Smedley Talks Memberships, EU Player Studio

Sony Online Entertainment's president gives an update on upcoming changes.

John Smedley swooped in earlier this month, reverting some unfavorable changes to memberships and announcing his desire to only keep a $15/month All Access plan to their games, doing away with the individual game subscriptions. Over the past week he's taken to Twitter, keeping everyone apprised of what's been going on.

Continue after the jump for a compilation of his updates!


January 13: Announced that "we will be able to announce the rollout schedule sometime this week for our new sub plans" and "we're working hard to get a comprehensive set of answers for them. Some things take a bit longer because they involve partners... We also have a lot of physical work to get done. Before we tell you the date we want to believe in it."

January 16: Updated that "April 2nd will be when the membership changes go into effect. Prosieben is working with us to make this work for eu customers too. Very excited. Still working on lots of details." He also confirmed to a player that a late January alpha release of EverQuest Next Landmark is still likely.

January 17: A player asked for an update about EU getting Player Studio. Smedley responded that "we continue to make good progress. We should announce something here fairly soon (1-2 weeks)." He then went on to announce "More specifically on EU Player Studio - we had to figure out the relevant tax forms and legal regulations. This has never been about anything other than annoying taxation and legal things we had to get buttoned up. It's not hard. It's not rocket science. It's just mind numbing stuff."

 

Comments

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Please keep the single game pricing
# Jan 21 2014 at 11:38 AM Rating: Decent
If any SOE folks read these forums
I am also one of the yearly subscribers (well half year at the moment). I'm also a subscriber since 2000. There are times when I don't log on to EQ for months at a time but I like playing it and will come back and play for months at a time again. With the yearly price and the benefits SOE provides for loyal subscribers this works out well for me. I also am not interested in playing any other MMPORGs games be they SOE or some other company. Please keep the single game yearly price. I have to echo what others have said. I would be leaving the game also if the price went up for something I don't even use. It would be sad to play as a ftp after all the great stuff you've done for the loyal subscribers.
Just my 2 cents or 9.98 as it were .

FuzzyKiwi
all access
# Jan 20 2014 at 2:25 PM Rating: Decent
on my main account i have all access but never pay for it i also have 10 toons to choose from,i did in the past have all access.:)
price increase
# Jan 20 2014 at 12:32 PM Rating: Good
Scholar
18 posts
Im with all you other people---15 dollars a month is a increase to what im paying now and with all my accounts that will increase my payout by at least 25 dollars a month and im not sure im willing to pay that much. Leave your plan in place of charging 15 dollars a month for all access but if people only want one game it should be cheaper. I have no intention of starting another game from SOE at this point so why should I want to pay more for games I don't want to play. Leave us that pay less on our current plan if you wanna keep us. Best of both worlds its called a "grandfather" clause.
jumping the gun
# Jan 20 2014 at 10:29 AM Rating: Decent
Scholar
22 posts
Cyliena is right guys need to wait to see what the final pay structure will be, there will likely be deals if you pay your yearly plans still. Doesn't sound like it will change month for the monthly subscribers $15.00 a month is $15.00 a month except you will have access to all of the games. I personally pay the yearly plan to save that extra $5.00/mo. but to each their own. Doesn't sound like much is changing will have to see the final tally on the new pay scale. The pricing schedule hasn't gone up in 15 years which is pretty damn good. My suppliers here at my store typically have one per year at the start of the new year, sometimes 2. Costs are not going down for anyone including businesses. At least their product is digital and relies more on man mind power than physical raw materials, so you don't see the price increases as much as you would for a physical product. I don't mind paying a little more, especially if some kind of value is added to the subscription, like yearly subscribers actually get some SC/month, although how much of an increase would be up for debate, but doesn't sound like it will change much. Will have to wait for more information to come out.
This is a mess from the peanut gallery...
# Jan 20 2014 at 2:16 AM Rating: Good
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159 posts
Who is making the choices factual here... I have heard 5 statements about the same thing from 5 Company Speaker's and all 5 have a different tune their singing. Who is in charge.... I see a circle jerk and we (the paying customer) seem to be the pivot point. I play one game only, EverQuest .... PERIOD. I pay by the month because I cannot afford to pay for 3 account's for a yearly subscription, so I have no choice I have to pay monthly. Your talking package plans, all access, and a variety of payment changes that is going to ***** a lot of people, IMHO. I could be wrong, I was once before BUT I was mistaking.

