Bye,Bye Werner?

SgtMAD · 2012-01-10, 08:31 AM

it looks like SOE has sold the licensing of a bunch of SOE games to a german company that will run them in Europe,this does include PS2

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressr..._in_Europe.php

so I wonder is this like the agreement SOE has with The9 in China?

will this effectively isolate european and N.A. gamers?

Hamma · 2012-01-10, 08:32 AM

Hmm that is an interesting development and a good question.

basti · 2012-01-10, 08:40 AM

You are mistaken. The Pro7 media group does not host the games, they advertise them. That means they do TV spots, web ads, and all kinds of stuff.
On top of that, they have a dedicated web page for all those games (http://www.sevengames.com/), where you could play said games in case they are browser based, or download the client/get additonal info/talk (forum)/ etc etc. Yet, if you play a online game through their platform, you end up on the actual servers hosted by the original guys. You also get your patches through them.

In short, that means Planetside 2 will get shitload of TV advertising for several european countries, with no actual downsides for us euros.

YAY!

SgtMAD · 2012-01-10, 08:42 AM

they aren't announcing a media PR deal, it says the games are licensed to them,which is far more than just running the PR for SOE.

here is the german company's site, it sure looks like a gaming site

http://www.prosiebensat1games.com/

basti · 2012-01-10, 08:47 AM

Hmm, cant get the press release atm, and lots of news sites say different things.

Propably get smed or someone else from SOE here to give us more information.

Verdon · 2012-01-10, 08:49 AM

Well ofc they will split EU and US, it's the only logical thing to deal with latency.
As you know the merger in PS was only to deal with low pops.
I don't like it though, since I regulary play with both US and EU players. But there isn't really an option as i see it.

BlazingSun · 2012-01-10, 08:51 AM

I'm not sure if that is the case basti. I think they will also be responsible for server hosting and since SOE is not such a big company as EA for example, even the european customer support for the game could be outsourced to them. That is actually quite a common practice. But it`s just a guess of course.

Anyway ... let's hope ze germans know what they are doing. The ping should be good at least.

basti · 2012-01-10, 08:54 AM

Originally Posted by BlazingSun

I'm not sure if that is the case basti. I think they will also be responsible for server hosting and since SOE is not such a big company as EA for example, even the european customer support for the game could be outsourced to them. That is actually quite a common practice. But it`s just a guess of course.

Anyway ... let's hope ze germans know what they are doing . The ping should be good at least.

Yet, SOE hosts European servers for Free Realms, EQ, EQ2, and all of their other games.

No, seriously guys, i am 100% sure this is a publishing and Advertising deal. SOE will still host the servers, everything else just simply doesnt make sense.

Ailos · 2012-01-10, 09:19 AM

Even if a different company does the hosting, it doesn't mean EU folks won't be able to play on US servers or vice versa.

SgtMAD · 2012-01-10, 09:31 AM

here are some articles

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...ine-games.html

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...es-sign-280122

this german company has been aggressively buying up german online gaming companies and has signed an agreement for game licensing in germany with EA,this outfit is moving into online gaming in a huge way,I can link all those stories too if you like.

Stevo IRL · 2012-01-10, 09:36 AM

Honestly I hope to god that they don't end up having the hosting rights for the European servers and base them in Germany. Need to squeeze my latency !

BlazingSun · 2012-01-10, 09:51 AM

Let's just wait and see. But it would be quite nice to actually have someone who can push the reset button of the server if it crashes this time around. With Werner in Holland, I had the impression that the cleaning lady was asked to check if the server was fine on her once-every-2-days-cleaning-routine in the office.

Shogun · 2012-01-10, 09:45 AM

the good thing about this is, that there will be a lot of planetside 2 advertising on tv in europe!

this pro7 gamer site is advertised all day on tv in germany! mostly battlestar galactica, but they have lots of ads for their other games, too.
i never saw an ad on tv for planetside 1, so this is good news for me!
just provide them with great footage and in a few weeks every gamer in germany knows about the game! i guess that fits for all europe, not only for germany.

Coreldan · 2012-01-10, 09:55 AM

Originally Posted by Shogun

the good thing about this is, that there will be a lot of planetside 2 advertising on tv in europe!

this pro7 gamer site is advertised all day on tv in germany! mostly battlestar galactica, but they have lots of ads for their other games, too.
i never saw an ad on tv for planetside 1, so this is good news for me!
just provide them with great footage and in a few weeks every gamer in germany knows about the game! i guess that fits for all europe, not only for germany.

Never heard of the company before. At least here in Finland we don't really have anything but the biggest games advertising, so pretty much just WoW and BF3 (mainly pre-release)

basti · 2012-01-10, 10:08 AM

Pro7 isnt in all European countries. But they are in quite a few.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProSiebenSat.1_Media