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Title: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: schild on March 13, 2008, 10:07:52 AM Quote SAN DIEGO, CA & TOKYO, JAPAN (March 13, 2008) In a strategic move to closely align itself with the strong growth of the worldwide online gaming market, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) announced today that Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) will report to Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, SCEI, effective April 1, 2008. The new structure is designed to mutually benefit both companies by further accelerating the PlayStation business through SOE’s strong online gaming expertise. “I am excited to be able to work with SOE even more closely, as online games and services become a more integral part of the PS3 entertainment experience,” Hirai said. “This new structure will allow us to take full advantage of the extensive breadth of expertise of the two companies and increase our range of exciting entertainment offerings to our consumers.” San Diego-based SOE is currently part of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Under the new structure, SOE will continue to develop its games for the PC and the PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3®) computer entertainment system, and SOE President John Smedley will report to Hirai. “We are thrilled to become a part of the incredible team that has made PLAYSTATION 3 the premier platform for next generation online gaming,” said Smedley. “This move is going to broaden our capabilities and expand the development of our products into new and exciting directions.” This can only be a good thing. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: slog on March 13, 2008, 10:13:19 AM Quote from: schild This can only be a good thing. From that comment, it sounds like you have never worked for a large corporate environment. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: schild on March 13, 2008, 10:25:51 AM Quote from: schild This can only be a good thing. From that comment, it sounds like you have never worked for a large corporate environment. lol Seriously, SOE needs the refocus, Sony Pictures never did anything for them, and SCEI/SCEA make best in genre/class games. Gran Turismo, God of War, etc. This is a good thing. They will be managed by better people, no doubt have access to better help (in terms of code, PS3 dev, etc). SOE was already part of a large corporate environment, this is absolutely no doubt a better one. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Murgos on March 13, 2008, 10:26:10 AM Quote from: schild This can only be a good thing. From that comment, it sounds like you have never worked for a large corporate environment. You don't think SOE was already a large corporate environment? Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Samwise on March 13, 2008, 10:27:41 AM SOE was a relatively small and mostly autonomous division of Sony, IIRC.
Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: schild on March 13, 2008, 10:28:43 AM SOE was a relatively small and mostly autonomous division of Sony, IIRC. They were a 4 office (Austin, Seattle, Colorado (that card game company, I think CO), San Diego) (5 office if you count their India "Branch") division making and managing multiple MMOGs at a time and wholly owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. Nothing small or autonomous about it. Though Smedley may have been given free reign, either way, needs the refocusing SCEI and Kaz can provide. Edit: Also, I think they had a Korea office or maybe they outsourced the EQII art. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Grand Design on March 13, 2008, 10:31:42 AM I surely hope this means that we will get the best of both worlds and not the worst. The press release is spun in such a way as to put praise on SOE, but I think that's smoke and mirrors based on who is reporting to whom.
This could potentially be a good thing. At least its good to know Smed has to report to someone. That should help. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Bandit on March 13, 2008, 10:45:23 AM Edit: Also, I think they had a Korea office or maybe they outsourced the EQII art. Taiwan, but close enough. I think SOGA does mostly artwork. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: WayAbvPar on March 13, 2008, 10:58:34 AM At least its good to know Smed has to report to someone. That should help. Depends on who he reports to... (http://www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/2006/01jan/devil.jpg) Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Grand Design on March 13, 2008, 11:00:57 AM Now, that definitely would have made EQ2 a little less carebear.
Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Azazel on March 13, 2008, 01:03:36 PM Kelly Flock?
Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: HaemishM on March 13, 2008, 01:17:02 PM Kelly Flock? You can't see Kelly in that picture, because the boil on the devil's ass is cropped out. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: MahrinSkel on March 13, 2008, 01:58:25 PM Looks like SCEI is ready to view the PS3 online capabilities as more than an afterthought. This could be good for Sony, on the other hand it may not mean anything, or be bad, for any third-party MMO development for the PS3.
