Pirates of the Burning Sea to Publish Under SOE's Flag [Archive]

Mondopest

06-26-2007, 01:03 PM

Arr! Mateys. Sony is taking Piracy seriously, by adding Flying Lab's upcoming sea-faring MMORPG, Pirates of the Buring Sea, to their online lineup. According to a story on Slashdot (http://games.slashdot.org/games/07/06/26/1634221.shtml), Sony Online Entertainment has been named as the publisher for this highly anticipated upcoming role-playing game.

Editor: Fantastic news for Flying Lab!

Varsity

06-26-2007, 01:39 PM

I suppose this is why they aren't going with Steam any more. It's a pity: POTBS was the first third-party title announced, way back in 2003. :)

Sony have no creative control over the game, and Flying Lab have enough money to keep going for a long time to come.

Deadend

06-26-2007, 01:47 PM

Hopefully it will be done by fall, unlike other SOE published games.

bean19

06-26-2007, 01:50 PM

This was really bad at E3 2006. . . just broken even in it's demo form. They only had one station and that was with the Nvidia booth. Obviously, they have been operating with a small budget.

Does anyone know if they've added sword-fighting?

EL CABONG

06-26-2007, 01:55 PM

Well looks like SOE will ruin another game.

Citizen Philip

06-26-2007, 01:57 PM

Oh dear. SOE. Never bought a SOE MMO. Heard bad things.

Draknodred

06-26-2007, 01:58 PM

I played it at PAX and it looks pretty exciting, although I am unhappy about it having anything to do with SOE.

I don't have good memories of anything SOE related :mad:

Sandman

06-26-2007, 01:59 PM

Oh dear. SOE. Never bought a SOE MMO. Heard bad things.

You'd do good to keep it that way.

Citizen Philip

06-26-2007, 01:59 PM

You'd do good to keep it that way.

But..

Pirates.

In Ships!

jeffool

06-26-2007, 02:05 PM

Wow, all this negative news sucks. I remember looking forward to this game...

GrinR

06-26-2007, 02:11 PM

Kiss of death. Oh well, so much for that game.

Esquilax1138

06-26-2007, 02:15 PM

But..

Pirates.

In Ships!

Knowing SOE, the ships will be added in a later expansion :p

Heretic Machine

06-26-2007, 03:14 PM

Ya... no... I'm glad I make it a point not to get jazzed about MMOs anymore (not since Horizons: Empires of Broken Fucking Dreams).

Sion

06-26-2007, 03:15 PM

CrysDark

06-26-2007, 03:29 PM

Whoever makes these news posts needs to be clear that SOE will have NO SAY in anything concerning the gameplay.

This deal if a good one, but as this thread proves, so many just read the headline and nothing else then assume the game will be fked up beyond belief thanks to SOE's kiss of death.

They said the same thing before sony killed vangaurd.

Sandman

06-26-2007, 03:36 PM

Whoever makes these news posts needs to be clear that SOE will have NO SAY in anything concerning the gameplay.

This deal if a good one, but as this thread proves, so many just read the headline and nothing else then assume the game will be fked up beyond belief thanks to SOE's kiss of death.

SOE is like a virus. Once they get ahold of one part of a game they spread until they eventually take over. See Vanguard for example.

bean19

06-26-2007, 03:44 PM

They said the same thing before sony killed vangaurd.

Actually, Vanguard was crap before Sony was ever associated with it. SOE is really stupid about who they give money though. . . why spend even one cent on Vanguard or The Matrix Online? All they get for it is a perpetuation of their bad image.

zrikz

06-26-2007, 04:10 PM

They said the same thing before sony killed vangaurd.
Actually Sony has nothing but helped Vanguard.. seeing as I have been playing since Day 1 I do in fact know this.

Arglor

06-26-2007, 04:22 PM

Actually, Vanguard was crap before Sony was ever associated with it. SOE is really stupid about who they give money though. . . why spend even one cent on Vanguard or The Matrix Online? All they get for it is a perpetuation of their bad image.
The was my perception. Wasn't it floundering till SOE stepped up and took them under their wing?

GrinR

06-26-2007, 04:25 PM

Actually Sony has nothing but helped Vanguard.. seeing as I have been playing since Day 1 I do in fact know this.

I played from day 1 of the launch, and SOE ain't givin' ME any refunds.

