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RJO

The SOE Layoffs - The start of a needed rethink?

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RJO
, 03-31-2011 at 11:18 AM (4029 Views)
*** Cross posted from adeventuresoftaas.com ***

Kotaku is reporting that Sony Online Entertainment has laid off 1/3 of its work force. While SOE has not confirmed this yet the rumblings I am hearing is that this is credible. Before I go any further (and start talking about why I think this is a good thing) I want to say I really feel for my friends at SOE and those who have made some of my favorite games. When I was Managing Editor at Stratics I was fortunate to have a very close relationship with members of the community, development and management teams at SOE and I've never seen a more dedicated group.

SOE has not put out a big AAA MMORPG-genre title in a few years now (I know I know DCU - but I argue that is an IP title that lives on its own - disagree if you will) so it is easy for those who have come to the genre in the post-WoW era to scoff and question just what it is these guys have done lately. In 2008 SOE was given a Technical Emmy Award for advancing "the art form of the MMORPG" and I couldn't think of a company more deserving. This is a company that spent almost as much on R&D as other studios spend on their whole game. These guys helped found this genre (we wouldn't have World of Warcraft today if there was no Everquest, that is just fact) and for years they've done huge things to move it forward.

But in recent years, since around the time (2008) SOE was moved under the SCEI branch of Sony, SOE has become a company that is a little lost and a little bloated. Since moving from Sony Pictures to SCEI they have gone from a company that makes AAA pay to play MMOs to a company that makes primarily F2P games, builds strategy card games, and ports games to the PSN on the PS3. It feels like it has come to the point where SOE is a mish-mash studio dedicated to supporting SCEI. I would challenge anyone in SOE's management to tell me just what the identity of the company is today.

I hope these layoffs are the start of a new day at SOE, the start of getting back to their core competency of putting out AAA MMOs, even if it likely is with a new business model (free to play or hybrid models). SOE has been a great contributor to the genre and I hope they can get back to that. There is of course a real risk that this goes another way. MMOs are expensive products to produce, and Sony has likely seen some quick profits from having SOE porting games or build smaller games for the PSN.

I really hope, for the sake of the health of the AAA MMO marketplace that SOE lives to fight another day. I truly believe that SW:TOR with its large production budget is going to move the AAA standard forward in a big way. In the future it is going to take companies with deep pockets like Sony to take a risk to create AAA titles. I'd hate to live in a world where Bioware/EA & Blizzard/Activision are the only ones able (and willing) to compete at that standard. As players, we all lose out in a world without SOE.

In practical terms, here's my speculation about what this could mean for projects at SOE:

  • Vanguard is in deep trouble (dead)
  • Pirates of the Burning Sea is either dead or going to maintenance mode (I'd bet dead)
  • Everquest 2 will see a shake up - SmokeJumper's time as producer has been turbulent and I'm not sure he'll be around after this. Further pushes to Free to Play could result, but I'm not sure it's worth SOE's effort to do that push (they'll likely do it anyway...)
  • You'll never hear about The Agency again - unless someone gets Smed to admit it is dead in public
  • Everquest Next will survive. I wouldn't be so sure you'll see Planetside Next in this life
  • SWG is at best now on life support and won't long outlive the release of SW:TOR. The Kotaku article suggests half of the Austin studio was laid off. While Austin is responsible for two things: DC Universe and SWG. I'd be willing to bet the farm where most of those lay offs came from (S W and G)


I hope SOE emerges a better company from this rethink. I also hope the great folks who have lost their jobs in the mix promptly find employment.

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  1. Hengist's Avatar
    They did admit to pulling the plug on The Agency.

    I'd liked some of the original ideas they had for The Agency, and it was something I casually followed, even if the more I saw, the less I liked. I just thought it would be something niche, and good for the genre as a whole.

    It is definitely strange to see how far one of the pioneers of the genre has fallen.
  2. RJO's Avatar
    Yar - I actually made this post as soon as Kotaku put up their article more or less. I had caught wind of this last night. I wanted to commit my speculations to paper before SOE released a statement. I was trying to test my "read SOE muscle". Did pretty good
  3. Hengist's Avatar
    You were dead on!

