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SOEVGACQ

"The Hard Facts"

SOE and the Future of Vanguard

By Changul

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On April 25, 2007 a couple of interesting events occurred. First, a target="_blank"
href="http://www.vgflames.com/showthread.php?t=940&page=2">
rumour was leaked concerning the possibly buyout of Vanguard by
SOE.
Second, Sony, SOE's parent company and industry giant of electronics
and games announced that it plans an href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/sony-no-decision-made-timing/story.aspx?guid=%7BC97A3FFA-8BC3-454F-A13E-3C581FB22945%7D">IPO
sometime in the autumn. An IPO is an initial public offering of
stock. It may surprise you to know that SONY has been privately owned
for over 50 years.The Japanese electronics and entertainment giant has
long said it plans an IPO for the unit, Sony Financial Holdings Inc.,
in the fiscal year that started in April, or later.



"We have no further comment," a Sony spokeswoman said.



The Nikkei reported Sony plans to take Sony Financial Holdings public
this autumn, with proceeds from the sale of at least a 30% stake in the
wholly owned unit expected to reach some 300 billion yen. If it goes
forward, the IPO is likely to be this year's biggest in
Japan. Recently, Sony has taken some losses since PS3 has not been
as successful as
predicted.  The href="http://www-thewallstreetjournal.com/wsj2.html">Wall street
Journal href="http://www-thewallstreetjournal.com/wsj2.html"> reported
today: Ken Kutaragi, who created Sony Corp.'s massively
successful
PlayStation videogame consoles, resigned on Thursday, the latest
development in Chief Executive Howard Stringer's stepped-up efforts to
turn around the company after years of disappointing results. The
electronics giant said the 56-year-old Mr. Kutaragi, currently
chairman and chief executive of the Sony Computer Entertainment unit,
will resign from these posts in June. He will serve as honorary
chairman and will support Mr. Stringer as senior technology advisor.
(This statement tells investors that Sony is on the ball regarding its
responsibility to its stockholders, rather than reflecting a lack of
faith in Mr. Kutaragi.)





Now, the Vanguard Community has been vocal regarding the "dreaded"
acquisition by SOE. Let's look at the real history though, and not
merely
opinions.



History:
Sony Online Entertainment was formed originally as a
production effort between Sony Pictures and Sony Corp (with Sony
Computer Entertainment also in the mix) to make PC games. The company's
first blockbuster title, EverQuest, set its path as an online-oriented
game producer. The company is most known for its MMOs, but it has also
produced standard online and wireless titles as well as a few branded
games with no online components, and created the Platform Publishing
label to put out interesting games that didn't exactly fit the SOE
brand name.



href="http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=PR&symbol=SNE&storyID=10013+13-Jan-2007+PRN&type=qcna">About
Sony Online Entertainment

Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is a recognized worldwide leader in
massively multiplayer online games, with hundreds of thousands of
subscribers around the globe. SOE creates, develops and provides
compelling entertainment for the personal computer, online, game
console and wireless markets. Known for its blockbuster franchises and
hit titles including EverQuest(R), EverQuest(R) II, Champions of
Norrath(R), Untold Legends(TM), and PlanetSide(R), as well as for
developing Star Wars Galaxies(TM), SOE continues to redefine the
business of online gaming and the creation of active player communities
while introducing new genres on various entertainment platforms.
Headquartered in San Diego, CA, with additional development studios in
Austin, TX, Seattle, WA, Denver, CO, and Taiwan, SOE has an array of
cutting-edge games in development. SOE is owned by Sony Pictures
Digital and Sony Computer Entertainment America.



In May 2005, href="http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/vanguard-saga-of-heroes/705459p1.html">Microsoft
bowed out  amicably regarding publishing rights for Vanguard.
Simply put, SOE was to
take care of all the back-end support and distribute the game, market
it, and host it on their servers. Now, they will do more.



