Sony's Problems and PS:N's Future

[Raymac]

By now we are all well aware of the problems Sony has been having lately thanks to these scumbag hackers. For me this raised some serious questions about Planetside: Next and it's future. The way I look at it, this could go either 1 of 2 ways.

1. Sony, and more specifically SOE, will be so damaged from these incidents, and considering their recent lay-offs, that they will shrink even more and kill development of Planetside: Next. SOE is likely to survive as a company, but will only focus on what they have now - EQ, DCUO, and FreeRealms.

-OR-

2. The internet is notorious for having issues with their short term memory so SOE will capitalize on this trend and offer a new, exciting, 1-of-a-kind product that will make everyone forget all about that old petty hacker problem. Planetside: Next will be the new crown jewel and SOE will make sure the focus is on this amazing product that will be released...soon.

What side do you think Planetside: Next will fall on?

[Oty]

i'm so afraid rigth now :S I'm seriously concerned about the future of Plan:Nxt
dont want to wote, might jinx it :(

[morf]

I don't think psn will be affected by this incident. Sony, like any firm with large amounts of consumer data undoubtedly has insurance just for this type of incident. Consultants will be brought in to figure out what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again. The only impact on game developers and soe staff would be indirect, i.e. new business processes.

I don't think that SOE was in danger of going bankrupt, not by a longshot. Downsizing can be as much of a tactical move as upsizing and can create a cleaner, more efficient operation. With DCUO released, they were bound to be overstaffed even without cancelling The Agency.

With that said I still don't think we're seeing a release this year. My previous prediction of May 2012 still stands :p

[duck]

I think PSN will be delayed even further, possibly shut down. There is a $1bn+ class action lawsuit against SOE right now, which could cause financial trouble for the company and cause PSNext to cease development

[morf]

There is a $1bn+ class action lawsuit against SOE right now, which could cause financial trouble for the company and cause PSNext to cease development

Pffft 1 billion CANADIAN dollars. Isn't that like 200 US? And just for clarification it's against Sony as a whole, not just SOE.

But in all seriousness, back to my previous point... The apes who come spray my house for cockroaches have insurance to protect them from being sued. I promise you Sony does too.

[Raymac]

I think PSN will be delayed even further, possibly shut down. There is a $1bn+ class action lawsuit against SOE right now, which could cause financial trouble for the company and cause PSNext to cease development

True, but lawsuits happen on a regular basis. I'm not saying $1bn is regular, but it is something they can deal with. Now if they lose the lawsuit, that would be a big problem, but from the little I know about the case, I don't think there is alot of precident that says Sony is liable for a billion dollars.

Plus, EA had a pretty big class action lawsuit against it thanks to Spore, but they made it through alright. I want to be optimistic, but when it comes to Planetside, I think I'm just used to disappointment.

[Traak]

Pffft 1 billion CANADIAN dollars. Isn't that like 200 US?

Canadian dollars are above US dollars ATM.

Dang, I figured surely PS next would come out the moment I quit playing, and it didn't.

[morf]

I don't think there is alot of precident that says Sony is liable for a billion dollars.


This is correct. First and foremost, the plaintiffs generally have to show actual damages to collect. Even if that happens, they will examine Sony's data retention practices and assuming that they were reasonable and customary compared to other large companies, their liability for the criminal acts of an outsider would be mitigated.

These things usually end up with a settlement that includes the company agreeing to take steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. They may even give us all a small credit for the playstation store. Normally in the end the only people who get paid are the lawyers.

[Baneblade]

They have insurance for lawsuits. Plus they have Sony. The biggest sugar daddy corporation in the business.

[opticalshadow]

sony has been around a long time. and they were arguably one of the reason MMO's exploded the way they did. they didnt bring the first ones out, but they were the ones that brought it into the limelight.

that said, sony is well backed, and they have over a decade of proof that mmo's bring in good cash, whats more, i doubt this will hinder anyones opinion of using the service, it happens. if it has any impact what so ever on online gaming, it will be as a whole, not just sony. if anything this will effect other aspects of the internet, blamed for the intrusion.

as for PS:N, if the game was due out this year, sony will have entirely to much time, and money invested in it, to just let it die off, they would lose more by not releasing it then by doing so, and with the advances in tech, it very well may be a new front runner in the MMO world, since other then PS you really only had WW2 online, and it didnt really hit hard, it was unplayable to the casual player, though i had fun times.

in short, i cant see this hurting sony hard at all, and i dont see it delaying the games release, sony will come back strong, and releaseing sequals to two of their most defining games, and sequals to two of the MMO's worlds front runners (ps being arguably the largest scale fps game, and the best of its kind, and eq taking the mmo world into a new height) will only cement their place back in computer gaming.


that assumes of course they learned from past mistakes, and ps:n can actually be played on most computers (because when ps came out, man, did it kill systems)

[Madcow]

Right now it's fine. The class action lawsuit right now is a joke. If any of this compromised information is used and any of this credit card information that they didn't protect gets used by the hackers (or whoever they sell the info to)? Well, then we'll see an ugly public flogging that will slowly drain them.

