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Sigil gone?
Rumor mill goes into overdrive.
As someone who’s been through rounds of layoffs: if that happened, it’s pretty crappy.
As Damion commented in the F13 thread, closing the company down to liquidate outstanding debts and then sending offer letters to the employees left standing is a fairly standard procedure… it’s what happened when Ubisoft acquired Wolfpack Studios. Hopefully SOE can pick up most of the guys working on the game; no one likes abandoning their baby.
(Edit: It’s official. More comments by John Smedley are here.)
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about 3 years ago
The worst part is, Vanguard is better than most games out there. The game did lack a whole lot of innovation though, and maybe people will learn there’s already enough EQ clones, WoW included, on the market.
about 3 years ago
Sony isn’t likely to pull the plug on Vanguard just yet. Vanguard may well fail, but Sony has sense enough to make sure it is well and truly failed before really giving up. See: SWG and MxO. So I think the likelihood of SOE picking up a lot of the Sigil talent is pretty good. I’d be more than slightly nervous if I were management.
about 3 years ago
Mist, you’re insane. There’s no way whatsoever that Vanguard is better than anything, except better at being crappy. LOL.
about 3 years ago
agree with Amber. Middle men shout fear teh hammer.
The game is not a lost cause by any means. I have a feeling SOE will offer it as a ‘Tier 2′ mmo for people that already have one game sub for SOE (ie if you already play EQ2/PS/SWG you can ‘add’ a membership to VG for $4 or $5 more a month or something to that nature along with continuing whatever sub model is already in place.
VG will be around in some fashion for quite awhile to come (SOE wouldn’t be picking up the pieces if not), and of course it is in SOE’s interest to pick up as many of the formers devs as possible with whatever bus model they come up with for it.
Even though SOE is actually doing something good for the game imho, they will be looked at as the evil oppressor regardless so I have a feeling the sub #s won’t be going up in the near future, but SOE has proven they can draw people back in with quality content (EQ2) so I wouldn’t put the game past “blossoming” in a year or two.
about 3 years ago
Better? No. It had some good ideas, but it was in no way better then any other Diku-derivative.
It sucks to see any MMO company go under, Sigil included, but it’s comforting to know that Mr. McQuaid will not have his hands on anything anytime soon.
about 3 years ago
SOE really worries me sometimes. They have this necrophillia thing going on sticking themselves in every corpse MMO they can find. Mean comeon, after Matrix I’d have expected them to be satisfied with that zombie for some time.
about 3 years ago
Actually, Vanguard will be kept around for two words: Station Pass. Basically allows you to play all SOE online titles for one monthly price (provided you own the software). They jacked the price up after Vanguard went live so they need it to continue to justify the hike.
So I guess John Smedley wants to be the next EA now…
about 3 years ago
The worst part about this is the delusional duo of Brad and Jeff are allowed to perpetuate their dysfunctional vision back at SOE again. Station Pass is destined to be the crappy used car lot of MMO lemons for all time.
about 3 years ago
The game has shaped up somewhat over the past three months. Right now, the biggest problem is the inaccessability of content for people who don’t have a static group.
Sigil did a horrible job at engineering social hubs where people meet and form groups, which is absolutely essential for a group-centric MMO. After level 30 or so, many people don’t know where to go or what to do.
In the upper 40s, it’s even worse. There is no way you can possibly get a pick-up group in places like Rhaz Inkur because the content has been designed in a manner that makes it virtually impossible for anyone but static groups or well organized guilds to get anything done.
Now, if you do have a bunch of people to group up with every night, the game is actually pretty fun.
about 3 years ago
I just hope that the people I know at Sigil land on their feet. Layoffs are never fun.
Sadly for those that worked on it, this does pretty much relegate the game to ‘second tier’ status, huh?
about 3 years ago
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5643&Itemid=2
Those who were laid off typically held positions that were “redundant,” such as customer service and marketing jobs, she said.
Simmons also said that some of the layoffs were part of the natural ramping down of game development following a game’s release. “It doesn’t take as many people to maintain a game as it does making a game,” she said.
Uhm, ok.
about 3 years ago
Wow. Well this is about as bad as MMO news can get. I feel bad for the SIGIL people. It’s a shame really. With that being said though, it’s more of a shame that the game they shipped wasn’t better.
about 3 years ago
Well this was one of the first MMO’s that I played and didn’t continue to support with a monthly fee. I decided I was NOT going to be treated like a bitch. This game released in such shitty fashion it makes Anarchy Online’s launch look pretty. But most of the bugs you didn’t see in Vanguard until oh.. you actually started getting into the middle teen levels. Then bug, after bug, after bug.
It was really unacceptable. And I decided, that if I wouldn’t let someone bend me over at a store for the service I’m getting. Then I’m not going to pay to let them continue to do so in an MMO.
I feel some compassion for those who work there but, this game shouldn’t of launched.
about 3 years ago
http://www.kimandjoni.com/wowmounttd6.jpg
about 3 years ago
Under the table Winston’s feet made convulsive movements. He had not stirred from his seat, but in his mind he was running, swiftly running, he was with the crowds outside, cheering himself deaf. He looked up again at the portrait of Big Brother. The colossus that bestrode the world! The rock against which the hordes of Asia dashed themselves in vain! He thought how ten minutes ago — yes, only ten minutes — there had still been equivocation in his heart as he wondered whether the news from the front would be of victory or defeat. Ah, it was more than a Eurasian army that had perished! Much had changed in him since that first day in the Ministry of Love, but the final, indispensable, healing change had never happened, until this moment.
