I helped propagate the rumor that SOE was poised to purchase Vanguard from Sigil that was started at EQ2Flames.com. Some people doubt the rumor, and some people agree with me that it is a very likely outcome. If I was a betting man, I would be putting money down on this one. There is no way in financial heaven that Sigil can foot the bill any longer, even with SOE's help. Vanguard is just not pulling down the subscribers that Sigil needs to survive financially. Vanguard was not a cheap title to produce, unlike some other second-rate MMORPGs that have managed to survive with few to no subscribers.
Over at Cuppytalk, the question is being asked: SOE TO BUY VANGUARD? BIG WHOOP. Actually it is a very BIG WHOOP; one that seems to be ignored by a lot of casual observers of the situation.
On an immediate level, SOE purchasing Vanguard most likely means that two things will happen to Sigil. First off, Sigil will most likely dramatically downsize their company. Secondly, a small segment of lead developers will most likely be picked up by SOE to transition Vanguard over to SOE. I suspect the MMORPG industry will be having a sudden surge of resumes floating around sometime soon, and it will signal the start of the truth behind this rumor.
What this means for Sigil's head man, Brad McQuaid, is yet to be determined. Most likely, this signals the end of "The Vision". I seriously doubt SOE would hire McQuaid back with his now proven record of "not getting it". Even if SOE hires McQuaid to stick with Vanguard; it is very unlikely that his "vision" for the game would be followed. Vanguard needs to change and if SOE is going to throw down the money, they are going to do things their way.
As "The Vision" dies in the mess that is Vanguard, I sincerely hope that it signals the death of the old way of doing business in the MMORPG market. We really needed a big, AAA title to fail miserably trying to follow the old "release now, fix later" mentality. World of Warcraft slammed open the door on this market, but the old standbys just didn't believe that anything had changed. People like McQuaid believed, and probably still do believe, that there are just more MMORPG gamers in the market looking for "The Vision". World of Warcraft proved there was a massive market for MMOGs. Vanguard proved that the expanded player base was not a fickle coagulated blob looking for the next great game. Vanguard has shown that the days of Everquest are gone; forever.
I hope that people realize how big a of a deal this really is. Games require money, and having a multi-million dollar title fail miserably is not encouraging in the least for any perspective venture capitalists out there. Less investment, means fewer games and less innovation (aka risk). At the same time, this grand failure, cements the start of a new line of thinking that all MMOGs of the future will benefit from. There is a template to be followed for success, but it is still up to the developers to deliver on the product. BIG WHOOP that SOE is buying Vanguard. BIG WHOOP that Sigil is most likely done. BIG WHOOP that the business of MMORPGs is changed forever.
The true trick that Vanguard and WoW missed is that the initial game must be bug free and polished while updates just need to be fast.
ReplyDeleteHeartless, one of the recurring themes on this blog is voting with your money. I was pumped for "The Vision" right up until I played it for myself.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I hope that Vanguard goes belly up, just so the rest of the gaming industry can see what happens when they release a shit game and expect their players to grind bugs as well as MOBs. The moment I start paying for a game, that game better be finished, not an open beta with a monthly fee. Vanguard is quickly becomming the Roy Munson of MMOs. The MMO market needed a solid example of a crap game in order to teach future companies a lesson; they got that with Vanguard.
Do I care if SOE purchases Vanguard? Nope, not at all because if SOE can spin it around then good for them.If not, and Vanguard becomes the Roanoke of the gaming industry then I say it serves em right for treating their customers like guinea pigs. I'm voting with my dollars on this one by just saying NO to Vanguard.
On a side note: How long do you think any other company would survive if they pulled the shit that the gaming industry does? I just bought a new truck, but the tires may not be the right size, the transmission slips, and I have to wait for my leather seats to be patched in later?? yeah right. We gamers are stupid as hell sometimes.
First real sign of a change in the industry happened yesterday when Warhammer announced they are postponing their release to Q1 2008, in order to continue 'polishing some zones'
ReplyDeleteVanguard has left the industry in a better place. We can thank them for the good that their utter failure of a title has wrought.
Haha. Cyndre's comment is a bit harsh, but right on the dot. VG has become a good example of "how not to release your MMO."
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for the guys at Sigil. It must really suck to work on a labor of love for years, build all kinds of hype, and then have it tank like this.
Vanguard has shown that the days of Everquest are gone; forever.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason why gamers even put up with the grind of Everquest was because there was little else out there at the time. Name me one who didn't wind up having personal problems over trying to keep up with the "fun"?
Then that fateful day arrived. I recall standing in POK around the time that WoW emerged and felt the sting of low population right before my eyes. People saying their goodbyes THEN and taking off for greener pastures. All you heard behind you was, "Wait, I'm coming too!" Oh joy!
We left and never looked back. Sure, we tried Everquest 2 just for giggles, but major revamps mid-stream sent a lot of us packing out of distrust and disgust, thankful we never got rid of our WoW accounts.
I remember standing in Brennan's Stead on the day of the first Vanguard Beta 1 run -- having signed up out of some morbid curiosity and never because I really intended to estrange my life that way ever again.
Anyway, I had to go back and read the latest McQuaid visionary post to make SURE I was in the right place. I knew then he was a fibber. A big, fat liar with a lot of idiot followers, employees included.
Anyone with half a gaming world under their belt could smell coding errors a mile away. Even the expressions on the NPC's faces seemed to cry, "HELP!", while the mobs screamed outright, "STUCK!" The one move forward would land you to desktop and you'd actually be thankful the nightmare was over. It was a spooky place, possessed by some type of lifeless curse and from what I hear, still hasn't been cured.
Oh wait, it's a game engine problem. It's Moore's Law. It's that damn TBC! Uh no, it's your code and lack of design creativity and yes, the buck does stop there.
Even with the $30M+, he had no interest in fixing it or hiring people who knew how to fix it.
But the bottom line here is, gamers, regardless of what they said to his face, proved not to be sycophant kool-aid kids and that's about the only lesson future devs need to take away from this "experiment". Verbose won't get you numbers. Proven fact, after this one.
You can't mind-control people into buying shit and expect them to hang in the stench while you opine the cruel marketing world, lamenting like Leeroy that, "It's not my fault!"
It was your fault, Brad. After this, if anyone sticks around until 2008 forking over promise-filled expansion money, the pity they cry for afterwards will be falling on deaf ears. Deaf because I won't be able to hear them over the ensuing laughter.
Yes, this was brutal, but hey, what's not true?
After playing EQ1 and seeing Brad go on and on about his "Vision" and the garbage we had to put up with as players from EQ1, I knew I would only play until something hopefully different and better came out and I resolved I would never ever play another Brad MacQuaid game again.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, after reading up about Vanguard and seeing that he was, yet again, going after that whole "My Vision" bs, I knew my original resolve was confirmed as true as it ever was.
Bizarrely enough there seem to be a small number of people (relative to the total players these days) who seem to like and agree with (and want to grind under) Brad's "Vision". More power to them, but I'm just not one of them.