SOE acquires Vanguard dev

Sony Online Entertainment has now confirmed it's acquired Vanguard: Saga of Heroes developer Sigil Games after it was recently revealed that the two were in talks regarding the future of the MMORPG.

Next-Gen.biz reports that under half the current employees at Sigil are being laid off as a result - these are more staffers not directly part of the Vanguard team.

The majority of the remaining Sigil staff will continue to work on Vanguard, but SOE has taken five of the staff to work on a prototype for a new MMOG. The work's been described as an exploratory effort by the company and may not be realised as a full and final product.

Brad McQuaid, Sigil's CEO, is taking on a consultant role at Sony Online Entertainment and will act as Vanguard Creative Advisor.

In terms of the future of Vanguard, SOE president John Smedley said "SOE is dedicated to making sure that Vanguard is well taken care of and that we provide the same level of service we do for our other titles."

He continued in a statement appearing in Station.com forums, "In the near future we will come out with a publishing plan that will largely be driven by the strong player community that Vanguard has already built up.

"We plan on supporting Vanguard for many years to come, and you can expect many content updates as part of your subscription. Down the line we will of course be coming out with new expansion packs, but right now the focus is on making sure Vanguard is running the way it should be."

via cvg