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Author Topic: SOE Now Effectively Part of SCEI  (Read 40196 times)
schild
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on: March 13, 2008, 10:07:52 AM

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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.
slog
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Reply #1 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.

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schild
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Reply #2 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.
Murgos
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Reply #3 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?

"You have all recieved youre last warning. I am in the process of currently tracking all of youre ips and pinging your home adressess. you should not have commencemed a war with me" - Aaron Rayburn
Samwise
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Reply #4 on: March 13, 2008, 10:27:41 AM

SOE was a relatively small and mostly autonomous division of Sony, IIRC.

"I have not actually recommended many games, and I'll go on the record here saying my track record is probably best in the industry." - schild
schild
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Reply #5 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.
Grand Design
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Reply #6 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.
Bandit
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Reply #7 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.
WayAbvPar
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Reply #8 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...


When speaking of the MMOG industry, the glass may be half full, but it's full of urine. HaemishM

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Grand Design
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Reply #9 on: March 13, 2008, 11:00:57 AM

Now, that definitely would have made EQ2 a little less carebear.
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Reply #10 on: March 13, 2008, 01:03:36 PM

Kelly Flock?


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HaemishM
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Reply #11 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.

MahrinSkel
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Reply #12 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

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Reply #13 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.

schild
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Reply #14 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.
MahrinSkel
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Reply #15 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.
Not sure how many of the old hands still around (probably a fair number after the Sigil spin-in), but Verant was formed from (and EQ1 development started in) the old Sony Interactive Studios America (now 989 Sports).  So yeah, they know the territory when it comes to consoles, not even counting EQ Online Adventures.

--Dave

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schild
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Reply #16 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)
Dtrain
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Reply #17 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.
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Reply #18 on: March 14, 2008, 06:15:13 AM

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
Truly an impressive list.
NiX
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Reply #19 on: March 14, 2008, 08:54:04 AM

Truly an impressive list.
Was that supposed to be green?
HaemishM
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Reply #20 on: March 14, 2008, 10:52:10 AM

I thought the list should be in green.

schild
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Reply #21 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.
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Reply #22 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.

-Rasix
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Reply #23 on: March 14, 2008, 02:01:45 PM

Champions of Norrath? Really? Mediocre Diablo/X-Men Legends clones?

schild
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Reply #24 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.
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Reply #25 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.
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Reply #26 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...

schild
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Reply #27 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.
Dtrain
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Reply #28 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.
schild
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Reply #29 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.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2008, 01:40:46 AM by schild »
Venkman
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Reply #30 on: March 16, 2008, 04:26:15 PM

Ah yes, that there front page thing. Sorry for the repeat post.
Dash
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Reply #31 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
Grand Design
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Reply #32 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.
Dash
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Reply #33 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?
Velorath
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Reply #34 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.
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