--Dave Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: UnSub on March 13, 2008, 05:41:53 PM I don't really see how this will be a good thing for SOE. MMO development plays by some different rules compered to console game development, so it might be hard getting anything greenlighted if SCEI management haven't been properly educated.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a number of existing SOE products given their pink slips, however, if they aren't bringing in the player numbers. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: schild on March 13, 2008, 05:43:18 PM I don't really see how this will be a good thing for SOE. MMO development plays by some different rules compered to console game development, so it might be hard getting anything greenlighted if SCEI management haven't been properly educated. I wouldn't be surprised to see a number of existing SOE products given their pink slips, however, if they aren't bringing in the player numbers. SOE has as many console and portable games under their belt as they have MMOGs. I think people forget this. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: MahrinSkel on March 13, 2008, 06:06:57 PM I don't really see how this will be a good thing for SOE. MMO development plays by some different rules compered to console game development, so it might be hard getting anything greenlighted if SCEI management haven't been properly educated. I wouldn't be surprised to see a number of existing SOE products given their pink slips, however, if they aren't bringing in the player numbers. SOE has as many console and portable games under their belt as they have MMOGs. I think people forget this. --Dave Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: schild on March 13, 2008, 06:09:27 PM Not to mention:
Untold Legends 1 & 2 (PSP) Untold Legends PS3 Field Commander PSP Mortal Kombat II PSN Qbert PSN Champions of Norrath 1 & 2 PS2 Cash Guns Chaos PSN Frantix PSP Gripshift PSP & PSN and more. Really, they have many many more console games than MMOGs. But who's counting? (me) Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Dtrain on March 13, 2008, 06:51:58 PM Yes, this is (in fact,) a good thing.
For about the last year SOE was an LLC owned by Sony Pictures and Sony Computer Entertainment of America. Prior to that it was owned entirely by Sony Pictures. I'm not sure what administrative oversight SCEA provided, but the involvement with Sony Pictures would have had Smed reporting to Yiar Landau, who, to my knowledge has no interest in video games beyond the vague idea that "Video game development and motion picture production are becoming more similar, isn't that cool?!?!!?" I don't think anyone is going to make the claim that things are coming up roses for SOE. Obviously something had to change. If that means scary corporate rumblings, then so be it - I imagine the ones to suffer will be those who truly deserve it. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Sky on March 14, 2008, 06:15:13 AM Not to mention: Truly an impressive list.Untold Legends 1 & 2 (PSP) Untold Legends PS3 Field Commander PSP Mortal Kombat II PSN Qbert PSN Champions of Norrath 1 & 2 PS2 Cash Guns Chaos PSN Frantix PSP Gripshift PSP & PSN Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: NiX on March 14, 2008, 08:54:04 AM Truly an impressive list. Was that supposed to be green?Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: HaemishM on March 14, 2008, 10:52:10 AM I thought the list should be in green.
Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: schild on March 14, 2008, 01:33:10 PM Wait, what's wrong with Gripshift and the Norrath games? Or Field Commander? Or Frantix?
Look, they might not be deep games, but they are solid games. The only non-MMOG series they make that I have beef with is Untold Legends because it's like Diablo Lite and has absolutely zero soul. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Rasix on March 14, 2008, 01:45:57 PM The only non-MMOG series they make that I have beef with is Untold Legends because it's like Diablo Lite and has absolutely zero soul. At least it had high resale value. By the time I got sick of it, I could still get $25 from Gamestop. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: HaemishM on March 14, 2008, 02:01:45 PM Champions of Norrath? Really? Mediocre Diablo/X-Men Legends clones?
Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: schild on March 14, 2008, 02:02:56 PM Champions of Norrath? Really? Mediocre Diablo/X-Men Legends clones? A lot of people liked them for their coop-ness and they sold well enough to make an argument for Blizzard to put Diablo on consoles. Iron Lore just had blinders on. In fact, I remember people here making recommendations on those games for their coop play. Edit: MOSTLY THOUGH, it proves they have the technical ability to make well-structured console games. They just need some direction and people with a little inspiration, which SCEI can provide. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Dtrain on March 14, 2008, 04:59:29 PM Champions of Norrath 1 was fairly well received, even though it was more of a Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance clone, than anything else. I could be wrong, but the other titles it was compared to were more contemporary (if my memory serves me right.) My girlfriend and I had a great time playing this one.
Champions of Norrath 2 was exactly more of the same though, and given the repetitive nature of that type of game, it was certainly less well received. Plus it's "cool multiplayer" factor was severely crippled by an unfixable bug that would allow a temporary buff spell to permanantly remove any weapon enhancements - but not too many people talk about that. I tried to play this with my girlfriend as well, but we both found it to be dull as dirt. So yeah: potential there, that can hopefully be improved and stabalized with the company reporting to a more sane division. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Furiously on March 15, 2008, 01:14:07 AM Were any of those games made in house?
