John Smedley - Smack Talk.

[Mrbloodworth]

"We've been very much a PC house and we will continue to be, and we're adding PlayStation 3 to the mix of things that we're doing," Smedley explained. "We're basically a multiplatform company... If you look at The Agency, our DC universe MMO, and ever our Free Realms title, we're doing PS3 versions of all of those games."

When asked whether or not he believed that a console MMO could be as successful as World of Warcraft, Smedley responded "I absolutely do, 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," he said.

Two Quotes above Link.

"It's not that dollar sales are down; it's just that retail PC sales are the narrow focus that ignorant people are looking at."

SOE Boss: It's 'Ridiculous and Foolish' to Say PC Gaming is in Decline

I think we were just all talking about this.

[shiznitz]

Smedley has failed to deliver again and again. EQ2 was saved by Hartsman. What else do they have?

[CharlieMopps]

How that fool has kept his job over the years boggles my mind.

[tmp]

How that fool has kept his job over the years boggles my mind.

Could be because company he runs keep bringing in the money over said years. It's not like there's that many MMO publishers out there with multiple shipped and/or maintained titles... that fare so much better in comparison.

On the other hand SOE is now going under direct control of SCE ( http://www.soepress.com/release.asp?i=182 ) so maybe he's about to lose his job, in a way.

[Margalis]

Most PCs aren't online capable so that's a good point.

As far as PC sales, it would be interestnig to look at sale after throwing out the top and bottom 10%.

[schild]

On the other hand SOE is now going under direct control of SCE ( http://www.soepress.com/release.asp?i=182 ) so maybe he's about to lose his job, in a way.

His boss is at SCE instead of Sony Pictures. The difference is that the former is more gamecentric.

[Trippy]

How that fool has kept his job over the years boggles my mind.

Could be because company he runs keep bringing in the money over said years. It's not like there's that many MMO publishers out there with multiple shipped and/or maintained titles... that fare so much better in comparison.

It is bringing in money but that's in spite of the decisions he's made. Basically Sony lucked into EQ and they rode that gravy train for the longest time and still have not been able to duplicate the success of that game (never mind obtaining NA WoW-like numbers). It's very likely they are now way under their peak (like less than half) at the beginning of 05 just after EQ II launched and EQ was still going strong and the NGE hadn't been released yet. So basically for the past 3+ years he's been in charge of a division that's been shrinking in subscription revenues.

[tmp]

His boss is at SCE instead of Sony Pictures. The difference is that the former is more gamecentric.

Yeah i didn't look close at Sony structure so got wrong impression out of that change. Looking closer it seems SOE is staying on the same level in the 'pecking order', just being attached to different parent unit.

[tmp]

It is bringing in money but that's in spite of the decisions he's made. Basically Sony lucked into EQ and they rode that gravy train for the longest time and still have not been able to duplicate the success of that game (never mind obtaining NA WoW-like numbers).

But is there actually anyone who have? It's easy to lambast the guy for his inability to produce another EQ, but considering few companies manage to come up with even one MMO that reaches this level of success in environment where flops or barely getting by looks to be norm... maybe it's just unreasonable expectations. Like say, expecting every next MMO to reach the mentioned WoW-like numbers.

As it is i can only think of NCSoft with their Lineage and then Lineage 2... but that worked mostly on Korean market and then they had their own share of Auto Assaults, Dungeon Runners and Tabula Rasas.

[MahrinSkel]

Give John Smedley some credit.  Given the history of MMO publishers/developers, SOE is basically the only one that consistantly produces more success than failure.  EA has been a disaster, NCSoft is not doing so great (although most of their failures are lower profile than TR, there have been a *lot* of them), Blizzard has one product and no real followup in sight.

He's not brilliant, but he's been right *enough*, more often than not, which makes him the best performer at his level.  Which is kind of like being the smartest kid on the short bus, given the competition's performance, but with the overall pattern that's probably an unfair way to put it.  Maybe this stuff is just really hard, and nobody has a handle on it yet.

I worked for Smed, once upon a time.  It wasn't exactly the high point of my life, work conditions wise, but that wasn't his fault.  In my actual dealings with him (I was a few levels below him, but in a position that meant I had more exposure than most), he was more than fair and I've got no bitch.

