Producer letter for EQ2 gives little detail but says Daybreak will become the "producer" for EQ2 which will be run by a newly named "Darkpaw Games" which will be running the Everquest franchise now. I assume EQ got similar information but I haven't checked the forums over there.
It's a good thing this has nothing to do with VR :)
That is very wierd though, I wonder if they are planning on selling that entity
From a semi-cynical business point of view, making this move now makes it easier for Daybreak to allocate investment based on performance without outright shutting down titles that are underperforming. Essentially it's a situation where if planetside is making money, then planetside gets the benefits of that, while DCUO doesn't. It also probably makes it easier for Daybreak to divest business units later on - for example if they decided they wanted to cash out on the EQ franchise and sell it to someone else at some point.
As to whether this is good or bad for Daybreak's games - I honestly don't know. While I think it's great that the new sub-studios are going to be focused on specific franchises, will they have the financial freedom to do what they feel is needed? And more importantly, will they have the capital to fund new development within their franchises? We seem to be on the cusp of a resurgence of new development in MMORPG markets - led by the indie studios like VR and others, but even the bigger established studios are starting to announce new games recently. If the people at Darkpaw, etc. aren't working on new titles to try and secure their future over the next few years, they're likely to eventually get left behind.
Assuming anyone's willing, care to enlighten this caveman as to what a "publisher" is.. for a digital only, internet 24/7, over two decades old online only game of all things?
I mean if not already evident, there's only one way for me to read this, but maybe i'm missing something, so by all means enlighten.
On said same (a tad abstracted) level, i steered clear of them all, (SoE, Smed, devs, EQ, EQ2, et al.) the very day i was told how you could get all those mounts i just couldn't find ingame; anywhere.
Was years, years later that i first heard the term "RMT", all that blame and shame falling on a certain other mega-MMO; a 'new' plague they said, to fall upon the genre. If only they knew, lol
As the OP's title states, this really was anticipated. From over a decade back. When you monetise and amortise, the path is clear; some saw, some saw but kept on clicking, some didn't even have it in them to see. Not incidentally, they were and remain the 'heart' of "old school" MMOS. Life sometimes :)
Wink naughtily if your name is Smedley. The one and only winner in this long game of cards.
And before someone says it, no, zero compassion for any 'job threatened' devs. I reserve that for miners, sanitation workers, etc. Shoot me ^^
In this case I would assume that "publisher" means they operate the servers and infrastructure for the games, and control the hosting agreements, and so on. They might also manage marketing and agreements with digital distribution channels as well (steam, GoG, epic, whatever).
Nephele said:operate the servers and infrastructure .. control the hosting agreements .. agreements with digital distribution channels
Hmm, so basically i read this right.. Shift all actual work and responsibility to an external entity, reap them percentages on the safe side; looks good for the ties above too! Added bonus our washing hands of it all.
Sad.
Anyway, thanks for responding :)
* i'm often cynical, i know, but if one really sits down to think about this.. we've had RPGs, good RPGs, not what passes for one nowadays, for decades. Then we gradually got all this new tech and the horizons it opened up for us, yeah? And what's the best thing we did? We made overly watered-down versions of said RPGs, at best parodies of what once was, where the sole focus was something as simplistic and shallow as pew-pewing one mob, only now 'together'. Worse still, we made a business out of it all, sans any regulation whatsoever! Really amazing stuff given the billions raked in per year. And someone in there, i'm still waiting for someone to actually do something nice, something requiring a bit of a mental investment as it were. Instead all i get is news like the above or worse still, news i don't even bother to read; or repeats of the past ^^
It's our destiny to repeat the errors of the past, lol, granted, but if once in a while something actually decent occured..!
((If the people at Darkpaw, etc. aren't working on new titles to try and secure their future over the next few years, they're likely to eventually get left behind.))
Right now there is no great hope for an EQ3 coming from the owner of the franchise.
Brad was determined not to sell out - and above all not to sell out to Daybreak. Now VR has new leadership and the EQ franchise is run by Darkpaw which may or may not be a separate legal entity.
I am sure I am not the first to wonder if this raises even the smallest chance of Pantheon becoming EQ3.
Note that I used the word "chance" not "hope". With a high degree of probability such a move would not take it in a direction that we would like. Not at all.
Ranarius said:Pantheon! That's the decent thing that's occuring :)
Happy to know you think so; no irony either :)
For me, well.. i'm excited at the -prospect- of meeting new people, the -prospect- of having a virtual environment wherein i can actually hope to find likeminded people, at the -prospect- of --potentially-- having the occasional good time. Like i used to, and again, because and solely due to the people.
On a strictly, shall we say, gaming/experience level? I frankly don't see much to be excited about; less in fact the more i read up on Pantheon. We won't have dynamic zones or GM-spawned boss events or whatever thing other MMOs did to differentiate themselves, we'll instead have biomes. Hooah. We'll also (sadly) still have RNG, luck with loot drops instead of skill, subpar crafting because hey, "raidz!", sorry, i meant "campz!", fingers-based clickety clicking and basically all the other stuff we've had since the late 90s, except once again, it will be a bit 'harder' this time. Nothing to get me excited am afraid. Again, this on a strictly technical level :P
dorotea said:wonder if this raises even the smallest chance of Pantheon becoming EQ3. Note that I used the word "chance" not "hope"
Noted :)
And.. no. Aside expectations for the 'newest' of said same ole flavour, what did EQ3 really have to bring to the table? The AI, the entire infastructure supporting it (building was secondary but also a part of this too, so won't single it out). Turned out too costly and if one read between the lines, a touch too complicated, the locals (read: "gamers") might actually have to use their brains for once or even worse, deal with consequences (even if they'd manifest themselves simply as 'different experiences'. It's the era of Rights[tm], we must all have it.. all)! The horror. But as it was costly, no one had to tackle all that thank the Lord ^^
You've been around longer than me if i recall correctly, honestly not seeing how you could possibly entertain such lofty hopes. I doubt even the devs do, lol, they sure show us enough for us to know what we're in for.
Unless of course you meant to say that Pantheon will be the next 'big' EQ-like MMO? That's almost a certainty, yes. Process of elimination, lol
From my current experiences. Daybreak will just make it pay to play items and move more and more towards tradable gear that doesn't put forth hard efforts to get any "no drop" items. I just started playing eq again and it is sad. the only thing they do is revamp old zones and use old models into slightly better graphics. considering they will never put effort into epics again show the lack of breadth and depth that will continue to dwindle the game till its a bleak speck in the distance. Loved eq but it is sad what its become now. Cool to relive some of the game and see the social factor is still alive but its not the same hardcore game it once was that delivered great challenges and exploration. Daybreak will eventually revamp the whole game by making the same zones twice and supplying a few raid encounters. If you want to look cool just pay for appearances. Lame lame lame.
dorotea said:I have no love whatever for Daybreak. They killed Vanguard.
In all fairness, the blame for that lies somewhere between Microsoft and Brad personally; many years prior to Daybreak's existence.
As to what projects the new studio might have in the works, i'd wager heavily on 'none'. Capital alas.
Aenra you may well be right. Though there were strongly held theories that SoE (later to become Daybreak) intentionally starved the game because they didn't want it to be too competitive with EQ or EQ2.
I do not really dislike Daybreak that much - it has been a long time now and I am no Freman.
Yeah Daybreak had nothing to do with what happened to Vanguard.
I worked with a couple content creators for Vanguard and Brad went MIA on that project and it suffered.
His self-destructive addictions set the seeds for it's demise early on.