Tag: John Smedley

John Smedley Quits Twitter After Argument Leads to DDOS, Threats


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John Smedley has quit Twitter, an announcement that will have a good portion of Daybreak’s communities giving a sigh of relief. Responding to a thread on Reddit over his account suddenly going dark, Smedley confirmed that he is walking away from the social media platform.

I really love making games. It makes me happy. I saw Twitter as a great way to talk 1-1 with players which I love doing. I’m simply not going to let this make me lose focus….but I am going to walk away from Twitter and not miss it for a second. Life’s too short to let things distract me from what I really like doing. I will miss the interaction with our players though. A great deal.

Whether he left voluntarily or was pressured from within Daybreak, Smedley’s exist is likely due to a rather high profile event last week where Smedley called out a couple of members of Lizard Squad. The hacker group responded with a series of attacks on Daybreak’s servers, which escalated to doxxing threats against Daybreak employees.

(Source: Reddit)

John Smedley Talks The Future Of H1Z1


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Daybreak’s John Smedley took to Reddit today to discuss the future of H1Z1, and while the title might have you concerned (given where this has lead in the past), it doesn’t include shutting the game down. The list of upcoming features includes the obvious, fixing bugs and improving AI while also adding in new content. Professions, set to make their way in later this month, will afford players more options to grow their characters.

Our goal remains to have a massive world. We’re doing that with Forgelight 2, which has been in development for quite a while now. We’ll be able to show stuff to you soon, but needless to say we’re super excited by what we’re seeing. It’s truly going to give us the 16,000 square kilometer world we’ve been waiting for. We want the world of H1Z1 to truly be a world. One where you can build your own cities and settlements, or take over one if you can hold it.

Developments also include adding new members to the staff, as well as continuing the fight against cheaters. Smedley claims a 100% detection against most major cheats, adding that auto-banning will speed up the process of ridding these players from the servers. You can read the whole piece at the link below.

(Source: Reddit)

Daybreak Unbanning Cheaters Who Apologize On Youtube


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The first step for a recovering cheater is admitting you have a problem and placing your faith in an almighty benefactor. That benefactor, in this case, is Daybreak Game Company. John Smedley took to Twitter to comment that, after a recent massive ban wave in H1Z1, a large number of players have been emailing him to beg for forgiveness. Instead of asking for Daybreak’s forgiveness, Smedley wants cheaters to ask for the player’s forgiveness. Publicly, via Youtube.

Apologize publicly and you get another chance. Do it again and I hear John Smedley makes you smoke the whole pack of cheats.

With seven thousand ESP hackers banned over the past few days, that’s going to be a lot of Youtube videos.

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John Smedley Discusses The Future Of Planetside 2


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While consumer confidence is still pretty shaky for Daybreak Game Studio, John Smedley has once again taken to Reddit to assure fans that, no, this is not the end. For Planetside 2, the team intends on working on the meta-game, the “why are we fighting” question that so far hasn’t had much of an answer aside from the experience of a massive team deathmatch.

We will be moving towards a system where resources are actually going to be a fun part of the game, and you’ll be able to harvest resources directly (in fact, that’s how you’re going to get them). and you’ll be able to use them to finally get to some of the end-game things we’ve been wanting to do – Outfit bases on new continents (and potentially on existing ones). We’re also going to be spending a lot of time to make sure capturing a facility actually matters, as well as looking at the overly-complicated capture system which can be pretty obtuse at times.

Next week will see the launch of a new game mode for Planetside 2, one that has an actual win condition.

In the months between now and September we’re going to be putting all kinds of new things into the game on a regular schedule. We’re also going to be committing to doing a better job on the Roadmap. The criticism that we do a poor job updating it is something that I think is both fair and accurate and it’s simply going to be done right.

Smedley remarks that he sees Planetside 2 being here in ten years and continuing to grow in player size.

(Source: Reddit)

SOE Now Daybreak Game Company


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Sony Online Entertainment has made a shocking announcement, revealing that the company has been acquired by Columbus Nova and will be spun off from the Sony brand. The news was revealed just minutes ago on Reddit.

This means that effective immediately SOE will operate as an independent game development studio where we will continue to focus on creating exceptional online games for players around the world, and now as a multi-platform gaming company. Yes, that means PlayStation and Xbox, mobile and more!

As part of the move, Sony Online Entertainment will be hereforth known as Daybreak Game Company. What does this mean for players?