--Dave

[Venkman]

Not really sure what this thread is about. SOE is the company people like to hate, but they're pretty unique in that they do consistently make money, and can continue to grow their service by integrating more games they didn't need to internally develop. They may not be making what EQ1 was at its peak. But with how much they seem to have streamlined over the years, I also imagine their operating costs are down as well. Then factor in the number of titles they have versus those they internally developed, and efficiencies from combining teams and practices, and I don't think it's too hard to figure out why they're still around.

They're not the sheriff in town anymore, not grabbing the headlines, just plodding along doing their job and generating the money. That's perfect for a genre that is the very essence of the long tail.

[Triforcer]

Give John Smedley some credit.  Given the history of MMO publishers/developers, SOE is basically the only one that consistantly produces more success than failure.  EA has been a disaster, NCSoft is not doing so great (although most of their failures are lower profile than TR, there have been a *lot* of them), Blizzard has one product and no real followup in sight.

He's not brilliant, but he's been right *enough*, more often than not, which makes him the best performer at his level.  Which is kind of like being the smartest kid on the short bus, given the competition's performance, but with the overall pattern that's probably an unfair way to put it.  Maybe this stuff is just really hard, and nobody has a handle on it yet.

I worked for Smed, once upon a time.  It wasn't exactly the high point of my life, work conditions wise, but that wasn't his fault.  In my actual dealings with him (I was a few levels below him, but in a position that meant I had more exposure than most), he was more than fair and I've got no bitch.

--Dave

Well said.  I've never understood the impulse to hold an eternal grudge against this guy because you had to wait an extra couple minutes for the boat in Freeport in 1999.

[UnSub]

Well said.  I've never understood the impulse to hold an eternal grudge against this guy because you had to wait an extra couple minutes for the boat in Freeport in 1999.

But those are extra minutes I can never get back! I wasted a small part of my life waiting for transportation to kill 1000 foozles to level up a virtual skill, and someone must feel my wrath!

In reality, I think an awful lot of dev hate comes from jealousy - the feeling that if you were in the same position as (say) Smedley, you'd be doing a much better job and everyone would be happy and it's obvious what the devs should be doing, so why aren't they doing it, rite? Most MMO players are armchair MMO designers too and there's nothing an armchair <anything> likes doing more than picking apart the work of the pros because they think it should be done differently.

[Nebu]

In reality, I think an awful lot of dev hate comes from jealousy - the feeling that if you were in the same position as (say) Smedley, you'd be doing a much better job and everyone would be happy and it's obvious what the devs should be doing, so why aren't they doing it, rite? Most MMO players are armchair MMO designers too and there's nothing an armchair <anything> likes doing more than picking apart the work of the pros because they think it should be done differently.

Well stated.  I have clear memories in my head of standing on the field, during a nationally televised game, while two 400 lb guys in the stands were telling me what I did wrong.  I'm sure it's no different for Lum, Dave, Raph, Smed, etc.  Then again, communities like this wouldn't exist if we just mindlessly accepted everything that was handed us to play.

There's a middle ground here.  It's great to be passionate about the industry, the games, and the people that make them.  As long as we keep in mind that those people are the ones holding the reigns for a reason.   

 

[Dtrain]

Smed takes a lot of heat for SWG NGE. Lucas Arts basically stood him up and let him be the fall guy for that one.

[schild]

Smed takes a lot of heat for SWG NGE. Lucas Arts basically stood him up and let him be the fall guy for that one.

If we want to pick nits, you'd have to blame the head of the Austin Studio. Not the head of SOE. Specifically, John Blakely.

[shiznitz]

I credit Smed, rightly or wrongly I don't know, with EQ-izing games that were trying to be different, Planetside and SWG specifically. The expansion to PS was a disaster - a clear money grab - and the NGE... If EQ1 was as casual, solo friendly as EQ2 is today, it would have gotten close to 1 million subs.  WoW shows that the market was there.

[Merusk]

Smed takes a lot of heat for SWG NGE. Lucas Arts basically stood him up and let him be the fall guy for that one.

There was plenty of hate going around for him long before the NGE.  All the EQ1 angst that should have fallen on McQuaid fell directly on Smed when McQuaid left and became the High Holy God of Catasses.

I dislike some of the guy's philosophies and his decisions; but yeah, he's been making money on even shit games like Matrix so he's at least a decent businessman.

[Venkman]

I think the heat he takes is for even more shallow reasons than those cited:

He's out there.