The voice from the telescreen was still pouring forth its tale of prisoners and booty and slaughter, but the shouting outside had died down a little. The waiters were turning back to their work. One of them approached with the gin bottle. Winston, sitting in a blissful dream, paid no attention as his glass was filled up. He was not running or cheering any longer. He was back in the Ministry of Love, with everything forgiven, his soul white as snow. He was in the public dock, confessing everything, implicating everybody. He was walking down the white-tiled corridor, with the feeling of walking in sunlight, and an armed guard at his back. The longhoped-for bullet was entering his brain.
He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.
–Dave
about 3 years ago
Smed wins IRL.
about 3 years ago
It’s a shame for the people, but frankly they had to see this coming. Information is too freely accessible for a company to release a product that bad and have it do well. I really don’t know why it keeps happening, you’d think people who like games enough to develop them would be aware of the trends of a bad launch with a buggy game.
about 3 years ago
I just hope this does not turn away or scare of any new developments out there in this current WoW phase.
Things STILL have not really changed from the original three (M59, UO, EQ) and the MUDS before it.
Where the hell has all the innovation gone. Pop monster, gain XP, F me, gone back to playing to non-MMO games along time ago, and still waiting for something …
about 3 years ago
It’s not like non-MMO games are particularly innovative lately either.
about 3 years ago
You have a point Mist. They’ve all been very hohum, more of the same really. Gives me chance to catch up on my reading and anime though so not total loss.
about 3 years ago
@Will
“This game released in such shitty fashion it makes Anarchy Online’s launch look pretty.”
—
No offense but I was a beta tester for AO and all of us were shocked when Funcom announced that they would release. The server crashed every 30 minutes, and if not the server, the client did.
Nothing worked. The missions were bugged as hell, the pseudo-random generated instances produced retarded results, content was lackluster and scarce. IIRC, most people leveled during beta by doing little more than kiting around always the same bunch of mobs with a group.
The game was hilariously bad. VG’s release actually went pretty smooth. Yes, the game had bugs (still has plenty of those) but in the pre-WoW world it would have been considered a very solid release.
Things have changed, and today we expect more from a MMO release. But even comparing Vanguard to the state in which AO released is a joke.
about 3 years ago
Seen this?
Ex-employee (with a clear negative bias, bear in mind) speaks out:
http://www.f13.net/index.php?itemid=561#more
about 3 years ago
Personally, I think he coulda been a lot MORE biased than he was.
about 3 years ago
@Kranky Kraut,
You know what to a degree your right. Why? Well I did Beta AO also. And even got an offer to be a Guide, when it launched. I turned it down. Because I knew the game wasn’t ready.
But I think you may not realize the problems that Vanguard had either. You know that whole billing thing, yeah if you downloaded it digitally through them, your account didn’t get functioning credit until about a week and a half after launch. When I logged in the first day, it took an hour. And I kept going link dead during the load.
It was just not even remotely entertaining. It took me going to be an Orc to start to have some fun. Then as I said I started levelling, and encountered so many bugs as to be disgusted. And then when people I knew personally had legit problems, that did things like wipe out entire levels of xp, and then, get told they weren’t going to be reimbursed, yet other people were getting it.. is some bullshit bro.
But your right in a sense it wasn’t as bad as AO. But Vanguard also shined a lot of shit up and slid it out. Bah.. the whole thing disgusts me. I just feel for the folks who made a game hoping it would work.
about 3 years ago
WoW had an absolutely horrible launch, between lag, queues and server outages. It still ended up being the most popular MMO ever, by far.
At some point, it ain’t the launch, it’s the game itself.
about 3 years ago
A horrible launch? What game were you playing? WoW had a good launch by MMO standards (and what other standard would you judge it against?) Sure there were some issues with overcrowding, but they were relatively minor. The game worked.
about 3 years ago
As you know the Fashion MMO industry has no mercy; one day you’re in, and the next you’re out. Brad, would you please leave the runway.
I developed quite a dislike for Brad’s way of doing things and his “vision” during my EQ days. I kept thinking “why are we paying for this unfinished piece of crap and to just get griefed by the developers?” He was just lucky with EQ – the right type of product at the right time for the market. It had little to do with quality in product, or design. I’d throw in the word myopic again, but twice in one week is bad form I’m sure.
Well Brad, times have changed and your luck ran out. Caution to all MMO designers: Consider what the customers want rather than what you want.
I feel for the hard working people who tried to make Vanguard the best they could under the circumstances. Perhaps if they could’ve developed and evolved the game more collectively and democratically and just gotten rid of the chaff management they could’ve probably produced something much better.
about 3 years ago
I like this quote from the interview: “There was input all around, but at each level, that input was simply discarded by the decision makers. Basically there were a handful of people who made decisions, regardless of input from anyone else.”
hah, sounds like every IT project I’ve ever worked on except for maybe two of them. Managers love to interfere and put their mark on projects, regardless of what usability or other testing or surveys says will work.
about 3 years ago
Interview with McQuaid is up on f13;
http://f13.net/index.php?itemid=562#more
about 3 years ago
AO’s launch was the worst of any of the games I’ve played, and I’ve been sucked into far too many. I never understood why I played it as long as I did (I left when that patch made NPC in missions instant death machines…I forget the number, but it was a massive exodus). Vanguard’s could have actually caused your PC to burst into flame and still been marginally better.