It will be business as usual and all SOE games will continue on their current path of development and operation. In fact, we expect to have even more resources available to us as a result of this acquisition. It also means new exciting developments for our existing IP and games as we can now fully embrace the multi-platform world we are living in.

(Source: Reddit)

John Smedley Defends H1Z1 Airdrops


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Airdrops are sort of like H1Z1’s answer to MMO lockboxes in that they can be purchased for real money and contain random loot, except they are public and dangerous. Calling in an airdrop attracts both players and zombies alike, both groups seeking to feast upon what they might find.

John Smedley took to Reddit to defend the airdrop mechanic, noting:

1) You cannot call in airdrops until the servers are 1/4 full. 2) You can’t call in airdrops without generating a ton of zombie heat. 3) the airdrops are random in what they deliver. 4) you are not guaranteed to get a single thing out of the airdrop you called in. You could die trying and you’re out the money. 5) We fly the plane in very slowly and loudly..

SOE is planning on updating airdrops to make them drop slower, with a wider drop radius, lowering the chances of weapon drops, and increasing the number of people in a server required to call in. For those who still think it’s pay to win, Smedley has a response:

So if you think it’s P2W don’t buy it. Don’t play it.

H1Z1 is currently availabe for purchase on Steam Early Access.

(Source: Reddit)

H1Z1 CS Items Lootable, In A Sense


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With all of the hubbub about H1Z1 and the prospects of free to play and pay to win, John Smedley took to the game’s official subreddit to explain just how the game’s cash shop will work. Players will be able to buy wearables which can be looted by others upon death, in a manner of speaking.

We’ve also come up with a pretty awesome idea to let players who kill other players loot stuff. So if a player has a black ski mask and gets killed by another player, that player can wear the ski mask for a few deaths (we have durability in the game. Station Cash wearables won’t degrade at all but when you loot something.. it will degrade. Please note the original player always keeps their SC purchased wearables.

Smedley also confirmed that the shop will not sell guns, ammo, food, water, “etc,” nor will they sell boosts. Emote packs will be available for sale as well as character slots and crates ala Valve’s monetization system.

(Source: Reddit)

SOE Revealing New Game Today


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John Smedley posted on Twitter earlier today to reveal that an unannounced game is set to be revealed later on this evening, with gameplay footage to show.

Watch http://t.co/OfEekcv325 tmw between 5-6pm PST if you are interested in the new game we haven’t announced. there is gameplay footage.

Smedley later tweeted that players will be able to get their hands on the full game soonâ„¢. More to come.

(source: Twitter)

John Smedley Defends Curt Schilling


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Those of you who read MMO Fallout know that I have quite a lot of respect for SOE’s John Smedley. The guy isn’t perfect and no one would doubt that there are plenty of mistakes made in Sony’s past, but the guy has a tendency to spell it out as it is and be as transparent as his corporate overlords will allow him to be. The company keeps their games going long after they are commercially viable, and even after they were no longer profitable.

Over the past few days, Smedley has taken to Twitter to defend 38 Studios and Curt Schilling, stating that Schilling’s “only crime was believing in his own ability to will things to be better,” adding that “he busted his ass to get funding.” He then goes on to state that Sony Online Entertainment was approached by 38 Studios for funding, but did not jump on board because the game was deemed too expensive and risky. He went on to say that the fact that no other company was willing to get on board should have been the first warning sign to Rhode Island not to go through with the deal. Public funds, says Smedley, should never go to back something as risky as an online game.

Rhode Island is set to vote today on encouraging out of court settlements against Schilling and those who drafted the loan.

(Source: Gamespot)

John Smedley Reddit Highlights


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Following the announcement that four of Sony Online Entertainment’s MMOs would be shutting down, John Smedley went on Reddit to take part in an Ask Me Anything with the community. While this is nowhere near all of the answers, I’ve put together some significant comments for your easy viewing. First of all, the shuttering of Free Realms and Clone Wars is SOE quitting the field of kids games.

No. No more kids games. 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.

Did Sony learn anything from the poor performance of Wizardry Online? Somewhat.

The main thing we learned was that this particular game didn’t work in the US. I wouldn’t draw any conclusions other than that.

Next, Smedley offers a glimpse at their next game. Something to please Galaxies players.

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

As for what this game is..

It’s called “go figure it out for yourself” 🙂

As usual, Smedley once again apologized for Star Wars Galaxies, talked about how Vanguard cannot be sold due to business reasons, and more. Check out the entire AMA at the link below.

(Source: Reddit)