Ben-DutkaThe Sony Online Entertainment you've known since 1995 is no more.
They've become a completely independent company thanks to investment management firm Columbus Nova, which purchased SOE for an undisclosed sum.
And of course, with independence comes the freedom to make games for multiple platforms and as the studio said: "Yes, that means PlayStation and Xbox, mobile, and more!" On top of which, the new name of SOE is the Daybreak Game Company; as they said in a statement:
"This name embodies who we are as an organization, and is a nod to the passion and dedication of our employees and players. It is also representative of our vision to approach each new day as an opportunity to move gaming forward."
The company also reminds fans that this doesn't change a thing in terms of future projects. "It will be business as usual and all SOE games will continue on their current path of development and operation," the studio said. So, what do you think of SOE making games for other platforms? Of course, they're not known as SOE anymore but even so, it just feels weird.
Soooo ummm did Sony also lose property rights and stuff when this deal went through?
Will H1Z1 and Planetside now potentially be multi-plat?
They are making their games for Xbox one. Planetside 2 will be first to console.
RIP H1Z1.
Seriousness though, cool. A F2P company needs to have a bigger market to survive. Sony won't be bleeding them anymore either. Will miss having a PC/PS4 exclusive company though.
That's….odd. Won't Sony have to regrow that limb?
Isn't this just one of many over the last few years?
Looks to me they cut down and make themselves more dependent on the multiplat devs to deliver.
Oddly enough, I was at an "Eye on Enterprise" seminar today where they mentioned a lot of major companies are reversing strategies of yore. Instead of trying to brand huge number of services under one name, they are giving every service their own identity… the only thing that stays the same is the owner ship groups. They "break away" while still maintaining majority share. It also helps them grow without "selling off" the company.
I don't know if that's what Sony is doing, but it is apparently a trend across multiple industries and major corporations. I can see it being the case here.
What the flip. Didn't see this one coming.
What an idiotic move…..that's if they aren't planning on resurrecting SoE with new talent. Why would you allow a team to leave and make games for the competition?
Because if they still own stock, or (I have no idea, but sweet if true) majority, you'd be making even more money by allowing your productions to be purchased by a larger audience while not allowing your parent company namesake to be shown on another platform.
It's multiplatform without losing exclusive branding.
Sony owns portions of other studios that are multiplat. For example, they used to own like 5% of Square-Enix… and lots of those games went multiplat. (Which is glorious when you realize they earn money off some xbox software sales)
Last edited by Underdog15 on 2/3/2015 6:32:53 PM
this was a interesting bit of news for the middle week it was certainly unexpected and yeah the PC/PS4 exclusive side of things a bit sad but they are a company so you can't have everything
happy gaming