly confirmed today with SOE's announcement that 205 positions would be terminated across three studios in Seattle, Denver and Tucson. All of those studios are now shuttered, as a result.
 
Of the projects formerly being worked on by these teams, the frequently delayed MMO spy thriller The Agency proved to be the biggest casualty. Initially announced back in 2007, The Agency made repeated smoke signals regarding continued existence via screenshots and occasional previews, but the game never seemed to get a firm grip on anything resembling a release date. Its cancellation certainly comes as little shock, though is no less tragic, given the hefty number of people now out of work.

 As part of a strategic decision to reduce costs and streamline its global workforce, SOE announced today that it will eliminate 205 positions and close its Denver, Seattle and Tucson studios.  As part of this restructuring, SOE is discontinuing production of The Agency so it can focus development resources on delivering two new MMOs based on its renowned PlanetSide and EverQuest properties, while also maintaining its current portfolio of online games.  All possible steps are being taken to ensure team members affected by the transition are treated with appropriate concern.
 
This strategic decision will have no impact on SOE’s current portfolio of live games; additionally SOE will transition development efforts for the Denver and Tucson studios’ suite of products to its San Diego headquarters.  This strategic alignment of development resources better positions SOE to remain a global leader in online gaming and deliver on its promise of creating entertaining games for players of all ages, and servicing the 20 million players that visited SOE servers in just the past year.

Sad to hear about this.

Another mmo bites the dust :/

Meh

that's a shame. I was interested in The Agency more than DCUO or Free Realms. :(

Best of luck to all those let go.

Condolences to everyone now looking for work.

Totally forgot about The Agency. Too bad, but them's the ways.

Ya that game has been off the radar for so long.

scoop

So many cancellations and cuts...
 
WHEN WILL THIS EVER END?!?!?

Smart thinking. Cancelling original properties to focus on another fucking Everquest...

" "As part of a strategic decision to reduce costs and streamline its global workforce, SOE announced today that it will eliminate 205 positions"  Could they not have worded it in a way that doesn't sound incredibly heartless? At least say you regret doing it, or you're sad to announce it, or something. "

" "As part of a strategic decision to reduce costs and streamline its global workforce, SOE announced today that it will eliminate 205 positions"  Could they not have worded it in a way that doesn't sound incredibly heartless? At least say you regret doing it, or you're sad to announce it, or something. "

Sucks for the people losing their jobs. The game must have been stinking it up for them to pull the plug after so long, an so much money spent. Still looking forward to Planetside 2 though!  

I was really looking forward to the Agency from all the various walk-throughs I saw of it over the years.  Why is it so hard to build a modern setting MMO?  Arrgh!  And, yes I'm sad to hear about a lot of skilled professional losing their jobs now.  There's no good news in any of this.

It really sucks people lost their jobs, but I can't help but say I'm not entirely surprised.
 
Although I could think of a few live MMOs they have that they should probably think about ejecting- although to be honest I wouldn't doubt a few will see their last days not long from now.
 
I'm only speculating though. We'll see. I don't like people losing jobs, but that doesn't make some of these games or SoEs policies any better.

So they stopped working on an original and interesting sounding mmo, to focus more space and fantasy mmo... 
 
:(

Thats a hefty does of layoffs, bad news indeed.
 
But did anybody actually expect The Agency to be released at this point, I mean c'mon.

Heard about this, and it is quite unfortunate. 
 
Honestly, I saw the death of The Agency coming a long time ago when everyone stopped talking about it at trade shows and whatnot. The closure of that studio had me worried about the fate of PlanetSide's sequel. 
 
Talking with a friend, I guessed that they were likely moving to focus development more on the continuation of Everquest and PlanetSide Next, which Smedley has been talking up a lot and announced plans to soon do a full website and reveal. Turns out I was right. At least they've recognized their core games and are committing more to them.

I believe it is actually spelled Tucson, not Tuscon 
 
also that is a major bummer.

The layoffs suck. And The Agency was looking that way as well, but we'll never know now.
 
As I mentioned in the thread about this, it's probably a good idea to not have two Sony exclusive games named so similarly. Still looking forward to Rockstar North's Agent. In fact something tells me Pachter was confusing these two games in recent Bonus Round episodes while talking with Garnett Lee.

sucks. :/
 
also, I was kinda looking forward to "the agency" since I heard about it. bummer

205 people, not to mention their families. I wish them all luck, and hope they can land on their feet. As for The Agency, it felt like SOE never actually knew what the hell it was supposed to be, or what they wanted it to be.

" So they stopped working on an original and interesting sounding mmo, to focus more space and fantasy mmo...  :( "

I feel bad for all those people. That's a huge bummer.

" Smart thinking. Cancelling original properties to focus on another fucking Everquest... "

" @stalefishies said:

" "As part of a strategic decision to reduce costs and streamline its global workforce, SOE announced today that it will eliminate 205 positions"  Could they not have worded it in a way that doesn't sound incredibly heartless? At least say you regret doing it, or you're sad to announce it, or something. "

If they regretted doing it they wouldn't have done it in the first place. "

This game just didn't interest me at all.

damn that's a shame - hopefully  they'll land on their feet and whatever they decided was worth more attention than the agency actually turns out to be worth a damn

For a sec there I thought the article was on about Rockstar's Agent. And reminded me of how very little we've still heard from this. But then again that's pretty much the situation L.A Noire was at initially, keeping itself firmly in the dark for so long. 
 
Anywhoo, more importantly best wishes to all those who are now on the job hunt. They'll hopefully bounce back pretty swiftly with such credentials of working under Sony.

Oh good, I had The Agency confused with Agent, the open-world spy thing Rockstar's working on. Don't get me wrong, it really, really sucks that two hundred people lost their jobs, but a part of me is focused on the fact that at least the game that got cancelled wasn't one that would have done any good anyway.

As an original boxed Everquest release owner and ex-player I hope SOE goes out of business.  And all their ex-employees go on to better paying, more rewarding careers elsewhere.

" @Paulus said:

" So they stopped working on an original and interesting sounding mmo, to focus more space and fantasy mmo...  :( "

Yes, they stopped working on their APB/Crimecraft style MMO for some reason. "

Why would you cancel the agency.  Man I was really hoping to see something on that at E3.

I bet these folks could hash out an intriguing TF2 mod. I'd buy it.
With the field cleared, does this mean the fabled Alpha Protocol MMO stands to see the light of day?

wasnt all that interested in The Agency as i dont play MMOs, but bad news is bad

i am surprised that people are sad about an SOE MMO being cancelled. Their track record isn't exactly a sterling one.

" "As part of a strategic decision to reduce costs and streamline its global workforce, SOE announced today that it will eliminate 205 positions"  Could they not have worded it in a way that doesn't sound incredibly heartless? At least say you regret doing it, or you're sad to announce it, or something. "

Terrible news.  However, it seems like they basically announced a sequel to PlanetSide?

" This strategic alignment of development resources" 
 
Man, I'd like to live in a world without corporate speak.

I wonder if this could have something to do with DCUO's weak reception.   The Agency seems like it would have been cool though.

I was wondering what was happening with The Agency. Shame.

LOL

"" This strategic alignment of development resources"   Man, I'd like to live in a world without corporate speak. "

Sucks for people losing jobs.

Good, Good.
 
Now Sony can spend more money on...uh...Star Wars Galaxies?
 
WHY IS THAT STILL RUNNING?