Everything about Sony Online Entertainment totally explained
Sony Online Entertainment (
SOE) is a
game development and
game publishing division of
Sony that's best known for creating
massively multiplayer online games, including
EverQuest,
EverQuest II,
PlanetSide,
Star Wars Galaxies and which have gained hundreds of thousands of paid subscribers
link
.
In 2008 Sony Online Entertainment’s game Everquest was honored (along with
Neverwinter Nights and
World of Warcraft) at the 59th Annual
Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for advancing the art form of
MMORPG games.
History
Sony Online Entertainment and Verant's history can be seen as starting with Sony Interactive Studios America (SISA), an internal game development studio of Sony that formed around
1995. In
1996,
John Smedley (known to the gaming community as "Smed") was put in charge of SISA's development of an online
computer role-playing game, or
MMORPG that would evolve into
EverQuest. Smed hired programmers
Brad McQuaid and Steve Clover who had come to Smedley's attention through their work on the singleplayer RPG
Warwizard.
In
April 1998, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) was formed by merging parts of
Sony Online Ventures with Sony Pictures Entertainment'. Within a matter of months after this change,
Sony Interactive Studios America was renamed
989 Studios.
Towards the end of
1998, 989 Studios shifted its strategy to making
PlayStation console games only. The company's computer game/online development branch spun off, initially calling itself RedEye Interactive and then soon after
Verant Interactive.
EverQuest launched with modest expectations from Sony on
March 16,
1999 under its
Verant Interactive brand and quickly became successful. Numbers continued rising at a steady rate until mid-2001 when growth slowed. As of
2004, Sony reported subscription numbers close to 450,000.
In
April 2000, Verant hired former
Ultima Online developers
Raph Koster and Rich Vogel forming its office in
Austin, Texas to develop
Star Wars Galaxies for
LucasArts. SOE acquired Verant in
June 2000 and eventually promoted Brad McQuaid to be its Chief Creative Officer.
EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark (March 2000) was the first in a long list of
expansions for its hit
MMORPG. In October 2001, McQuaid resigned and went on to found
Sigil Games Online, drawing many of the original developers of
EverQuest from SOE to develop their MMORPG, released
January 2007.
Developed by Sony Online Entertainment,
LucasArts released
Star Wars Galaxies in
2003, which saw rapid growth as expected.
Bruce Woodcock estimates that
SWG reached nearly 300,000 subscribers within the year before trailing off. LucasArts has released three expansions for
Star Wars Galaxies,
Jump to Lightspeed October 2004,
Rage of the Wookies May 2005 and
Trials Of Obi-Wan November 2005.
In
2003, the company also explored relatively untouched MMO territory with the
MMOFPS PlanetSide and the
PlayStation 2 MMORPG
EverQuest Online Adventures.
PlanetSide enjoyed a reasonably successful launch, however the product never attracted wide popularity. SOE has released two expansions for
PlanetSide, one a retail product called
Core Combat, and a second free expansion titled
Aftershock.
PlanetSide can be played for free under a "Reserves" program, that limits character advancement, but otherwise grants full access to the game.
EverQuest Online Adventures wasn't as successful but spawned an expansion
EverQuest Online Adventures Frontiers, which is still maintained by SOE as of
2007.
In
November 2005, SOE suffered a large subscriber loss, after pushing the launch of the
New Game Enhancements to
Star Wars Galaxies, changing many of the game's core mechanics. This caused an outrage from the players, many demanding their money back for the recent expansion that was released just days before the announcement of the changes. The refund was eventually given.
The company continued the EverQuest universe through a sequel set hundreds of years after the original with the release of
EverQuest II on
November 9,
2004, which has seen similar success to the original phenomenon. SOE has released several adventure packs and expansion packs for EverQuest II, including
The Bloodline Chronicles March 2005,
The Splitpaw Saga June 2005,
Desert of Flames September 2005,
Kingdom of Sky February 2006,
The Fallen Dynasty June 2006,
Echoes of Faydwer November 2006 and
Rise of Kunark November 2007.
Through 2007, the company experienced many technical support issues causing a decrease in the number of players using their services.
Recent History
Currently,
John Smedley is the CEO of Sony Online Entertainment. SOE is headquartered in
San Diego, California, with additional game development studios located in
Austin, Texas,
Denver, Colorado and
Seattle, Washington.
In
January 2005, Sony Online Entertainment announced the creation of Station Publishing, a new label for distributing titles made by external developers. The first products expected from Station Publishing are
Turbine's
Asheron's Call: Throne of Destiny and
Asheron's Call 2: Legions expansions.
SOE has produced numerous
EverQuest expansions and spin-off
video games, including
Champions of Norrath (for
PlayStation 2) and
Lords of EverQuest (Windows). They published the sequel to
Champions of Norrath, called, in
February 2005.
In
August 2005 SOE entered a deal with
Warner Bros. Entertainment which saw the acquisition and transition of
The Matrix Online to the existing line up of Station games.
In
April 2006, Sony Online Entertainment, Inc. became Sony Online Entertainment LLC, owned by
Sony Pictures Digital and
Sony Computer Entertainment America.
In
May 2006, it was announced that SOE would be co-publisher of . However, Sigil retains full development rights, and SOE's role is only that of marketing, distribution, technical support and hosting the game servers. SOE also announced the release of
Field Commander, its third game for the PlayStation Portable System.
In
August 2006, SOE announced the acquisition of developer
Worlds Apart Productions, renaming the studio SOE-Denver. The studio has since released an online version of the
Wizkids Pirates Constructible Strategy Game.
In
November 2006, SOE released its first
PlayStation 3 title,, within the launch window of the PlayStation 3 system, which was released in North America on
November 17 2006. SOE also released
Pirates Online Constructible Strategy Game, which is the online version of the
Wizkids Pirates Constructible Strategy Game.
In
January 2007, SOE announced that it has licensed rights from Midway Home Entertainment to develop and release six classic Midway games for PlayStation 3 Digital Download, including
Mortal Kombat II,
Gauntlet II,
Joust,
Rampage World Tour,
Rampart, and
Championship Sprint, which will be available from the
PlayStation store. The announcement came shortly after SOE released its second
PlayStation 3 digital download
GripShift.
On
January 30,
2007, Sony Online Entertainment and Sigil Games Online launched
On May 15, 2007, Sony Online Entertainment announced that they'd completed a transaction to purchase key assets from Sigil Games Online, including (described as Sigil's "tentpole property").
On April 9, 2007, Sony Online Entertainment announced a partnership with Virgin Comics to create a MMO based on the popular Indian-Mythology inspired Ramayan 3392 A.D. graphical novel.
On June 11, 2007, Sony Online Entertainment announced that The Agency (video game) was currently under development.
On March 13, 2008, Sony Online Entertainment announced that Sony Computer Entertainment will have direct control over SOE.
Titles
Station.com
SOE's Station.com is a portal to its PC, console, casual and mobile games. Players can access and download games such as EverQuest, EverQuest II, Star Wars Galaxies, The Matrix Online and PlanetSide. Station.com also provides sneak previews to new games for Sony PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PSP, including Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom November 2006. In August 2006, Station.com added several games by Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Sony Online Entertainment'.
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