Like Raph, Smed takes heat simply for being the messenger. People bitch about Blizzard, Funcom, NC, and the other companies all the time. But that's by nature a less passionate "hate" because they're just that: nameless/faceless corporations with non-public faces outside of the CSR folks who only perform CSR functions. It's hard to get pissed at a mailbox, and the people hearing your hatred are hired and trained to do nothing but.

Meanwhile, SOE for years has been the people of SOE. It's a lot easier to yell at them directly. So, people do.

[UnSub]

Also, those Funcom people have funny names with lots of odd characters that are hard to get right. Smedley rolls right off the ... keyboard... and into a flame much better than Ranquier Tornquist (if that's even how it's spelled).

[Dtrain]

Smed takes a lot of heat for SWG NGE. Lucas Arts basically stood him up and let him be the fall guy for that one.

There was plenty of hate going around for him long before the NGE.  All the EQ1 angst that should have fallen on McQuaid fell directly on Smed when McQuaid left and became the High Holy God of Catasses.

I dislike some of the guy's philosophies and his decisions; but yeah, he's been making money on even shit games like Matrix so he's at least a decent businessman.

Oh, I'm not denying that. But you have to realize that there was a special vintage of hatred that matured with the NGE. Before that the hatred was so pedestrian: you nerfed my mana stone, you put out a shit expansion, your high end content isn't finished, my class is completely worthless, etc. (basically the same crap you hear about any MMO, though possibly a little more raw due to the mistakes EQ1 made while trailblazing the DIKU MMO format.) The hatred post-NGE, and in the WoW pre-launch hype took on a particularly sharp and resonant tone. Finally there really was blood in the water when the over-hyped and under-cooked EQ2 launch could not hold a candle to the blazing inferno that is WoW.

Also, Blakely wasn't the one who had to write the post that drove more than half of SWG to hit the cancel button, it was Smedley. I've talked with plenty of people who quit SWG after NGE and they hold Smedley personally accountable as the one who made the changes, simply because he was the most visible at the time.

[HaemishM]

Also, those Funcom people have funny names with lots of odd characters that are hard to get right. Smedley rolls right off the ... keyboard... and into a flame much better than Ranquier Tornquist (if that's even how it's spelled).

Hence, Pigfucker.

[CharlieMopps]

Well said.  I've never understood the impulse to hold an eternal grudge against this guy because you had to wait an extra couple minutes for the boat in Freeport in 1999.

That's cause you weren't there. I dealt with Smeadlys horseshit for too many years. Sony could put any competent CEO in place of him and they'd do a better job. Not to mention the PR boost.

[schild]

Contents of the post above this one may be dramatized to increase the alleged knowledge of the person making the post.

It takes a more than competent CEO to make the money Smed does off those games.

Sorry, Charlie, but you're talking out of your ass.

[Velorath]

Oh, I'm not denying that. But you have to realize that there was a special vintage of hatred that matured with the NGE.

Let's be real here for a second.  The NGE may have generated a shit load of negative discussion, but in order to generate actual hatred, there would've had to have been more than a handful of people still playing SWG when it was rolled out.  Plenty of us mocked it from a distance, but I think very few people here were actually affected by it enough to feel any level of hate.

[Triforcer]

Well said.  I've never understood the impulse to hold an eternal grudge against this guy because you had to wait an extra couple minutes for the boat in Freeport in 1999.

That's cause you weren't there. I dealt with Smeadlys horseshit for too many years. Sony could put any competent CEO in place of him and they'd do a better job. Not to mention the PR boost.

I was there, buckaroo.  I played EQ for the first two years.  And yet, given that it was a game and I valued other people/things in my life much more, I didn't erupt in infinite rage every time SMED NERFED TEH PUMICE STONES BECUZ HE HATE UWS!@!@!11! 

[Lantyssa]

Let's be real here for a second.  The NGE may have generated a shit load of negative discussion, but in order to generate actual hatred, there would've had to have been more than a handful of people still playing SWG when it was rolled out.  Plenty of us mocked it from a distance, but I think very few people here were actually affected by it enough to feel any level of hate.

Had I not quit three days before the announcement and realized the scrapping of the original combat revamp for the CU was due to this mess, I would have been outraged.  I still felt really bad for a lot of my friends who were playing.  Then it became a morbidly funny comedy.

