Well the rumors continue to fly about what is going on over at SOE. Only one thing is for sure, and that is that Raph Koster is out over there. Other rumors regarding the company include that Raph’s heir apparent, Cindy Armstrong, is also off to greener pastures. Also, word on the street has Lucas Arts wanting to revoke SOE’s SWG license. This seems unlikely, since there aren’t a lot of people out there that can really handle a property that large and unwieldy. Reading the media on the subject it appears that those last two are still very much in the rumor stage.
Whatever turns out to be true something is hitting the fan over there at SOE. Raph IS gone. Armstrong may or may not follow. And keep the license or lose it, it’s doubtful that SWG is a winning proposition for Sony at this point.
Overall, it hasn’t been a good week or two for Sony. The PS3 is still vaporware, BluRay is too, and now this. And that is just March. The odd thing is that the bleeding seems to have stopped over at EQ, and EQ2 is even in a sort of a comeback stage. They are making some good decisions for the health of EQ2, almost as good as the SWG decisions are bad.
If I had Sony in my portfolio, I’d be selling. It’s difficult to comprehend how far this once-proud brand has fallen.
Stay tuned.
