“Sony Online Entertainment, newly rebranded as Daybreak, is a great addition to our existing portfolio of technology, media and entertainment focused companies. We see tremendous opportunities for growth with the expansion of the company’s game portfolio through multi-platform offerings as well as an exciting portfolio of new quality games coming up, including the recently launched H1Z1 and the highly anticipated EverQuest Next to be released in the near future,”
Jason Epstein, a senior partner at Columbus Nova
EverQuest Next is to be released in the “near future?”
[Emphasis in the quote was mine]
Okay, now I know they are yanking my chain.
Has Jason Epstein already been briefed on the usage of the word “soon” at old SOE? Is this an attempt to avoid that word and its baggage or the beginning of a new empty phrase for the house that EverQuest built?
“Soon” Defined
I ask because I cannot see EverQuest Next being released during any period of time I would judge to be the “near future,” unless we start measuring against scales of time beyond the span of my life. The foundation for EverQuest Next is in Landmark, and that has yet to be released or have a release date or even a date when they might be able to announce a release date. So consider my eyebrow arched significantly at the idea of the “near future” in conjunction with EverQuest Next. (Also, Jason, a new name for that please?)
Of course, Mr. Epstein might not know any better at this point. There has been a whole acquisition dance going on for a while now. These things do not happen over night, they are months in the making. And I am sure a bunch of people at the company formerly known as SOE are realizing that this was why Smed was gone at some point or why a bunch of strangers were camped in one of the conference rooms for a week or why that “interview candidate” who looked like a lawyer was being given a detailed tour of the build system. (That last one actually happened to me at one company.)
And while nobody is suppose to overtly lie about material facts during that dance, like any mating ritual, things do tend to be presented in the optimum setting. The lights are dimmed, blemishes are glossed over, makeup is applied, guts are sucked in, promises are whispered in a moment of passion, all to make each partner more alluring.
Now though, we are at the morning after. The harsh light of Daybreak is shining through the window, lipstick is smeared, promises are forgotten, and somebody clearly can only describe their belt buckle from memory once it is wrapped about what could be their waist, but only because that is where their pants end.
All pretense is at an end and all the bullshit is revealed. It is time to get to work and actually deal with reality. It might be only at this point that the actual idea of “near future” is being revealed and that all those nifty demos of the game do not make a whole.
Then again, there might be a simple answer to this nested in the very same sentence. Mr. Epstein refers to H1Z1 as “recently launched.” Perhaps his view of the world aligns with some of us on the outside of the company, that once you start taking money in exchange for your game it is effectively launched and all of this “early access” and “beta” talk is just posturing bullshit.
Anyway, we shall see just how “near” the “near future” really is and what being released really means to this newly “independent” Daybreak.
Also, can we just go with “DGC” when referring to Daybreak Game Company? Writing “Daybreak” just feels odd still.
The Ancient Gaming Noob 