Kem0sabe

06-26-2007, 04:40 PM

100$ SOE will end up buying out Flying Lab, add Gods and Heroes to that list as well.

I wonder if these developers sign these deals with SOE already with the intent of being bought by SOE later on, but afraid of SOE very bad rep on the mmorpg market, they sign these "distribution" deals first, eventually being absorbed by Sony.

bean19

06-26-2007, 05:00 PM

100$ SOE will end up buying out Flying Lab, add Gods and Heroes to that list as well.

I'll take that bet for Gods & Heroes. Are you serious? If so, I want to know the terms. . . how long after launch until you pay?

I'm not sure about Flying Lab, but Gods and Heroes is only using Sony Platform Publishing to distribute and market the game. Perpetual is making their own MMORPG platform and their longterm goal is to have various games work off it (including the upcoming Star Trek MMO). Basically, they want to be an NCSoft that licenses their software to developers to make MMOs and then gets a cut by being the publishers.

It just doesn't make sense for them to pay to build up distribution and marketing channels for Gods & Heroes when it is so much cheaper to get someone else to do it.

Gods & Heroes has it's own servers, billing servers, website, customer service, and is not sharing any development (QA or anything) with SOE (This was not the case for Vanguard at all).

Seriously, let's make this bet. I need money.

Tricky Thumb

06-26-2007, 05:00 PM

Blegh, oh well there's still Tabula Rasa, Age of Conan and Warhammer in the MMO pipeline so I guess this isn't too big of a loss overall. To be honest, I love the whole ships and piracy thing but I sort of wish they'd add in some fantasy and cool pirate/sea tales to give it that high seas over-the-top adventure.

Edit: It's not like I don't want to give the development team a chance since from my experience they're all great people, but SoE's track record is basically a line of shit piled along the last five or six years. The fact that Turbine moved away from SoE and went on to make the really solid title that is LotrO is proof enough that I can't really expect anything but bad stuff from this.

Kem0sabe

06-26-2007, 05:12 PM

I'll take that bet for Gods & Heroes. Are you serious? If so, I want to know the terms. . . how long after launch until you pay?

I'm not sure about Flying Lab, but Gods and Heroes is only using Sony Platform Publishing to distribute and market the game. Perpetual is making their own MMORPG platform and their longterm goal is to have various games work off it (including the upcoming Star Trek MMO). Basically, they want to be an NCSoft that licenses their software to developers to make MMOs and then gets a cut by being the publishers.

It just doesn't make sense for them to pay to build up distribution and marketing channels for Gods & Heroes when it is so much cheaper to get someone else to do it.

Gods & Heroes has it's own servers, billing servers, website, customer service, and is not sharing any development (QA or anything) with SOE (This was not the case for Vanguard at all).

Seriously, let's make this bet. I need money.

These things take time, so lets say a year at least, after the game is launched :D

I hope Perpetual manages to achieve their goal. The mmorpg market desperately needs games that don't have orcs/elfs with assorted color variations in them.

Ninjafoot

06-26-2007, 05:48 PM

Klade

06-26-2007, 06:49 PM

Ya... no... I'm glad I make it a point not to get jazzed about MMOs anymore (not since Horizons: Empires of Broken Fucking Dreams).

This quote so mirrors my own thinking its like you are fucking my cerebral cortex. Which I want to tell you is damn gross... shame on you!

At any rate I have to agree with the general sentiment that SOE having anything to do with a game is a stamp of rot. I was keeping an eye on this one... now I have to wonder if it will meet even my modest expectations.

bean19

06-26-2007, 08:15 PM

These things take time, so lets say a year at least, after the game is launched :D

I hope Perpetual manages to achieve their goal. The mmorpg market desperately needs games that don't have orcs/elfs with assorted color variations in them.

Are you serious, because I will so totally take that bet even with the really long terms?

If you are just talking though, that's cool. We can make it a gentleman's bet and not put money on the table if you like. I honestly feel like I'm taking advantage, but I seriously could use the dough. We can make the bet for one videogame of the other person's choice if you like. That doesn't seem as awful to me as taking $100 of your money. :)

Feel free to PM.

Voodoo

06-26-2007, 08:40 PM

Do Not Seek The Treasure

RickSaada

06-26-2007, 11:53 PM

100$ SOE will end up buying out Flying Lab, add Gods and Heroes to that list as well.