And you can say that Sony is their sugardaddy, but like any big corporation the instant a division of your company starts dragging the company down you cut it off at the root.

[Baneblade]

And you can say that Sony is their sugardaddy, but like any big corporation the instant a division of your company starts dragging the company down you cut it off at the root.

Well not exactly. It depends on a lot of factors. The past balance sheet performance, the projected performance, and the overall impact of the bottom line going red.

Many corporations have production divisions that run in the red, such as Sony's Playstation manufacturing or Microsoft's XBox manufacturing.

Not every negative is a bad thing for a corporation. The most logical thing would be SOE going on the market, perhaps to someone like Nintendo.

[TRex]

I chose 'C' and this being a non issue.

I may be on my lonesome , but I feel this could be a blessing in disguise. If this 'attack' means soe increases their security to compensate hensforth, they may possibly increase their in game monitoring as well and be more hack proof . The end of the likes of LAPBluetigershark and co .

Also , this whole thing is related to login and authentication parts of their business . I would think development and therefore PS:N would be separate entity and would continue albeit with even less ( if its possible :rolleyes: ) information being disclosed for the immediate and short term future till this is sorted out.

I must admit, in response to Sobekeus comment above , the idea of soe being sold on to someone else , to be intrigueing. SOE do come up with great ideas and make good mmo's but have always in my mind lacked ambition and drive to keep the released games evolving after they release. Planetside is testament to that . Plus serious lack of advertising. Maybe in other hands this could be a good thing.

[Nephilimuk]

this is a charity reply just for the bump

this thread is not worth the sweat from my codpiece

drop the drama please as this belongs on the official forums not PSU

[Bags]

I doubt it will change much. Unless the people who work on PS:N are also Sony's lawyers.

[Firefly]

The most logical thing would be SOE going on the market, perhaps to someone like Nintendo.
Yeah because, hey, Mario is already in TR colours. Let's just make the NC the Koopas and the Vanu the Goombas.

[opticalshadow]

Yeah because, hey, Mario is already in TR colours. Let's just make the NC the Koopas and the Vanu the Goombas.

i honestly wouldn't put it past them...

[Canaris]

Yeah because, hey, Mario is already in TR colours. Let's just make the NC the Koopas and the Vanu the Goombas.

I always knew that Lugi guy was black ops!

[Hamma]

I don't think that this will effect PS:Next. But it's hard to say at this point.

[Ailos]

Yeah because, hey, Mario is already in TR colours. Let's just make the NC the Koopas and the Vanu the Goombas.

Somehow my mind pictured you saying all that in the same accent as the famous mario frustration guy (YouTube - Super Mario Brothers - Frustration).

[Grimster]

I think it is possible that PS:N might get delayed by this or at least SOE this time has an excuse for delays. :D :D

But I seriously doubt it will kill PS:N. They obviously made their choice by killing another game and putting more resources into PS:N

In fact I think if they can resolve this hacking issue before E3 and then maybe release a chunk of information about PS:N at E3, it would be a good move to shift the focus away from the hacking issue.

But in this scenario I am talking about the SOE company and not Sony as whole.

[Logit]

Somehow my mind pictured you saying all that in the same accent as the famous mario frustration guy (YouTube - Super Mario Brothers - Frustration (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in6RZzdGki8)).

This was hilarious.

[kaffis]

I don't think that this will effect PS:Next. But it's hard to say at this point.
I think it may already have, now. Given that the hacking all started with problems with the PlayStation Network (PSN), it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the shift in leaked stuff suggesting they may have abandoned PlanetSide: Next (PS:N) for PlanetSide 2 is in reaction to not wanting to be associated with the bad press that Googling 'PSN' is bound to bring up...

[Aractain]

Wont have any real effect I think. What will is how good thier game is.

[Firefly]

Somehow my mind pictured you saying all that in the same accent as the famous mario frustration guy (YouTube - Super Mario Brothers - Frustration (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in6RZzdGki8)).

Never seen that before. That's hilarious.

[Hamma]

Yea it is :lol:

[basti]

They wont kill PSN because of it, no worrys there. Maybe they slow down with its production, but they need it alive, because they wont earn any money without games. :>