Originally posted by: blanghorst
Originally posted by: Malak
Well the publisher for Vanguard was Microsoft and they sold it to SOE, but I don't think it was for what they invested in it. I don't know why SOE bought it though, it'd be direct competition with EQ2.
Actually, MS owned the initial rights and Sigil (the company who developed it) bought those rights back due to creative differences, IIRC. Sigil was run by an ex-Verant guy and as you probably know, Verant is what became SOE. So Brad McQuaid (Sigil) hit up his old pal John Smedley (SOE) and the rest was history. I think SOE bought it to 1) add another game to their stable and station pass 2) probably thought it was going to be a big hit. Vanguard was extremely hyped leading up to launch.
By all accounts, SOE has done wonders for the game. Surprising, considering how they absolutely trashed my old favorite game, SWG.