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The Agency (PS3/PC) cancelled, 3 SOE studios closed, 200+ layoffs across SOE studios

M

Mario

Sidhe / PikPok
makingmusic476 said:
That's... very surprising. I was under the impression that just about all the PS3's features were designed in Japan, save region-specific services like Netflix, which even then would use hooks put in place by SCEI.

Sorry for being all like "wtf you're wrong" lol.
Click to expand...
A lot of graphics/Dev tech and tools comes out if SCEE in the UK too.
 
M

Morn

Banned
One of the SD layoffs was Pex. Who was once the SWG community guy, but was recently moved over to FreeRealms and Clone Wars.
 
M

Morn

Banned
J

Jibber Hack

Member
I hate to see anyone out of a job, but it seems like this was something that should have been a gradual thing over the years. They've been running with a huge workforce when they haven't had sustained success with new releases. I'm sorry to see it happen like this.
 
M

MalboroRed

Banned
industrialfan225 said:
Well that sounds like a good idea, consoles aren't the place for MMOs. All it's going to do is drive up development costs in a genre where development costs are already high.
Click to expand...

If you're not including consoles you're basically leaving money on the table, it's basically an unexplored market for the most part, and for a MMO that will cost you an arm and a leg and 5+ years to develop, you can bet a publisher will try to get as big an audience as possible, there's no reason if SOE is working on a planetside MMO that they will leave the PS3 out of it given the installed base right now, it really is a shame they are willing to just drop the Agency like this, while we don't know how finished the game is and how much content there is, it's in a playable state.
 
C

Ceebs

Member
MalboroRed said:
If you're not including consoles you're basically leaving money on the table, it's basically an unexplored market for the most part, and for a MMO that will cost you an arm and a leg and 5+ years to develop, you can bet a publisher will try to get as big an audience as possible, there's no reason if SOE is working on a planetside MMO that they will leave the PS3 out of it given the installed base right now, it really is a shame they are willing to just drop the Agency like this, while we don't know how finished the game is and how much content there is, it's in a playable state.
Click to expand...
Then you start making sacrifices to the PC version (where the MMO market is a proven thing) to get a console version made. The MMO space is far too competitive for games with compromised design to make any sort of impact when there are tons of free to play and top notch premium games out there vying for that same attention.
 
M

MalboroRed

Banned
Ceebs said:
Then you start making sacrifices to the PC version (where the MMO market is a proven thing) to get a console version made. The MMO space is far too competitive for games with compromised design to make any sort of impact when there are tons of free to play and top notch premium games out there vying for that same attention.
Click to expand...

We're talking about MMOs here, not shooters like Crysis 2, it's not like they're pushing the edge of technology, the PC version itself has to accommodate a wide variety of rigs, including all the shitty rigs out there.
 
C

Ceebs

Member
MalboroRed said:
We're talking about MMOs here, not shooters like Crysis 2, it's not like they're pushing the edge of technology, the PC version itself has to accommodate a wide variety of rigs, including all the shitty rigs out there.
Click to expand...
I am thinking more interface, communication tools, the prevalence of instancing, etc. There are more things to consider in the PC/Console transfer than just graphics.
 
C

Clott

Member
Whaaaaaaaaaaat

I was actually looking forward to this, it could have been a step in the right direction for console MMO's. Is it me or the majority of console MMO's get shelved or canceled.

Live online
Agency
that one with the crazy ass name where its a FPS MMO that was supposed to come out for the Xbox?
 
R

Raoh

Member
makingmusic476 said:
That's... very surprising. I was under the impression that just about all the PS3's features were designed in Japan, save region-specific services like Netflix, which even then would use hooks put in place by SCEI.

Sorry for being all like "wtf you're wrong" lol.
Click to expand...


Your not alone, for the longest time I thought the same thing you did.

Learn something new every day.
 
I

Iadien

Guarantee I'm going to screw up this post? Yeah.
Morn said:
One of the SD layoffs was Pex. Who was once the SWG community guy, but was recently moved over to FreeRealms and Clone Wars.
Click to expand...

Jason "pex" Ryan?

I remember him doing the SoE podcast.
 
M

MalboroRed

Banned
Ceebs said:
I am thinking more interface, communication tools, the prevalence of instancing, etc. There are more things to consider in the PC/Console transfer than just graphics.
Click to expand...

If you want your game to support keyboard macros you can do so on the PS3, what communication tools are you referring to other than text chat and voice chat, both of which you can do on the PS3? For example FFXI wasn't exactly a stripped down console MMO, the problem was accessibility which had nothing to do with the fact that it had a PS2 version.
 
S

Shiggy

Member
Concept art:
agency16qxq.jpg


In-game version:
agency29rxn.jpg


They still had some ways to go.
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
Seems like they have a lot on their plate. Surprising still but God knows how much money these things cost.
 
W

WrikaWrek

Banned
Sometimes i don't understand how some folks are given the power to greenlight multi million dollar games....

Anyone with a bit of knowledge would've seen this shit was poised to be an awful endeavor from the moment the pitch was made, and the art was shown.
 
S

Shiggy

Member
V_Ben said:
Hmm... that interior is alright.

Bigger news is new Shiggy avatar! Guess the cancelled Rare project! :p
Click to expand...

No, not this time^^
It was "My Amazing Story" by Planet Moon Studios, an early Kinect project (one of many that were canned as MGS strived for the casual crowd).



Sometimes i don't understand how some folks are given the power to greenlight multi million dollar games....

Anyone with a bit of knowledge would've seen this shit was poised to be an awful endeavor from the moment the pitch was made, and the art was shown.
Click to expand...

Absolutely! I still cannot believe that The Agency was in development for more than 5 years.
 
V

V_Ben

Banned
Shiggy said:
No, not this time^^
It was "My Amazing Story" by Planet Moon Studios, an early Kinect project (one of many that were canned as MGS strived for the casual crowd).
Click to expand...

Ooh, the cancelled Planet Moon Kinect game! I had forgotten all about that. I just can't believe Planet Moon were bought :O I got the feeling that nobody wanted their games, and they were reduced to working on stuff like smarty pants and that horrific battle of the bands thing/

Nice to see your Avatars branching out :p

Shiggy said:
Absolutely! I still cannot believe that The Agency was in development for more than 5 years.
Click to expand...

That kind of boggles my mind. Maybe the real world integration was cool, but the rest? Dull. Dull dull dull.
 
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