Also, there is a ton of us that have gotten to 100, maxed out our AA's and banked 70 AA's ... and the next release doesn't give us anything to gain. Who wants to do adventures or quests on a maxed out toon ..... all that we can do is get in a fellowship group and give all our XP away and work our Merc's.

Chinese checker's is looking real good for the nose bleed seat's.
price
# Jan 19 2014 at 10:01 AM Rating: Good
6 posts
if they change my monthly plan that i have had locked in since fabled came out guess its time to start playing a new game. i have been locked in at $99.99 for long time ($8.34 a month).
Multi-month plans
# Jan 18 2014 at 3:57 PM Rating: Default
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87 posts
Cyliena, I appreciate your optimism and your insightful observation of their omission of the detail about the cost of multi-month plans.
Still, since Sony's ...ahem....misjudgement.....over what subscription members will and will not accept concerning station cash, Fluticazone is not jumping the gun to sound a cautionary note and warning shot across Sony's bow about changing pricing structure.
I agree with Flut. I'm struggling to figure out how I'm going to pay for the two EQII accounts for my sons for next year, even at $10/month for a year prepaid. Any hike in rate will take us off the subscription. I simply can't afford to pay more, and I've supported the company faithfully for almost six years now. If my sons lose half their characters and all the Mastercrafted Fabled Gear they've made, well, I don't see how I can justify not turning them loose into LOTRO or something else that's free. If all their best gear is denied them, ( we're not paying to "unlock" what we harvested and crafted ourselves, and ground away to level 95 tradeskill to achieve.), well, what am I supposed to tell them?
"Sorry, kids, Sony decided $120 per year ($240 total for both accounts ) wasn't enough for you to keep your characters and gear that you invested in over the last five plus years. Don't worry, though. Your uncle and cousin play LOTRO, and they tell me that any gear is obtainable if you do enough quests and crafting. "
TLDR version for Sony:
The lack of details in this announcement and your own past behavior invites intense scrutiny and a good faith warning -- Don't take your subscription members for granted. We love EQ2, but it is not the only game or hobby out there, after all.
Multi-month plans
# Jan 20 2014 at 10:12 AM Rating: Default
You don't need to pay to wear gear anymore, just to scribe a master spell without unlocking(if you already have it you don't need to pay to keep it), move the aa slider, sell on the broker, and send mail. If you need to drop it they don't lose anything
Elaborate please
# Jan 18 2014 at 10:53 AM Rating: Good
35 posts
"announcing his desire to only keep a $15/month All Access plan to their games, doing away with the individual game subscriptions."

Doing away? I'm only paying $9.75 per month/EQ1 account. If you go to a mandatory $15.00 per month per paid account, kiss me goodbye.
Elaborate please
# Jan 18 2014 at 11:22 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
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178 posts
fluticasone: I have to ask how is it you are only paying $9.75 a month when I am paying $15.00 already??? I like the idea of $15.00 for all access account if I am already $15.00 anyways.
Elaborate please
# Jan 19 2014 at 7:22 AM Rating: Excellent
Empress of News
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2,350 posts
When you break down the subscription price for a single game's yearly sub, it works out to ~$10/month. https://www.everquest.com/membership

All Access doesn't work out that way in its current state. https://www.soe.com/allaccess

I'd assume they'd keep multi-month plans once they adjust the All Access pricing structure, but until we hear their final pricing it's impossible to say.
____________________________
Cyliena Velnarin | @Cyliena on Twitter

Elaborate please
# Jan 18 2014 at 11:52 AM Rating: Excellent
Empress of News
***
2,350 posts
fluticazone wrote:
"announcing his desire to only keep a $15/month All Access plan to their games, doing away with the individual game subscriptions."

Doing away? I'm only paying $9.75 per month/EQ1 account. If you go to a mandatory $15.00 per month per paid account, kiss me goodbye.

They haven't announced the full pricing structure, but from the few comments I've seen here and there on the EQ2 forums, the default would start at $15/month and there would be multi-month plans still available. Which means multi-month should cost less, like it currently does.
____________________________
Cyliena Velnarin | @Cyliena on Twitter

On the other hand....
# Jan 18 2014 at 9:24 AM Rating: Good
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94 posts
John Smedley "It's not hard. It's not rocket science. It's just mind numbing stuff."

Welcome to Slayer Achievement!
good life
# Jan 18 2014 at 9:22 AM Rating: Default
comment on your pic you seem to be living well by the big tummy of yours jon :) lower my sub price :) so i can eat like you do :))
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