    Two questions for you.

    1) What was the real turning point for the SOE spiral downwards? I know a lot of people would say NGE, but I think SWG was bleeding subs by then anyhow, but the negative press took it to the entire genre. Or was it rushing EQ2 to get out the door ahead of WoW? Or was it something else entirely?

    2) Was there anything SOE could have done in the past 3-4 years that would have not only stopped the flow, but got them back near the top of the heap?
  4. RJO's Avatar
    It's really hard to point out where SOE "went wrong". Back in 2008 just as they started to implement the switch to SCEI from Sony Pictures they announced they were taking the company in a new direction. At the time no one really knew what that meant but what it ended up meaning was Sony started buying some studios (they bought the Pax Nora developer in Tuscon (who they closed yesterday)) and opened a studio in Seattle to work on computer based strategy card collection games (like magic the gathering). Seattle was also closed yesterday.

    So let me answer a different question. What do I think went wrong. I really think they got lost. They went from a studio that lived and breathed creating massively multiplayer online games (and they truly treated it like an art form that they as a studio believed them and only them could move forward) to a studio that was MAINTAINING existing MMOs (because their actual planned MMO projects really slowed down for a while - there was a time the Agency was the only thing they were working on), building these CCG (card games), and Sony even had them porting games to the PS3 PSN store. They completely lacked identity.

    I think WoW was part of this. I think when they switched executives moving from Sony Pictures to SCEI they just got plain scared of WoW and figured they had to do something different. So they started working on Free 2 Play MMOs, and they started working on ways to make their existing properties Free 2 Play (EQ2 being the biggy).

    They saw fundamental shift in the industry (the move from EQ being the leader to WoW being the leader) and they just straight up panicked and did what a lot of companies did - find new ways and new spaces to compete. The problem is they completely forgot to maintain their core business. Pay to play, triple A, MMOs as a service.

    These lay offs and the things I'm hearing about the strategy going forward are seeming to be positive. The layoffs are concentrated in offices and projects that are outside of their core strengths. Gone are the card games (likely going on maintance mode running out of the main studio in San Diego) and the focus is looking to shift back to proper MMOs. I know that the EQ2 team only lost two people - that's not a bad a day all things considered. SO IT SEEMS this is focused almost exclusively outside of the MMO space.

    The big exception is The Agency, but all indications are The Agency lost its way a while ago (talking a year plus) and this is just a lost project reaching its natural conclusion.

    Could SOE have done anything different? Probably not. This was probably a necessary journey for them to take. WoW was busy sucking all the oxygen out of the room in the AAA/pay to play space. They couldn't release a new IP because it would not have played well. I think FreeRealms was a good gamble and I think it has paid off for them. It was far enough away from WoW and it let them take some chances and play around with Free 2 Play. So honestly on the MMO side I think SOE did what they could and likely should have done. It was just all the other noise they introduced by being a dumping ground for the playstation side of Sony.

    In terms of getting back to the top of the heap? EQ Next. They have a real chance to move the fantasy space forward in a big day. SW:TOR is going redefine AAA. If EQ Next can launch a year or two after SWTOR and use their quality bar to become a fantasy SWTOR just imagine they'd following they'd build (and since you are a Star Wars TOR fan Luke, enjoy rolling the phrase "SW:TOR with swords" in your head ).

    SOE will live and die by EQ Next. If it is a failure I honestly believe it will be the beginning of the end of the studio.
  5. Hengist's Avatar
    Those are some awesome points.

    For me I more or less dismssed SOE as a whole post Vanguard, and I dont blame 'em for it, but they just ended up off my radar, I dont think I realized how diverse they were trying to be.

    For the sake of the industry, I'd like to see SOE reassert themselves as a force in the MMO market as opposed to their current position of just maintaining a few games. It would appear that they have a lot riding on EQ Next, for their sake, for the sake of the genre, and mostly for the sake of those of us who play 'em, I hope they hit a homerun with it.