Possibly loss of sales.  Other then then that, I agree.

Sony Online Entertainment is basically a gaming pariah. They spent much of the last few years antagonizing customers, and making bitter enemies. The name alone sends potential consumers scattering. I suppose those that are new to online gaming are unaware of it, but yes people hate this division with a serious passion. They have done a very good job of alienating gamers away from the corporate name.

That is not to say this couldn't be a positive thing, but the metaphor of the rotten apple in the barrel does apply. A horrible division with a extremely poor reputation can spoil the reputation as a whole. The first order of business is to gut this division from the top down. Entrench some strong leadership with some credibility. Focus the division on a couple relevant projects. Finally they need to develop a sincere commitment to quality development practices.

I really hope that the console players do not have to learn the lessons that massive online players had to learn. You would be terribly shocked by the horrible things this division does as standard business practices. I have seen few corporate entities enlist the sheer volume of outright wrath this division has. I was almost dumbfounded by the way Sony tolerated it.

This really doesn't change the situation dramatically from what it was. Sony Online Entertainment was splitting its development between the PC and console space anyway. All their major upcoming titles were supposed to be playable on both platforms. However now the proxy is changed. Now they will be raiding the PS3s development cupboard.

I hope for the PS3 owners that this division gets fixed. Either neuter it so its less hostile, or rehabilitate it. Otherwise this division is only going to bring a bad taste to the PS3 experience. All the console needs is a couple of those little SOE accidents to turn millions of players against the brand. I know people that actually refuse to buy Sony products period specifically, because of what Sony Online Entertainment did to them. Trust me that isn't anything you want a part of on your console.

You know...just because someone doesn't like something that has Sony in the name, doesn't mean they don't like Sony itself, sheesh. Come on people, get a grip.

SOE ruined Everquest. Not only that, but they made a habit of pissing off users for no better reason than they could. They also ended up ruining Star Wars Galaxies, Everquest 2 and probably other ones I didn't bother playing. I played EQ for 4 years before I finally got fed up with the crap that went along with it. Days of intermitent downtime (sometimes as long as a week) after every major patch. Weeks of intermitent downtime after every expansion. Zero customer service. A heavy hand on the nerf bat and a strong disregard for game breaking changes that were slow to get fixed if they ever did. Or maybe I'm just bitter because I played a Wizard and they took my manaburn away =(. All that is just in Everquest. SWG and EQ2 were the same story. Unecessary changes that broke gameplay or radically shifted things without regard for current players and poor to non-existant support.

I like Sony well enough and in fact I'm having a blast playing Assasin's Creed and Oblivion (as much as I can with a little girl to look after) on my ps3, but I don't think I'll ever pay for an SOE product again.

WoW isn't more popular because its easier to level, its more popular because its a better game all around and the people running it actually seem to care about what happens. Obviously not everyone gets what they want, but at least they generally don't have major patching issues and you get Customer service responses in a reasonable amount of time. They do a pretty decent job for a game with unprecedented popularity and they added those touches like seasonal events that make you feel part of the world. All Everquest ever managed to do was host events that seemed to involve massively difficult boss monsters roaming newbie zones and killing people indiscriminately until the server zerged it to death (and that was when a GM was bored enough to do anything at all).

Keeping SOE independant made sense last gen. The PS2 wasn't much of an online machine. But the PS3 being so very capable online, it is surprising they didn't make this move sooner, maybe even before PS3's launch.

This is some smart restructuring on Sony's part, even if it ought to have happened sooner, and if they can bury SOE's bad name in the dirt while they're at it, so much the better.

Anyone know anything about how profitable SOE was independantly , it'd be interestign to look at.

Yeah, EQ WAS awesome, until they turned it into a cash cow.  I spent more time playing that game than any other game.  Period.  I would kill for a game with complex dungeons, creative classes like the Enchanter of old, dynamic vendors to dig through and loot that actually meant something.

Well let me say something.
The game 'The Agency' looks like utter crap.
I don't this would make it any better!

I really enjoyed your post. I to was part of Team Mana burn! You know you loved killing those kunark dragons muahaha. Best times ever.

The fact that he played for 4 years should be proof enought that EQ paved the way for WoW and LotRO. It offered a very different experience than UO and advanced the genre. Star Wars shouldn't have been radically changed but they responded to user complaints about leveling to Jedi and then people complained it was too easy. Leveling in EQ2 is much better paced. But hey, you have a really informed opinion by not playing the rest of the games. I think SOE's biggest fault is releasing too many MMO's and not focusing on just a few. They have quality products, though, so the bashing is completely unecessary. I quit EQ before 4 years but it was worth my time for about a year. That's more than I've played any other game in my life. But whatever, let the bashing continue...don't actually try the games, though.