SOE acquired by investment firm, is now Daybreak Gaming Company

[Edge-]

http://www.reddit.com/r/h1z1/comment...daybreak_game/

So uh...that happened. This is blowing my mind more than a little bit. Really came out of left field.

Hopefully the transition is as smooth for players as they say it will be, but I'm damn curious as to what this means going down the road. Wonder if Sony was just looking to sell off one of its arms for another short term cash infusion given their consistently awful financial performance as a whole.

[kail]

Could be great or absolutely terrible to SoE's games and future. I don't know enough about Columbus Nova to comment any further.

[Tech614]

SOE has done nothing but lose Sony money in recent years, EQNext was supposed to be in beta like 16 months ago and it's still pre alpha. PS2 was supposed to be ready for PS4 launch and it's still not out.

Now they have their devs on twitter talking Xbox One ports already? How about you get the projects you have already done first before talking about new ones. Studio is a trainwreck, hopefully Columbus Nova kick them in the nuts and actually get them to produce something besides an early access DayZ clone.

I can see why Sony chose to ditch a studio that wasn't making them money, and also wasn't doing much to help support their biggest game money maker in the PS4. Not only where they losing them money, they where just flat out underperforming with nothing ever meeting it's initial launch window.

[Neotokyo]

Holy.... Wow... This could be great for the mobile gamers and Xbox gamers alike. Even more good titles for us. Wondering what it means for Playstation though, seems Sony is slowly either selling depts or simply closing them down.

[Remilia]

Well, that's completely random.
I don't know how SOE was doing financially but also didn't expect an investment firm.

[Collected]

SOE has done nothing but lose Sony money in recent years, EQNext was supposed to be in beta like 16 months ago and it's still pre alpha. PS2 was supposed to be ready for PS4 launch and it's still not out.

EQ Next was announced on August 2nd 2013 .. like 18 months ago. So where you got the idea they were supposed to be in beta 16 months ago i've no clue. It's been clear for a long time that EQ Next was several years down the road. The only reason they told us about it was because they wanted to get Landmark out there and to explain Landmark they first had to explain Next. And if we're technical.. Landmark is actually pretty close to an alpha of Next. What happens in Landmark is testing all the functions of Next. So they've been testing their systems now for a year. Yes it's a slow process but building any game is a slow process especially one that is potentially a huge step forward with the voxel engine.

And who knows.. maybe Sony selling SOE is an indication that they weren't giving SOE the cash they required to throw resources at these projects and finish them. It works both ways.

[Tech614]

EQ Next was announced on August 2nd 2013 .. like 18 months ago. So where you got the idea they were supposed to be in beta 16 months ago i've no clue. It's been clear for a long time that EQ Next was several years down the road. The only reason they told us about it was because they wanted to get Landmark out there and to explain Landmark they first had to explain Next. And if we're technical.. Landmark is actually pretty close to an alpha of Next. What happens in Landmark is testing all the functions of Next. So they've been testing their systems now for a year. Yes it's a slow process but building any game is a slow process especially one that is potentially a huge step forward with the voxel engine.

And who knows.. maybe Sony selling SOE is an indication that they weren't giving SOE the cash they required to throw resources at these projects and finish them. It works both ways.

You have a funny idea of "announced". You are confusing an "announcement" with when the game is "first shown to the public".

Japan Studio, Guerrilla Games, Naughty Dog, Quantic Dream, Santa Monica Studio, San Diego, Polyphony all have no problem finishing projects on time and all get their funding from Sony. So yea, not really an excuse. Even if you want to use the excuse that sony cares more about console games and helps out more on them PS2 PS4 version has been delayed for OVER A YEAR so that logic is out the window as well.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Completely didn't see that one coming.

Gonna be keeping a close eye on SOE's games and watch how this plays out for them in the months ahead.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, now that all roots with Sony have been cut, it sounds like SOE (not gonna start calling it DBC yet) has much more freedom to do what they will now. No more Playstation on console MMO ports, etc etc, though they still retain the naughty board of executives they have to answer to, just different name.

[Jtbrig7390]

Seems Sony is doing what I figured they was doing. They are becoming Nintendo they are cutting off the fat and will become a console gaming company. At lease thats how it seems to me. SoE has been bleeding them dry for awhile and so has other parts of Sony.

Will be interesting to see how all this plays out.

[soulzek]

SOE has never been respectable. Their first error was the acquisition of EverQuest, and of course the destruction of SWG.

[Edge-]

SOE has never been respectable. Their first error was the acquisition of EverQuest, and of course the destruction of SWG.

Acquisition? They created Everquest >.>

[Slipmat]

Looks like we're in good hands

[Chickat]

Not sure if this is good or bad news?

[Faroth]

Acquisition? They created Everquest >.>

It's a bit murky. I remember Verant was the name on EverQuest and SOE acquired Verant in 2000 (Shadows of Luclin I think was the first expansion without Verant on it), yet when you look up their Wiki page, it indicates SOE established Verant.

How would the company that created Verant later acquire Verant? I'm so confused!

IGN cleared it up for me a little:

Headquartered in San Diego, California, Verant Interactive was a game development studio primarily focused on the production of online games. The company is best known for the MMORPG EverQuest. Verant was formed as a development venture inside Sony (and its interactive/online production arm, Sony Interactive Studios), and was spun off as its own design team shortly after the release of EverQuest. The team still always kept itself closely aligned with the operating entity that became Sony Online Entertainment, and was acquired by the company in June of 2000. The developer became fully absorbed into SOE as its core internal design studio and now no longer operates under its original name.

Either way, really surprised to read this. I was expecting to see Sony sell off other things before SOE.

[Chaosseed]

Not sure if this is good or bad news?

Bad news, but not an unexpected one.
Sony has done exactly same thing before.

They've sold their PC Business on Feb. last year,
and they've also sold their HQ buildings in Tokyo on Feb. 2013.

just to make a bit of cash, to make up their Annual Report.
At this point, I don't think they would even care about the future of SOE.

[Silver Forte]

I got hyped for EQN. I should not have gotten hyped.

[Frozenbeef]

What's this mean for dcuo?

[Edge-]

What's this mean for dcuo?

Probably nothing, the game should continue on as normal.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

SOE has never been respectable. Their first error was the acquisition of EverQuest, and of course the destruction of SWG.

Not SOE's fault 'galaxies closed; it was a licensed game and their license ran out. Unless your talking about the NGE bull#$@% because beta testers didn't speak up when they should've...

True story: The NGE saved SWG, and by saved I mean prolonged it's death throes.

[Tradewind]

From the sounds of it they just divested it out. Probably has all the same people working there, just new owners. Unless they decide to blow it all up later.