PS3 and SOE -- More MMO's On the Way?

Bamelin

So SOE is now going to be reporting to Kaz ...

As announced in a press release today, effective April 1, 2008 Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) will report to Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI). The new structure is designed to mutually benefit both companies by further accelerating the PlayStation business through SOE's strong online gaming expertise.

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.

The day to day workings of SOE will not change and no employees will be let go. We are thrilled and excited by this change in structure! As Smed was quoted in the press release, "This move is going to broaden our capabilities and expand the development of our products into new and exciting directions."

http://forums.station.sony.com/station/posts/list.m?topic_id=11500008779


I noticed this on the Station today when visiting the Planetside forums.

I thought SOE was part of Sony Computer Entertainment already, but apparently I was wrong (however will be right as of April 1st).

Wonder if this is a move to strengthen the PS3 as the "goto" console for MMO's in the future? I have a feeling the next couple of years we are going to see a concerted effort to bring profitable MMO's to the console market.

Note that the press release stated that SOE would continue to develop MMO's for the PS3. Is there an MMO they are currently porting or developing to the PS3? I didn't know that SOE was working on a PS3 title ...

Cyrixd

There was that action MMO with a catchy name that I can't remember. The Agency? Something like that.

It had a decently stylized look, with a female lead or main character. There were guns...

EDIT: Yup, The Agency.

I'm so tempted to hijack this thread with more memories of Planetside... but I'll keep quiet.

Bamelin

well i'll be damned. I didn't realize The Agency was an SOE title.

For all the SOE bashing I still think they have done some pretty good stuff. Their Customer service may sometimes be somewhat ... lacking, however you can't fault them for trying out new things.

Planetside was a prime example of a big company taking a chance. I remember beta, every continent rammed with people ... it was glorious. Laggy, but glorious.

ze swift class

I don't really see anything bad about this.

Vytae

If SOE could remeber their customers are more then the sum of their credit cards,they would be a decent company.

Rookie

I beta tested Planetside and loved the hell out of it, but it always struck me as a little too shallow for a PC game. I think that same idea re-imagined for PS3 exclusively would be amazing.

Rohan

The PS3 can have all of SOE's current and future MMORPGS. After what they did to Galaxies (how do you mess up such a promising game?! Consistently?!), the PS3 can have it all.

Shooter Mcgavin

Is that Pirates of the Caribbean MMO any fun? I love pirates.

Unco-ordinated

Bamelin wrote: »

I thought SOE was part of Sony Computer Entertainment already, but apparently I was wrong (however will be right as of April 1st).

Nope, SOE has always been run pretty much as a third party. Last generation they had Xbox devkits and were even porting Star Wars Galaxies to it (before they cancelled the Xbox and PS2 versions). Recently they've been working a lot closer with SCE though, publishing games on the PSP, PS3 and PSN.

They've always been the left-handed, red-headed step-brother of SCE, so it's about time SCE took them over. It's pretty bloody ridiculous that it's taken so long though, while SOE was revelling in their mediocrity, SCE was running the most successful console ever.

As for PS3 MMO's, from memory (aka Wikipedia) there's The Agency, Free Realms (a MMO for girls where you pay for in-game items instead of a monthly fee) and DC Universe. I was pretty surprised by how good The Agency looks but I'm really dreading what they'll do to DC Universe. I just know they're going to fuck the DCU up...

So yeah, I'd say the PS3 is totally the "goto" console for MMO's, what with this announcement and the exclusive deal with NCsoft. However, I don't actually really think it's a good thing. If SOE and NCsoft push a bunch of MMO's on the PS3, what's the chances that the market gets over-crowded?

randombattle

The problem I usually see with SOE is how they abandon everything in favor of the new shiny games.

Cynic Jester

God, I hope this means someone walks and kicks ass at SOE headquarters, filtering out the retarded amount of useless and customer hostile people there, because every so often, there seems to be a distinct need for it. While the EQ2 drama bomb that occured recently is blown way out of proportion, the way SOE consistently handles interaction with they playerbase, be it on a forum or just ordinary Customer Support, is shit. It could be so much better. Heck, WoW's community managers aren't exactly paragons when it comes to interaction, but at least they don't disgust the majority of the playerbase in one way or another, nor do they chase away players. And the way SOE censors their forums from critique? Awesome.

They have so many games that used to be, or could be good. But in general they will never end up as good games, because SOE is too busy ignoring their customers and implementing flawed and barely tested changes in all of their games.

Glal

^^ This. This a thousand times. There are good things to be said about much of their service, but customer relations is not one of them.
I love how you can contact any character from any of their games in any other of their games, simply by prefacing their name with the game title and server name. And the Station Launcher is pretty nifty also, since it allows you to manage your local and global friends lists, letting you see who's online in which game and even to chat with them directly without having to log in.
Let's ignore /pizza.