[Dtrain]

The number of people it effected is not the whole point (which at 200-400k isn't chickenfeed, even in a post-WoW MMO industry.)

What was really significant about the NGE is that it was just about universally regarded as a bad idea, by current players, past players and even just casual observers. In the context of the sweeping changes made, the game-wide poor reception of the changes, and the rigid inflexibility to revise the changes by SOE (read: Lucas Arts,) these complaints seem morally justified in the minds of other MMO players and gamers so they transcend the typical idle MMO griping that people enjoy so much.

Even if just 25k people still hold a major grudge and speak their valid complaints anywhere and everywhere the topic of SOE comes up, that's a lot of visibility on the issue. Considering the fact that SWG was a game that appealed to social gamers, it's not unreasonable to expect this kind of justified negativity to be both persistent and effective.

[Venkman]

Jeezus, another damned NGE debate? Den'd in 5...4...3...

[Lantyssa]

And everyone considered Smedley in charge at the time.  Whether he just knew about it or ordered it, he put it out there as a good and necessary idea.  On this one, it was okay to shoot the messenger.

He still has a job, and I doubt he's taken any pay cuts, so I don't think we need to cry over him taking some heat for any of the decisions we blame him for.

[Morat20]

The number of people it effected is not the whole point (which at 200-400k isn't chickenfeed, even in a post-WoW MMO industry.)

What was really significant about the NGE is that it was just about universally regarded as a bad idea, by current players, past players and even just casual observers. In the context of the sweeping changes made, the game-wide poor reception of the changes, and the rigid inflexibility to revise the changes by SOE (read: Lucas Arts,) these complaints seem morally justified in the minds of other MMO players and gamers so they transcend the typical idle MMO griping that people enjoy so much.

Even if just 25k people still hold a major grudge and speak their valid complaints anywhere and everywhere the topic of SOE comes up, that's a lot of visibility on the issue. Considering the fact that SWG was a game that appealed to social gamers, it's not unreasonable to expect this kind of justified negativity to be both persistent and effective.

You're new here, so you wouldn't know. We're not allowed to talk about the NGE up here, where casual people might accidentally read it. :)

However, there are approximately a ZILLION hours of NGE flames, rehashes, insults, poetry, and Darth Vader pics in the Gaming Graveyard under "Star Wars: Galaxies". Schlid found every fucking SWG post on the entire site, dating back to his appearance as a zygote, and threw them all there.

[Jimbo]

I never had any bitches about Smedley, but I was bitching @ Brad.  I tried EQ out when it came out and picked the two out of three wrong classes (barbarian rogue, barbarian warrior, and barbarian shaman) and when data was collected showing the problems faced with suck, Brad said to screw off, he was sticking to his vision.  I then quit and went back to UO or Asheron's Call.

I give Lum hell because he had the rants and went to the man for work and then didn't change anything (or at least keep ranting that he is trying to change stuff).

[Selby]

He still has a job, and I doubt he's taken any pay cuts, so I don't think we need to cry over him taking some heat for any of the decisions we blame him for.

He isn't as bad as everyone makes him out to be and the way he runs things keeps generating a ton of cash for SOE.  Why would the corporation ruin what is essentially a money generating operation, even if they did have to deal (or not deal) with a ton of pissed off customers over "a video game" in their eyes?

[Samwise]

Schlid found every fucking SWG post on the entire site, dating back to his appearance as a zygote, and threw them all there.

That was actually me.  You overestimate Schild's capacity for OCD thread-herding.   

[Dtrain]

He still has a job, and I doubt he's taken any pay cuts, so I don't think we need to cry over him taking some heat for any of the decisions we blame him for.

Oh, I'm not concerned about Smedley - I'm sure he'll cry himself to sleep on a pillow made of 100 dollar bills. I hold Lucas Arts responsible for a lot of the hate SOE receives for NGE and that makes me sad. Not that I really even liked the game much, in any of it's revisions.

I know Lucas Arts is trying to change their image/profile and develop more quality games in house, and I wish them luck. Anything would be better than the harmful parasite they have been in the development process on their licensed games for nearly the last decade. But I still can't forgive them for setting SOE up on that NGE thing.

Also Morat20 - I lurked long enough to witness the whole sordid affair, SOE-Austin visit, embarrassing yet caveat’ed (yet still embarrassing) predictions included. Maybe I'm risking the den here, but I am a wild uncontrollable stallion.