Feldon 
SOE is not the only company in the MMO ecosystem world that has undergone a radical transformation over the last two weeks. Massively, the AOL/Joystiq-owned news site that covered all manner of MMORPG news and commentary was unceremoniously shut down despite being highly profitable and having an enthusiastic audience.
Through hard work, planning, and a lot of behind-the-scenes discussion, the Massively folks have performed a phoenix-like rebirth of the site on Kickstarter as newly independent Massively Overpowered. In just 48 hours, they met their $50,000 goal and that amount is still climbing. For independent, non-sponsored, well-written analysis of games in the MMOspace without a bazillion popup ads, there’s really no other site that comes close. Thankfully, a quick look at their roster of writers reveals that they were able to bring over virtually all the staff from the old site.
Amusingly, AOL had so little interest in Massively that they didn’t bother to change the Twitter accounts, making it possible to point the site’s existing readers in the direction of the resurrected site, rather than potentially losing a large chunk of the audience.
After the jump, MJ Guthrie brings back her Tattered Notebook column under a new name and gives her first impressions of the devastating news from Daybreak Games…
Massively Overpowered‘s MJ Guthrie has posted her first new EverQuesting article nee Tattered Notebook, reflecting upon the news of the Daybreak Games changeover, the mass layoffs, the cancellation of SOE Live, and the prospect of a fan-run Fan Faire event in Las Vegas (Facebook page).
Continue to Everquesting: Daybreak, SOE Live, and the Resurrection of Fan Faire at Massively Overpowered
And don’t forget their Kickstarter if you like their covering of MMORPGs!
That is awesome! XD I love how they kept it together, even just adding a word to the old name to keep the bastages that shut them down from sueing them for using a (most likely) still owned intellectual property. XD
Keep it up! It’s a refreshing breath of fresh air! ^_^ (especially in these dark times.)
It’s quite an optimistic news in today mood, Feldon.
But could it be translated to Everquest ?
We currently don’t know DBG strategy in the game market, and we all fear the worse. The reasons why Nova bought SOE are unclear at the moment, but it’s quite probable they expect to leverage some of SOE’s Intellectual Property. Specially Evequest IP.
Therefore, if DBG was to cancel Everquest future on PC, they would probably reuse Everquest IP for another platform (XBox, Mobile or whatever), otherwise most of their investment would be lost.
And they would never agree for another company to reborn EQ servers, unless this company agrees to pay substantial fees…
As much as I would like EQ to be reborn from their original creators and see Brad Mc Quaid, Bill Trost, Tony “Vhalen” Garcia and all other contributors (including late coming Timetravelling for his wonderfull Rohen Theer raid) to push for such a phoenix. I can’t put too much expectations is such a dream, I’m too scared to be disappointed at the end.
Remember Amiga’s fate… 🙁
Cause at the end, these companies always overestimate the potential of the IP they acquired, and they never manage to make something from it. Probably, because they don’t understand the community and they don’t give a Gnoll of Lore.
Two reasons why their EQ IP is interesting doesnt lie in its current games. The new EQN “game” (or what you can call the 4th/5th edition of a game-idea) holds two things in its grasp: Their graphics engine/voxel engine and the interactive AI system they bought.
I´ll be keeping my “Try to stay positive, but prepare for the worse” stance, I wont spend another dime because of the huge amount ive already spent and the uncertainty of the games future (EQII.)
Ironically, preparing for the worst and not spending another dime can potentially be WHY the game will get shut down, as opposed to spending a few dimes and keeping it going.
I may be a bit overly optimistic, but I’ve paid for my yearly subscription and I maxed out my SC in December when I got the triple code, in hopes anything I can afford to pitch in helps keep the game going. :\
I admit though… I feel like I’m propping up a twig to try and stop an avalanche with everyone else being too frightened to spend a dime…
Interactive ai?! Of coarse! John Connor saved America from judgement day so Skynet is growing itself in Russia
I didn’t even know about this kickstarter till a few days ago, and I was happy to kick in. I hope they soar on to bigger and better things than ever before, they certainly seem to have a loyal following.
Wait. SOE didn’t BUY Voxel Farm or Story Bricks, did they? I was under the impression that IP is being licensed.
Also, do you think Forgelight went with SOE to DGC as their IP?
I’m fairly certain it did.
We may see the valuable IP in the SOE stable to have been all things Everquest. Nova may see it quite differently their list might look like:
Forgelight Engine
Storybricks collaboration
PS2
DC Universe Online
H1Z1
Landmark
and want a company focused clearly on Mobile and Console games.
