This is what prompted the Vanguard rumors, since the PSS1 community rep apparently isnt very clever and said their currency would be usable in Vanguard as well.
ProSiebenSat.1 is the Exclusive Partner of Sony Online Entertainment in Europe
Munich, January 10, 2012. The starting gun has already sounded for 2012: ProSiebenSat.1 Games announced its latest coup at a press conference in Munich today. Under a cooperation agreement with Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), the Unterföhring-based games publisher has secured a multi-year partnership with the Europe-wide exclusive licenses to eight online games of the U.S.-based games development studio, including blockbuster games like DC Universe™ Online, EverQuest®II, Star Wars®: Clone Wars Adventures™, Free Realms®, Magic: The Gathering – Tactics®, Pox Nora®, the upcoming PlanetSide® 2, and the next installment of the EverQuest® franchise. By means of this long-term strategic partnership, the subsidiary ofProSiebenSat.1 Group has positioned itself as one of the biggest games publishers in Europe.
Christian Wegner, Executive New Media and Diversification of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group: “The games business is one of the most important growth drivers on our path to becoming a digital entertainment powerhouse. The cooperation agreement with Sony Online Entertainment brings us a big step closer to our goal of becoming one of the top 3 publishers in Europe.” Arnd Benninghoff, Chairman of ProSiebenSat.1
Digital`s management board, added: “We want to offer our gamers genuine blockbuster gamesbecause that is exactly what they expect from one of Europe’s leading TV companies: premium TV content, premium online offerings and premium gaming entertainment.”
“We have found the ideal partner in the ProSiebenSat. 1 Group for helping us reach an even broader audience in Europe,” said John Smedley, President, Sony Online Entertainment.“We’re confident that combining the strength and full media power of ProSiebenSat.1 Games with our expertise in creating original, quality games and entertainment will engage players in exciting new ways, setting the stage for great success in Europe.”
Note that this is in Europe only, so you US chaps have no reason to worry over PSS1 less than impressive records in their browser based game handlings.
USA companies don’t respect the EU market, and europe as a few companies that don’t respect the customers or are not as agile as the USA ones. I mean, the guys of GOA are cool and all. I would invite a beer to everyone there, but are terrrrrible.
The ratio seems secondary. The players who love your game so much that they make accounts on both sides of the Atlantic are the ones you don’t want to piss off for no reason.
Yeah, I’ve played plenty of MMO’s as well with US people - this is a bad idea but then again, SOE doesn’t think of the people, but of the money. Like any big business, and in the end, nothing will come of the protests.
Why anyone would want to watch lip-synced american shows when there are other options though remains a mystery, specifically HIMYM sounds horrible in German.
For those who never suffered through it: Tom Hanks somehow has the same voice as Bill Murray, Kevin Kline, Jeff Goldblum und Eric Idle when speaking German. Bruce Willis has the same voice as Gérard Depardieu, Dolph Lundgren, Kurt Russell and James Woods.
Imagine the confusion when two of those meet in the same movie.
Regarding the deal: it seems odd for Sony to partner with a somewhat smallish player like PSS1. German TV stations have been notorious for trying and failing at entering the games market, usually leaving it again under the next CEO.
Thankfully, Smedley went back on the whole thing and will now allow people with current SOE accounts to stay with them.
I guess the 134 pages long thread over at EQ2 forums did after all make an impression.
Smedley just tweeted this (read from bottom and up) [B] [/B] Also Prosieben has done a great job of listening and is working on changing some of their CS policies. More to come on that soon.
[B] [B][/B]I want to be clear that Prosieben will have better European CS and payment options IMO. That’s why we went with them in the first place. [B][/B]no matter which service they are on. [B] [/B]launch on Prosieben’s service new accounts will be created on their sites. However all US and EU players can still play together [B] [/B]SOE accounts and stay with SOE. Down the road we may offer an option to move over to Prosieben. Just to be clear after these games [B] [/B]We’ve found a way to let existing players of our current games that are migrating over to Prosieben (EQ, EQ II, Planetside 2) keep their [B][/B]wanted to thank our players for continuing feedback. We’ve been listening along with our European partners at Prosieben.
An aspect that they never get is that in a MMO having international players distributes much better the server load.
Not only there are actually players around keeping the world alive at all times, but there aren’t as big spikes during peak times.
Different timezones are a godsend for MMOs. But usually MMOs companies are too stupid to realize this and do all they can to segregate servers in their location. See east coast servers and west coast servers.
My experience with european companies managing mmos is bad. I dont want to be customer of one again. I want to be customer of the USA company. How I can avoid this? Will I have to play Planetside2 with a VPN?
We constantly review community feedback via all channels and want to thank you for your ongoing dialog. We wanted to let you know that Sony Online Entertainment and ProSiebenSat1. Games have jointly decided to migrate all PSG accounts for PlanetSide 2, DC Universe Online and EverQuest IIback to SOE in the near future. Please take a moment to read the FAQ, and watch for updates as we iron out the details of the process!
