ProSiebenSat.1 is the Exclusive Partner of Sony Online Entertainment in Europe

Hello all,
You may have read the recent announcement that SOE is expanding our partnership with ProSiebenSat.1 to include EverQuest, Vanguard, Bullet Run, and Wizardry Online. We are very excited about this publishing partnership and look forward to sharing more with you in the near future. In the meantime, please take a few moments to read the press release below.
Munich, Germany, August 15, 2012.
ProSiebenSat.1 Games and Sony Online Entertainment, LLC (SOE) are expanding their exclusive partnership with four online games for the European market. Following the successful launch of DC Universe™ Online on the servers of ProSiebenSat.1 Games, the games publisher from Unterföhring has secured four more exclusive licenses from SOE: Vanguard Saga of Heroes®, EverQuest®, Wizardry® Online, and Bullet Run™. This extends the portfolio of ProSiebenSat.1 Games to cover a total of 12 online games from the U.S.-based developer studio.
Arnd Benninghoff, Chief Digital Officer of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, states, "SOE is the ideal partner at our side, expanding our portfolio with fantastic blockbuster games. As one of Europe's leading TV companies, the players expect us to provide premium TV content, premium online offers, and premium gaming entertainment. We are very happy that we are able to expand this cooperation just months after its inception.“
"ProSiebenSat.1 is the ideal partner for us to reach an even broader audience in Europe,” says John Smedley, President, Sony Online Entertainment. "We are confident that the combination of the media power provided by ProSiebenSat.1 and our expertise in developing high-quality online games will appeal to players in a new and captivating way, creating the perfect prerequisite for achieving great success with our games in Europe.”
About Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
Vanguard Saga of Heroes is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in the vast world of Telon, an ancient world of magic, intrigue and adventure. Facing the challenges of a war-torn world, the diverse people here struggle to rebuild their once great civilizations. A fragile alliance has been struck and with the lands set upon by invading forces, the races must band together to survive. In the north, the sprawling green hills of Thestra are plagued by an unstoppable undead menace. To the south, the deserts of Qalia have been besieged by an elemental threat spawned from the depths of the earth; and to the east, inhabitants of the tumultuous jungles of Kojan fiercely battle encroaching otherworldly fiends. Telon is in desperate need of heroes. Your journey begins now.
About EverQuest
For the past 13 years, the first game in the epic EverQuest® franchise has captivated its players with exciting fantasy MMO adventures. With 18 game expansions, 16 unique races, 16 distinct classes, thousands of alternate abilities and items, the game offers countless possibilities for character development over 95 levels. Legendary battles, exciting events, and heroic adventures await.
About Wizardry Online
Wizardry Online is a Free-to-Play, hardcore fantasy MMORPG developed by Japan’s Gamepot Inc. From insane difficulty to complex mazes, unrelenting Mobs and traps around every turn, even the best RPG players will find this to be the ultimate challenge. With the risk of permadeath always looming, players group with trusted allies to survive. Using skill based combat, and a little bit of luck, players battle to defeat amazing anime creatures, cheat death, and live to tell the world!
About Bullet Run
Bullet Run is a Free-to-Play, team-based multiplayer game that puts players in the ultimate reality TV game show, where contestants showcase their deadly talents in the name of fame. Bullet Run was already praised for its tight controls, quick respawns and massive amount of options. Fit for gamers with any level of FPS knowledge and dubbed “absurd fun”, Bullet Run is sure one of the most entertaining titles in the FPS genre.
About ProSiebenSat.1 Games GmbH
The games publisher ProSiebenSat.1 Games is a subsidiary of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group and focuses on the Europe-wide licensing and marketing of online games as well as games partner acquisition. The portfolio includes, among other things, S4 League, Maestia and Florensia. Since early 2012, ProSiebenSat.1 Games has held the Europe-wide licenses to several games from Sony Online Entertainment, including the blockbuster games DC Universe™ Online, EverQuest® II, Star Wars®: Clone Wars Adventures™, Free Realms®, Magic: The Gathering – Tactics®, Pox Nora®, the upcoming PlanetSide® 2, and the next installment of the EverQuest® franchise.
About SOE
Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games. Best known for its blockbuster hits and franchises, including EverQuest®, EverQuest® II, Champions of Norrath®,PlanetSide®, Free Realms®, Star Wars®: Clone Wars Adventures™ and DC Universe™ Online, SOE creates, develops and provides compelling online entertainment for a variety of platforms. SOE is building on its proven legacy and pioneering the future of online worlds through creative development and inspired gameplay design for audiences of all ages. To learn more, visit www.soe.com.
SOE, the SOE logo, EverQuest, Champions of Norrath, Free Realms and PlanetSide are registered trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment LLC. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Thanks,

