Sony Online Entertainment Closes MMOs and Teases New Ones

Sony Online Entertainment will be closing several MMOS, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Wizardry Online, Free Realms and Clone Wars Adventures.

SOE President, John Smedley, told Reddit that he didn’t have the heart to tell Vanguard: Saga of Heroes players that the game has been operating at a loss for some time.

Smedley also said that SOE was done with kids games such as Free Realms.

“No more kids games,” Smedley stated. “Kids don’t spend well and it’s very difficult to run a kids game. Turns out kids do mean stuff to each other a lot.”

Free Realms and Clone Wars Adventures will close first at the end of March, with Vanguard and Wizardry closing at the end of July.

Smedley confirmed that Sony will “absolutely be bringing EverQuest Next to the Playstation 4!” Then he talked about that big and promising new MMO, he also said “if you like [Ultima Online], you’re going to love EQN.”

You can view the EverQuest Next worldwide debut trailer below:

Smedley said that Sony is shooting for the first half of this year as far as Planetside 2 on PS4 and added,

“It’s taking time to do this right but coming along great.”

Smedley added that SOE is working on an unannounced MMO that although being “completely new IP,” it will be something Star Wars Galaxies players of old should pay particular attention to.

“SWG PLAYERS,” he yelled, “OUR NEXT GAME (not announced yet) IS DEDICATED TO YOU. Once we launch it… you can come home now.”

Then Smedley teased a possible come-back for Legends of Norrath, the EverQuest card game, a decision prompted by the popularity of Blizzard’s Hearthstone.

He teased,

“Actually after seeing what Blizzard did with Hearthstone it’s given us some other ideas… LON is an awesome card game. We can take that to the next level.”

In addition, the revised one-subscription-for-everything All Access plan was also announced (FAQ). Players pay $14.99 a month and get access to all SOE games, including the upcoming EverQuest Next and EverQuest Next Landmark. Existing subscribers will be automatically upgraded when everthing kicks off on 2nd April.

Smedley finished by stating that

“I’ve just seen the content update plan for EQ. We heard the players loud and clear that they want a bigger expansion next time, and they’ll get it. We’ll be making EQ and EQ2 expansions for a long time to come.”

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