You’re right Striinger, SOE just licensed Voxel Farm and Storybricks products. When I mentioned IP, I was refering to Everquest lore : Norrath, its characters, the history…
And I truly believe that what makes the everquest community stick together is Everquest lore rather than any rendering engine.
And this is, may be, where milliebii is right. May be CN saw IP in products, software components and hardware operational expertise.
May The Tribunal protect us.
Lore IP will only get CN/DBG so far. The number of potential players for EQNext or EQConsole/Mobile that actually know EQ lore and actually care about it is pretty small. If lore was a major factor then games like LOTRO and STO and SWTOR would be doing much better than they are.
Graphics and brand recognition get people in the door, however, gameplay is king and is the only thing that will keep players around after the first month or two.
Do you really believe that EQ1 players stick to their 16 years old game because of gameplay or graphics quality ?
I agree with your point though : Few people have interest in lore (whether it’s SW, LotR or EQ). Therefore if you expect millions of players for your game, don’t focus too much on lore. But are these players loyal to one game ? Or do they mostly fly from one mmorpg to another ?
Everquest for sure provides the deepest lore and the only game were lore drives so much of the content. See how Shissar Emperor was hinted (back to EQ1 luclin era). How much already the shissar calendar was important. And it took 10 years for EQ2 to reveal the shissar calendar enigma with the capture of Kerafyrm in Luclin.
So, take whatever player who’s been playing since 1999, and ask him what’s his main driver.
For me, for sure, it’s LORE 😉
“Do you really believe that EQ1 players stick to their 16 years old game because of gameplay or graphics quality ?”
The players still in EQ or EQ2 are certainly those that do enjoy the gameplay and/or lore of those games (I already mentioned that graphics don’t really matter for the long run).
Unfortunately the number of those players, while respectable, are not large enough to matter to the boards of large corporations or investment firms that wants to see increasing growth from their investments, not just a steady income stream.
There’s a right fit for EQ/EQ2 somewhere out there but it wasn’t with Sony and I don’t think it’s with CN. Hopefully it survives long enough to find that place.
Honestly? I’ve been sticking around for love of the decorating and Homeshow people for years. >.> Being able to go see houses that belonged to old friends, getting to roam through new houses, even rediscovering old projects I had never finished are some of great joys to me that only EQ2 has. I know decorators aren’t the biggest player type there are, so no chance of the game surviving on decorating alone.
I tried Landmark, but the possibility of my house being sent to me in pieces and the perfect spot I had it on being gone (or more frustrating still, juuust close enough to someone’s new plot that no one can claim it) was just too frustrating. (not to mention the amounts required to actually do any thing were kinda ridiculous, particularly after Minecraft. XD) And then they added PVP. o.0 Definitely not my cup of tea. If I want to get griefed, I’ll go play on a PVP server… (admittedly, I haven’t logged into Landmark to see what the PVP is like.. adding PVP at all was enough of a deterrent.
I like instanced housing that will stay put if I suddenly get an itch to do things IRL. I genuinely HATE games that punish people for having lives outside of the game. :\ In EQ2, you fall behind in gear and currency inflation, but that’s it. Everything is still where it was when you left. Things you were working on are still at the same step you were on, etc…
GriffonLady,
PvP in Landmark is only on clearly marked claims where it has been activated by the owner of the claim.
They also added monsters to Landmark, which may not be to your liking.
Just like you, Landmark lacks features that would make it interesting to me. As such, I’m not arguing you should go play Landmark. I just figured I would update you on PvP in Landmark, since your fears may be allayed by knowing more about how the PvP works.
Thank you. ^_^ It’s a relief to hear it’s not open world PVP.
Still, the disappearing plots are enough to keep me away. :\
Eventually the LM upkeep time gets up to 30 days. Just log in to pay the upkeep – it gradually increases from 1 day at start to 30 days after a couple months. And getting the copper to pay it for is found on the surface of every island since the redesign of mineral/ore tiers – the tier 1 is on/near surface and the tier 5 is from the deepest levels.. And rarely a wandering monster on the surface – many more in the caves below. Everything not on a claim is potentially PvE if they’re critters about. And currently have to dig to find caves. Lots of things going on there but in the interest of keeping it short – Upkeep much better on 30 day timer.
EGN is no longer using Storybricks. They are developing that tech in-house now.