John Smedley hired by Amazon to produce MMOs

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Tenks

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I don't buy that chart. No way that many people played Conan and warhammer at launch

WoW introduced a TON of people to the concept of an MMO and a sub-based game. Any game that came out post-WoW was standing on the shoulders of WoW for a much larger group of people exposed to the model.
 

zzeris

King Turd of Shit Hill
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This reminds me so much of Netflix. Netflix has so much money they can experiment and it doesn't really hurt them. Same here. Smed is terrible but with enough money under him, he can make ok shit. Guy is a horrible manager though. He wasted so much fucking money at Sony. Now he will get to waste so much fucking money for Amazon. They might eventually notice but this is the same slow con Bradley never could successfully accomplish. Get someone to waste money and not notice how much until its too late. Stupid move, Amazon.
 

Kuro

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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The question is, who will release something recognizable as an MMO first, Smed or Brad.
 

Shonuff

Mr. Poopybutthole
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This reminds me so much of Netflix. Netflix has so much money they can experiment and it doesn't really hurt them. Same here. Smed is terrible but with enough money under him, he can make ok shit. Guy is a horrible manager though. He wasted so much fucking money at Sony. Now he will get to waste so much fucking money for Amazon. They might eventually notice but this is the same slow con Bradley never could successfully accomplish. Get someone to waste money and not notice how much until its too late. Stupid move, Amazon.

Amazon has considerably more money than Sony. Sony was losing $1B company-wide a year when they sold SOE.

Say what you want, but the Daybreak Games are absolute ass since Smed left. I loaded up EQ2 a few months back, played the new expansion for 30 minutes, and promptly deleted it off my hard drive. MMO's on a show string budget aren't pretty. Smed had no problems getting money at SOE.
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
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Amazon has considerably more money than Sony. Sony was losing $1B company-wide a year when they sold SOE.

Say what you want, but the Daybreak Games are absolute ass since Smed left. I loaded up EQ2 a few months back, played the new expansion for 30 minutes, and promptly deleted it off my hard drive. MMO's on a show string budget aren't pretty. Smed had no problems getting money at SOE.

Incompetent people who would hire Brad continue to be incompetent after he leaves???
 
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zzeris

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Amazon has considerably more money than Sony. Sony was losing $1B company-wide a year when they sold SOE.

Say what you want, but the Daybreak Games are absolute ass since Smed left. I loaded up EQ2 a few months back, played the new expansion for 30 minutes, and promptly deleted it off my hard drive. MMO's on a show string budget aren't pretty. Smed had no problems getting money at SOE.

So...you are agreeing that Amazon has a ton of money for Smedley to waste? Ok, I agree with my original point as well. Here's a great article about just some of the money Smed wasted at SOE. EQ2Wire » Opinion on Daybreak Games: It Didn’t Have To Be This Way

The guy is a complete buffoon who couldn't manage a wet paper bag without losing money. Sure, he's a nice guy who tries to look out for his talent. Average talent but talent nonetheless I guess. Sure, he may get a few average games released under Amazon who has enough money they don't give a shit. That doesn't make him good at what he does. That makes him good at leeching off stupid companies. Good for him, average for gamers, bad for stupid. They have tons of money so maybe they can be like Netflix. Have some shit, some great stuff(not from Smed), and maybe even that amazing game.
 
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Shonuff

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The guy is a complete buffoon who couldn't manage a wet paper bag without losing money.

And yet I've managed to play EQ/EQ2/DCUO way more than any other MMO out there. 75% of my total MMO time was spent between these three games.
 

zzeris

King Turd of Shit Hill
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And yet I've managed to play EQ/EQ2/DCUO way more than any other MMO out there. 75% of my total MMO time was spent between these three games.

Well, I'm glad your personal experience is exactly what got Smedley hired. He should send you some money for all your hard work....
 

Vinjin

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And yet I've managed to play EQ/EQ2/DCUO way more than any other MMO out there. 75% of my total MMO time was spent between these three games.

You're a lot like me then. I played EQ despite John Smedley. Not because of him.
 

zero_name

Golden Knight of the Realm
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Pixelmage gave refunds on Hero's Song with no hassle, right? The Utnayan Prophecy continues on in this project and I'm sure the results will be awful, but at least they gave refunds (assuming they did) on the last bomb.
 

Tauro

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Amazon probably told him to pay back the Heros Song money. Would have been extremely bad press if they just folded and told everyone "sorry the money is gone, fuck off" and then some weeks later basically the whole team starts a new studio at Amazon...
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
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Amazon probably told him to pay back the Heros Song money. Would have been extremely bad press if they just folded and told everyone "sorry the money is gone, fuck off" and then some weeks later basically the whole team starts a new studio at Amazon...

Or better yet he started negotiations six+ months ago and the team talked and agreed hero's song was their version of a homeless dude sucking dicks for booze money and fuck Rothfuss anyway so they pulled a hard eject while quietly waiting for their sign on bonuses from Amazon.
 
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Elidroth

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To me, Hero's Song was an interesting idea, but very niche. In the end it wasn't that great of a game, but Smed refunded everyone's money, so really it's hard to complain. It really (hopefully) showed him that wasn't a good direction for a game.
 
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Elidroth

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First of all, Cocaine wasn't Brad's problem. He struggled with pain killers, like countless hundreds of thousands of people do in this country every day.
Second, He IS making a game.. Will it be good? I don't know.. I'm hopeful that it is, because we need more good games in the space.
Third, Maybe it's just me.. but the continual trashing of Brad and his past seems kinda petty. If you've never made a mistake in your life, I guess you can feel superior.. I'm over it.. and I got screwed during the whole Vanguard debacle, and you didn't. He isn't the guy some of you paint him out to be on a daily basis. The VG mess was over 10 years ago. Time to move the fuck on..
 
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Ambiturner

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First of all, Cocaine wasn't Brad's problem. He struggled with pain killers, like countless hundreds of thousands of people do in this country every day.
Second, He IS making a game.. Will it be good? I don't know.. I'm hopeful that it is, because we need more good games in the space.
Third, Maybe it's just me.. but the continual trashing of Brad and his past seems kinda petty. If you've never made a mistake in your life, I guess you can feel superior.. I'm over it.. and I got screwed during the whole Vanguard debacle, and you didn't. He isn't the guy some of you paint him out to be on a daily basis. The VG mess was over 10 years ago. Time to move the fuck on..

The whole Vanguard issue isn't his only "mistake"
 

Elidroth

Trakanon Raider
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Never said it was.. but people keep holding his feet to the fire on it as if they were personally wronged. They weren't.
 
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Flobee

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Angrily chewing old soup is at least 40% of what we do here though
 
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