Later Verant was bought by Sony Pictures and renamed SOE, at which point Kelly Flock was appointed CEO, with Smed as Chief Operating Officer, here’s a link (http://www.everquest.info/news_detail.php3?id=132).

The goal for my timeline was to basically disprove Smedley’s claim in the CBS news interview by providing a somewhat worthy example instead of pure conjecture, in this case, Shadows of Luclin and how during the expansion’s development several lead developers left shortly after McQuaid did in oct 01, including Jeff Butler in early 02, whom was the producer for this expansion and a large portion of the content wasn’t fine tuned appropriately and yet the expansion was still released in dec 01. There is insight from a few developers who worked on their assigned implementations, not a lot of it, but what is evident is enough to disprove Smedley’s blatant lie from the interview. Of course some of the best insight are from the players who raided during the initial couple months after the release and experienced the disastrous fuck-ups first hand.

My original post isn’t about SOE versus VI, I only added some history as a backdrop to clarify that their was only one overall corporate entity responsible for the expansion’s development. However, I am tired John Smedley’s antics, if he is not lying, I am tired of his ignorance and I stick to all my original criticisms.

I have a slightly different perception.

EQ was developed by 989 Studios, a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment. Look at your orginal EQ CD, it’s right there. EQ was developed by a Sony subsidiary. Smed was right there from the beginning, in fact it was him who hired Brad McQuaid to make EQ.

When EQ became so much bigger than 989’s core business (IIRC sports games), the game was spun off into a new company: Red Eye Entertainment. Shortly after it was renamed to Verant Interactive. As McQuaid mentioned on the Vanguard forums a few months ago, VI was financed by some other Sony entity, which means VI was part of the Sony corporate construct.

In 2001 Sony Pictures Entertainment consolidated their online entertainment activities. SOE “bought” VI from whoever owned VI - probably some other Sony subsidiary. SOE even relocated to San Diego. I’m pretty sure the “new” SOE was little more than Verant with a new name.

My point is that you basically had the same people at SOE that you had at Verant. Smed was head honcho at 989, Verant and now SOE. I’m not convinced that all these bad business decisions over the years would not have happened if SOE had never bought Verant.

We also lack insight into the developement process of SoL. The premature release wasn’t the only issue with that expansion. How deeply was Brad McQuaid involved in the design process of SoL?

As I see it, SOE simply went into the direction into which Verant would have headed anyway, even if it had remained nominall independent, because Verant was the core of SOE and we had the same people in charge.

I find this established myth, that SOE bought Verant and ruined it all, rather unconvincing. All I see one core business (EQ) that went through a bunch name changes resulting from restructuring within the Sony corporate conglomerate, while more or less the same people remained in charge. Minus McQuid, of course, who took off in late 2001.

I think because Brad is working on Vanguard, everyone is getting their hopes up. I hope Brad can follow through with those promises, but let me get back to the subject at hand.

I see John as hanging on for dear life to his job. I can ONLY imagine what the atmosphere around the office is because he is there. Every programmer cringing when he opens his mouth, or usually, they hear him start to type in his office. John, step down. Something. You are no longer trusted and people don’t want to be apart of anything you do. Ok, maybe your mother does (and that’s not a low blow. My mother would want to be a part of what I do.), but the majority of vocal gamers are saying FU SOE! I can’t even justify giving SOE any of my money while he is still steering the company. I don’t see myself doing so anytime soon.

Lying will get you no where. Sure you’ll fool a few people, but most people with an IQ over 70 will see right through it. Find someone else to be the voice of SOE. Step down a few positions and give someone else the reigns. Or… just shut the fuck up and quit trying to be heard. Let your games speak for themselves. Let the quality of your company’s work revive your subscription base. Take a few lessons from EVE online my friend. They released a buggy game. People tried, laughed, and left that game. Yet over the years, CCP has turned a joke into something amazing. It will take time to get back on the good side of the force. Don’t expect it to come tomorrow. BUT DON’T OPEN YOUR MOUTH! KEEP IT SHUT AND DO YOUR JOB!!! ARE YOU THE FREAKING PR PERSON FOR THE COMPANY? IS THAT WHAT YOU WERE HIRED FOR? If so… what a joke.

I want SOE to succeed. I want them to continue to innovate and release good games. Even SWG can be revived with the right dedication. Just please… stop surfing the forums, message boards, and the like and start pointing your company in the right direction.

*sigh*

NNNNNY