Sony Online Entertainment have gone ahead and snapped up another MMO.
As had been predicted by and hinted at in various forums - SOE has purchased Sigil Games and VANGUARD: Saga of Heroes.
VANGUARD’s mastermind, Brad McQuaid will be kept on as a consultant or, “Vanguard creative advisor.” Fifty other Sigil employees will also be kept together “in order to insure that Vanguard continues to grow.” SOE’s John Smedley has stated that major changes to the game will not be immediately forthcoming, but that polishing will occur and that the game’s performance will improve.
What does SOE know that we don’t? The company buys the under-performing VANGUARD and previously scooped up the also disappointing (sales-wise), THE MATRIX ONLINE. They also have the eight-year-old, EVERQUEST, and the very quiet PLANETSIDE. What I’m trying to ask is - how are they making tons of money? Is it all EQII and SWG? Somehow, I doubt it. I guess enough trickles in from each title to make it all worthwhile for the bottom line. Anyway - hit the Sigil news at Gamasutra.
“The spectre of the acquisition was raised in late April, when Sigil CEO Brad McQuaid has revealed via a forum post that the company and publisher Sony Online Entertainment were ‘going to become even tighter - much tighter,’ so that Vanguard could ‘both continue to be worked on and improved and debugged and optimized.’ “