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[Razoric]

http://www.soe.sony.com/corp/press_releases/020305_SOE_Seattle.html

SAN DIEGO, CA - February 3, 2005 - Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming, announced today that it has expanded operations with the formation of a development studio in Seattle, Washington. SOE-Seattle will further increase Sony Online Entertainment's global market share and will strengthen the overall planning and production of premium games.

Matt Wilson will serve as Executive Producer of SOE-Seattle. Wilson had been with Microsoft for over 10 years, leaving to form FireAnt, Inc. with John Smith, Alex Pfaffe, Craig Link and Ed Fries in order to create cutting-edge massively multiplayer online games. All the members of FireAnt will be joining the new studio full-time, with the exception of Ed Fries, who will serve in an advisory role for SOE-Seattle game design and studio management. The SOE-Seattle team has a diverse history of game development, having worked on titles such as Dungeon Siege, Ultima Online, Wing Commander, Asheron's Call, and many others.

"As our business grows, so does the need for more diverse titles," said Russell Shanks, chief operations officer, Sony Online Entertainment. "With the core team's expertise in the video game industry and their passion for making games, we are confident that this new studio will allow us to maintain and expand SOE's position as one of the world-wide leaders in online gaming."

:O

 

[Guns N' Poops]

But didn't EQ2 actually bomb?

 

[ManaByte]

But didn't EQ2 actually bomb?

No.

http://www.mmogchart.com/

EverQuest II (Confidence Rating: A)

Launched in November 2004, this is the sequel to the highly successful EverQuest. Numbers are still very preliminary, but it has recently been reported that EQII has over 300,000 subscribers as of January 2005. http://everquest2.station.sony.com/

And for comparison (because SOMEONE will bring it up)

World of Warcraft (Confidence Rating: C)

Launched in November 2004, this is Blizzard’s much-anticipated entry into the MMOG market. Numbers are still very preliminary; not everyone who starts playing a MMOG at launch actually “subscribes” the following month. We know for sure that WoW has at least 200,000 subscribers, and as of January 2005 has sold through close to 600,000 copies. Based on a variety of factors such as likely conversion rates and server loads, it is reasonable to believe that World of Warcraft has between 350,000 and 500,000 subscribers as of January 2005. I generally do not put “best guesses” in my data, but given both the interest in and importance of this game, I have put a preliminary figure of 350,000 for now. Until that can be confirmed, I have given the data a Confidence Rating of C. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/

The ratings are:



A – This indicates that the vast majority of the data points shown come from either official announcements by the companies involved or reliable inside sources. The numbers can be considered reliable, although a few of the data points may be incorrect.

B – This indicates that while some of the data points shown may be official, a substantial number come from press articles, unproven inside sources, or other indirect means. The numbers may not be exact for the MMOG in question, but are certainly in the ballpark.

C – This indicates that most or all of the data points provided are merely industry “best guesses” or are otherwise questionable. Usually, I will not chart MMOGs that rate C or lower. Their numbers should be taken with a large grain of salt.

D – This indicates that no data is available

And since someone will bring up WoW and EQ2 server numbers, you need to do a little bit of math.

This press release from Blizzard quotes 200,000 simultaneous players (which is normally a lower number than paying subscriptions as not everyone who subscribes plays at the exact same time):
http://www.blizzard.com/press/011005.shtml

Here: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/everquest2/news_6115915.html SOE quotes 310,000 paying subscriptions, but not a number of simultaneous players. The "best guess" number of simultaneous EQ2 players is about 200,000.

WoW has 88 servers, and EQ2 has 30. If you divide 200,000 players by 88 servers you get a number of approximately 2300 players per server. Divide 200,000 players by 30 servers and you get nearly 6700 players per server. This number difference is possible because of how EQ2 has everything instanced (if a zone reaches it's cap on players, a new version will spawn to lessen the load on the server). However, EVE Online still has both beat by managing 12,000 players on its server.

 

[nubbe]

But didn't EQ2 actually bomb?

Yeah right... They open new servers almost every week... so i think its doing ok.

 

[Razoric]

But didn't EQ2 actually bomb?

Didn't bomb, was probably right on mark with sales. It was just way overshadowed by WoW's 'surprise' success.

 

[element]

known ed has been on this for a while. didn't know about the SOE thing. that is cool.