So here's the thing:



SOE has the cash flow that Vanguard needs. They have the
technology and the manpower to make the game better, and they have the
financial responsibility to guard their investment. Will they
"dumb-down" the game? History does not support that theory. SWG (Star
Wars Galaxies) was dumbed down by LucasArts,
not SOE. SOE still publishes SWG, because it still makes money.



href="http://www.fohguild.org/forums/mmorpg-general-discussion/22202-soe-publish-vanguard.html">May
5 2006 : “We are very excited to be working with so many old
friends at Sigil,”
said John Smedley, president, Sony Online Entertainment. “Vanguard
looks beautiful and has an incredibly rich game world. It’s the type of
game that will appeal directly to SOE’s hundreds of thousands of
players and should fit in perfectly with the current line-up of games
available in Station Access.” Brad McQuaid also commented on the merge:
"I realize there are lots of different feelings about SOE and their
games. But whatever those feelings, the fact of the matter is that they
know operations and distribution. They will make sure our beta runs the
way it needs to, that our game is widely marketed, and that our game is
available all over, in all channels."



SOE is
part of a financial giant that
is dedicated to make money. Contrary to community opinion, it style="font-weight: bold;">is
money that will make the difference. Mr. Brad McQuaid, Sigil's CEO and
creator of Vanguard, may have had his vision, but visions alone are not
always
fiscally responsible. Having the backing of an Industry Giant cannot
hurt the game as it stands now. Are EQ and EQ2 suffering because of
SOE? No. Additionally, in June of 2005, href="http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1073757,00.html">Time-Warner
reported that Warner Bros. would
collaborate with SOE on many projects. "Our goal is to deliver quality
content and consistently advance our key properties within the online
games space," said Jason Hall, senior vice president of Warner Bros.
Interactive Entertainment. If  Industry Giants like these can
support SOE, can trust them, why can't the gaming community? As we have
seen, vision alone cannot make a game work. Sigil received support and
monetary backing from SOE, and in return, Vanguard was launched.
Critics have claimed that the game was not ready, and SOE pushed the
enevelope too fast. The truth is, Vanguard does need work. It needs
money and manpower. In short, it needs what SOE can provide.



April
29, 2007: "SOE is in discussions with Sigil regarding the future of
Vanguard and
Sigil Games in Carlsbad. Talks are going well and first and foremost,
our primary concern right now is what's best for Vanguard and its
community. We want to ensure that this game and its community have a
healthy future. The specifics that we work out over the coming days
will all be with that single goal in mind.”



src="http://bradmcquaid.com/images/2004-10-19mcquaid.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 150px; height: 117px;" align="left"> target="_blank"
href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=634">Brad
McQuaid speaks out : "So what does that mean again? Again, I
apologize for not being able to
go into details and it’s the details that need to be worked out. But I
think it’s safe to say that both Sigil and SOE see the potential of a
mind blowing game by the end of the year...To pull it off however,
requires a funded and supported Sigil and
a well marketed Vanguard with these different target audiences
identified and solid plan on how to reach them all, and then a solid
execution of said plan, hitting them hard, pushing these ‘WoW
everywhere’ point of purchase materials from the front to the very
back.. In the meantime, the Vanguard that was launched in early 2007
continues to move forward, with much of what I’ve talked about patched
in over time, and the rest in the first expansion (or re-launch, or
whatever we all agree upon in terms of product and service placement).
Bottom line, Vanguard continues to march forward, a solid and fun game
today, and an even better one tomorrow. More ‘state of the game’ posts
by me, a regularly updated href="http://vgplayers.station.sony.com/inTheWorks.vm" target="_blank">‘In
the Works’

.
And whatever kind of increased
partnership between Sigil and SOE is
necessary to make this vision a reality. And again, as for what
that
means exactly, more on that later ™."



We here at Ten Ton Hammer look forward to what's in store for Vanguard.
This could be precisely what is needed to make this truly a 3rd
generation MMORPG.



Check out the  buzz on our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=14808">forums!