Can I take that bet? Or are FLS employees exempt from betting because we might have an actual clue? Being as we're not out of money (like Sigil), and have no intention of selling, I'm pretty happy to take your $100. Of course you have to put some expiration on it or I'll never get to collect. Shall we pick a date? Say the end of November 2008? That way I can use your money for Christmas shopping.

Rick Saada - FLS Dev & EPFBM

bKangy

06-26-2007, 11:55 PM

SOE have a godawful track record :/

Predation

06-27-2007, 12:20 AM

SOE have a godawful track record :/

SoE has a pretty fantastic track record actually. They have, what, a dozen MMO's still operating under their belt, and when one starts failing they prop it up with the profits from another.

If you are talking about SoE, they -- more often then not -- aren't the game developers themselves. They're more like steam, offering a distribution platform for the majority of the games, they just happen to get a bit more involved when a game goes under (or gets bought out like everquest).

From personal experience, I have never had a problem with latency on SoE's servers, downloads are usually extremely fast (none of that P2P bullshit WoW pulls), downtimes are almost non-existant (none of this "8 hours a week for regular maintenance" from -- yet again -- WoW).

If you want to bitch at SoE, bitch at their marketing/PR department. They're almost as horrendous as Sony's regular marketing department (who knows, they might be the same people). They come up with horrible pricing plans, they handle any situation atrociously (EQ2 and froglocks?), and omg the microtransactions (I will murder whoever came up with "adventure packs"). It's the pricing plan (IE: Adventure Packs) that made me leave EQ2 for WOW in the first place.

Varsity

06-27-2007, 02:11 AM

If you are talking about SoE, they -- more often then not -- aren't the game developers themselves. They're more like steam, offering a distribution platform for the majority of the games, they just happen to get a bit more involved when a game goes under (or gets bought out like everquest).
Aren't we forgetting a little game called Star Wars: Galaxies?

51|RandoM

06-27-2007, 02:33 AM

Aren't we forgetting a little game called Star Wars: Galaxies?

Many of us would like to...

Evil Avatar

06-27-2007, 03:01 AM

Can I take that bet? Or are FLS employees exempt from betting because we might have an actual clue? Being as we're not out of money (like Sigil), and have no intention of selling, I'm pretty happy to take your $100. Of course you have to put some expiration on it or I'll never get to collect. Shall we pick a date? Say the end of November 2008? That way I can use your money for Christmas shopping.

Rick Saada - FLS Dev & EPFBM

Ouch. Owned.

I just want to know if Pirates of the Burning Sea will fall under my "All Game Pass".

fiercey

06-27-2007, 08:45 AM

Whoever makes these news posts needs to be clear that SOE will have NO SAY in anything concerning the gameplay.

LOL, that's exactly what was said about Vanguard. I remember posting on the forums that the next step would be SOE would *own* the game. Brad McQuaid himself sent me this long rambling e-mail about how that was *not* going to happen, and guess what?? SOE owns Vanguard.

SOE sucks, in my opinion, and I will never buy another of their games. I was looking forward to trying this game.

-f

fiercey

06-27-2007, 08:46 AM

Can I take that bet? Or are FLS employees exempt from betting because we might have an actual clue? Being as we're not out of money (like Sigil), and have no intention of selling, I'm pretty happy to take your $100. Of course you have to put some expiration on it or I'll never get to collect. Shall we pick a date? Say the end of November 2008? That way I can use your money for Christmas shopping.

Rick Saada - FLS Dev & EPFBM

Brad McQuaid said the same damned thing. Selling one's soul to the devil is never, ever quite the deal that it seems.

-f

bean19

06-27-2007, 09:21 AM

Brad McQuaid said the same damned thing. Selling one's soul to the devil is never, ever quite the deal that it seems.

-f

There were signs from miles and miles away that Vanguard was going to fail. At E3 2006, their performance issues were so bad that the game honestly looked like DAoC (blocky graphics and terrible animations).

PotBS at least looked great even if a lot of their stuff wasn't working correctly, and their game has had more than a year to improve through the beta process (they were already in beta before last year's E3), so hopefully it will fare better than Vanguard.

I'm not sure of the terms of their deal with SOE, but I hope they deliver a great game that does well and that they can thus avoid causing more negative SOE press.