I'm just wondering if they are doing it to show better $ for the PS3 division... Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: schild on March 15, 2008, 01:19:38 AM Were any of those games made in house? I'm just wondering if they are doing it to show better $ for the PS3 division... All of them were in house. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Dtrain on March 16, 2008, 01:30:20 AM Were any of those games made in house? I'm just wondering if they are doing it to show better $ for the PS3 division... All of them were in house. Slow down there easy rider - guy has a point. The CoN games at least were developed by Snowblind. SOE's contributions to CON1 (first one I grabbed off the shelf,) are: a handful of producers (vanilla, executive AND assistant,) a production assistant (jr. assistant producer?,) 2 designers, 2 programmers (compared to 5 at snowblind,) a bunch of QA, and finally scads of marketing, web presence, station store management (wtf?,) legal, and executives. I think it's safe to say that SOE only published the title as well as providing a bit of back end coding support (probably for online matchmaking,) as well as a few designers between projects to keep an eye on the IP. I think the rest of the console titles in your list have a similar set of credits. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: schild on March 16, 2008, 01:37:50 AM Oh snap. I forgot the CoN stuff came from Snowblind. Sidhe developed Gripshift while Killer Game developed Frantix.
However, I'm about 99.9% sure that after CoN, SOE started doing the Untold Legends PSP and PS3 games in house as well as Field Commander. I either forget (or can't talk about) what SOE is doing right now for the PS3, but I'm fairly certain, given their last few releases, that they've kept it in the family. Edit: All largely irrelevant, being under SCEI - I think - will make this better for gamers. I'm not sure many folks here care whether it's good for Smedley or not. Makes me wonder though, part of me thinks they're just going to be localizing foreign Sony efforts on the PS3. I can't see Sony trusting them with the facetime to be comparable in any form to Jaffe or the Team ICO folks. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Venkman on March 16, 2008, 04:26:15 PM Ah yes, that there front page thing. Sorry for the repeat post.
Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Dash on March 17, 2008, 10:23:32 AM http://www.mcvuk.com/news/29930/PS3-MMO-could-rival-Warcraft-says-Sony
Quote PS3 MMO could rival Warcraft, says Sony Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley talks future strategy following company restructure ... "I absolutely do [think we'll see that], and in fact I think by having a stable platform where every customer has an online capable box is a huge, huge potential advantage in building an MMO because you've already got an online userbase. “It's a massive advantage over the PC and we don't have to worry about graphics cards or things like that. It's going to be very big. Console online gaming in general I think is going to be one of the next huge phases of growth in the online gaming space." :awesome_for_real: Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Grand Design on March 17, 2008, 10:38:39 AM I think that was the sarcastic :awesome_for_real: and not the sincere :awesome_for_real:.
Aren't they getting a little tired of looking for a WoW killer? Do something else. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Dash on March 17, 2008, 10:42:48 AM Oh yah, the sarcastic one. How many people own a PS3 btw? Do 10 million people even own one?
Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Velorath on March 17, 2008, 11:57:36 AM Oh yah, the sarcastic one. How many people own a PS3 btw? Do 10 million people even own one? Between 10-11 millon worldwide. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Grand Design on March 17, 2008, 12:00:28 PM Oh yah, the sarcastic one. How many people own a PS3 btw? Do 10 million people even own one? Between 10-11 millon worldwide. Gut instinct tells me that the crossover between that 10 million and Warcraft's 10 million isn't much. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Azazel on March 18, 2008, 01:09:57 AM Between 10-11 millon worldwide. Cool, so if every single PS3 owner buys the PS3 MMO, it might Rival WoW! Oarsomeness! Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Velorath on March 18, 2008, 01:26:51 AM A cross-platform GTA MMO could put up some decent numbers. As far as Sony exclusives go, I could see a Gran Turismo MMO doing pretty well also.
Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Sky on March 18, 2008, 06:30:46 AM How would you do a GT mmo? It's a racing game, it would be multiplayer with leaderboards or whatever. Completely limited by the nature of the game. Unless avatards can all get out and wander around the pits and work on their bbq skills or something. That would be awesome. For reals. :awesome_for_real:
Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Velorath on March 18, 2008, 11:30:27 AM How would you do a GT mmo? Motor City Online done right I suppose, and maybe mix it with a Burnout Paradise-style open world as a hub, connecting to various race instances. One of the few good things I've heard people say about MCO is that it had a good economical system, which is something you don't really get out of just having leaderboards. The other thing that's different when you do an online only GT, that could be postive or negative depending on personal preferences, is that unless you don't have an offline single player mode where you can just grind against the AI controlled cars for a few weeks until you have all the money/cars you need (and you also can't just reset the game anytime you total your car or something). I imagine that in a racing MMO, it would be a bit more challenging since you aren't going to be winning first in every race once you get the gameplay down. Title: Re: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI Post by: Samwise on April 02, 2008, 12:49:53 PM A cross-platform GTA MMO could put up some decent numbers. I would never leave. :drill: |