Wayfarers of Veeshan

Doing my monthly checkup on the status of this game that I've been anticipating I read to my dismay the following:

For Immediate Release

VANGUARD: SAGA OF HEROES FINDS A NEW HOME
- Sigil Games Online and Sony Online Entertainment In Talks To Co-Publish Sigil’s Ground-Breaking New Game -

May 5, 2006 – Carlsbad & San Diego, CA – Sigil Games Online and Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), a global leader in the online games industry, today announced that Sigil is working with Microsoft Game Studios on an arrangement to acquire the rights to its highly anticipated massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. These efforts have resulted in a tentative agreement for Vanguard to be co-published by both Sigil Games Online and SOE. All three companies will be showing the game at the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) as they work closely together for a successful transition. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is scheduled to launch this winter.

“As the development process is ongoing and constantly shifting, it became clear that MGS and Sigil had varying visions and direction for the title’s development,” said Brad McQuaid, CEO of Sigil Games Online. “In the best interest of Vanguard, it was decided that we would buy back the publishing rights from Microsoft.”

As co-publisher of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Sigil assumes greater control of marketing and PR, while maintaining responsibility for game development, community relations, media relations, customer support, and quality assurance. Under the terms of the agreement, SOE will provide distribution, marketing, hosting and back-end support -- including billing and technical support -- for the game. Additionally, SOE is tentatively planning on adding Vanguard, upon its release,to SOE’s Station Access™ subscription plan. Station Access allows players to enjoy all of SOE’s MMO titles for one low monthly price.

“We are very excited to be working with so many old friends at Sigil,” said John Smedley, president, Sony Online Entertainment. “Vanguard looks beautiful and has an incredibly rich game world. It’s the type of game that will appeal directly to SOE’s hundreds of thousands of players and should fit in perfectly with the current line-up of games available in Station Access.”

”This decision was made mutually by Sigil and Microsoft, in the best interest of the long-term goals for the title,” said Phil Spencer, General Manager at Microsoft Game Studios. “As a key Windows development partner, we will continue to work with Sigil to ensure Vanguard’s ongoing success.”

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is the next generation of massively multiplayer online games. The journey takes place in the fantasy setting of Telon, a vast and ancient world of magic, intrigue and adventure. Facing the challenges of a war torn world, the diverse people here struggle to rebuild their once great civilizations. A fragile alliance has been struck, with the lands set upon by invading forces, the races must band together to survive.

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is currently in a closed beta phase. The game will remain available via Fileplanet for existing beta testers during the transition to SOE. New information will be sent out to testers as the changeover occurs.

For more information about Vanguard: Saga of Heroes please visit www.vanguardsoh.com.

Oh joy! *sarcasm*

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If nothing seems to be going your way, choose another direction.

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Visionary Durezil Coppahtahp -- kidnapped by a Gold Wing
Reaver Veloquin Ashheart
Baby Tunash Heartsong

"I may not know the way but if you follow me, together we will find it." ~me

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Warning this is a random note from the OlBiTtY cO. Viewer Discretion is Advised

President of the Allegretta Fan Club

Now seriously....who DIDN'T see that coming?

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Expert Artisan Orionpax
Master Alchemist Raznorak
"Til' all are one!" ~Optimus Prime

LOL I've read up on the forums of a few sites and yes some folks were predicting that SOE would snap up this game. As I understand it from what I've read in the copy of the statement I posted above Sigil will still handle the "important" things customer service being my main concern next to game development and quality assurance, so there's still hope. I canceled my station account since I no longer play EQ II and stopped playing Star Wars long ago (thank goodness from what I read SOE did to the players there, apparently a major game overhaul that would be the rough equivalent of logging your level 70 EQ player in and finding that in the new game system he's now a level 14 or so). There's a bunch of folks in the forums I've read that say its a conspiracy by SOE to monopolize the online game market, I think that might be a bit extreme but it has deffinately ( fairly or not ) made many who were eagerly awaiting this game step back and either rethink or decide not to try it at all.

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If nothing seems to be going your way, choose another direction.

I just wonder what all those oh so eager beaver in Fires of Heaven are thinking right now ....

and just chuckling to myself about it.

It was a "riot situation" on the V:SoH forums, often times crashing the servers, when Brad made this announcement.

It seems that Sigil has been implying for the years that V:SoH has been in development that it would be a "safe haven" for all ex-SoE folks.
This move was seen as a huge slap in the face by those who believed that.

When things got bad with all of the folks that recounted their reasons why SoE is not their choice of gaming company, Brad let everyone know, in no uncertain terms, that Smedley and himself have been "best friends" for a really looong time and that also himself and others at Sigil are "good friends" with alot of the folks at SoE. He also stated that if he saw what he considered any "personal attacks on Smedley or SoE" that he would start banning folks.

Many now think that Brad has proverbially shot himself in the foot. It will remain to be seen how many will play the game whenever it comes out, hopefully sometime this winter, as they speculate at this time.