No thanks, I'll stay with SOE please.
I guess its time to make that fake US adress?

Razgon wrote:

That won't work on an existing account if it's already flagged as European. Check the account management page and see whether you are allowed to play DCUO on the account or are required to open a PSS1 account in order to play that game.

Plz be more specific on how this will affect VG:
Will Halgar be handled by PSS1 while Telon remains with SoE? Will account and billing process be handled by the disastric PSS1/Alaplaya group? Will EU players be "allowed" to create toons on Telon in future at all?

Aye - How will europeans already on Telon be handled? What about new toons? What about veteran rewards?
Will Prosieben update their security measures instead of not even having authenticator like they don now?
When will this happen? What about station passes to europeans?
Will billing remain the same or will prices increase as we've seen in EQ2 in case of the UK residents?
Will EU players be able to still post on these forums?

Honestly - Prosieben have the worst reputation for how they treat gamers...I'm not thrilled.

EDIT: haha, now I got the infamous emails about the EQ2 transition today...no less than 3 times. Thats the exact same mail they sent out 2½ month ago, saying that the transfer will occur between 30-60 days.
Also - Be aware that Prosieben has in their EULA enforced that if you do not play your account for 90 days, they can delete it at will.
They also require access to your computer and third-party programs to be installed in case you want *any* kind of support so they can do what they want with your machines.

Europeans will have to deal with the same cash shop as americans though right? Or can PSS1 run a set of separate game rules?
Guess we are all gonna have to get used to the idea of no more customer service... which is the only part of VG that has been top notch all along... So that sucks. I have pretty much the best available gear so I guess for me personally this means basically I wont subscribe anymore. Just buy an item unlock for whatever new gear might come that I want. But yeah bad call Sony, especially now that your gaining momentum its pretty lame to slap new and returning Europeans with this.

I've been digging a bit in DCUO, which is the only game that has been transferred so far, and it doesnt look pretty.
Here's an example of how things are going with payments : http://en.dcuniverseonline.eu/forum...y--t520377.html

Mackan wrote:

Its a separate cashshop, run by Prosieben.

I was going to take out a 12 month sub on payday this month, guess I'll leave it now until more info is available.

I have enjoyed crafting and diplomacy the past week, and I was going to try to get my prepaid sub on EQ2 transfered to Vanguard to avoid ProSieben only to find this announcement.
Condolences to all you oldtimers, who have stuck it out this far, you and the game deserved a second chance to grow.

There's a few things I would like to know regarding this before I make my judgement call:

1-Will EU players still be able to play on Telon, my char is on Telon along with several of my friends and most of them are from the US so if I am forced onto a different server from them, no point in playing any further.
2-Will our current characters/accounts be kept or will we have to restart.
3-(This one I highly doubt)...Will current EU players have the choice to stick with SoE or be forced over to the other company with a really bad rep.

I agree with other statements though, the Vanguard populace isnt large enough at the moment to force a split, doing so will cause more damage than good in my opinion.

DalKorn wrote:

Going by the EQ2 setup:
1. yes, they will just have to use the ProSieben launcher and ny transaction/sub will be through ProSieben
2. characters are tranfered with your Vanguard details of your account to ProSieben
3. No, not a chance, it is hasta la vista, don't play, if you don't like the deal
And yes, Vanguard is sunk with this.

I have one thing good to say about ProSieben, which is drowned out by the much larger body of complaint.
The gamecard they use appears to be available all over Europe, so if you do not want them to ever see your cc information, you don't have to. I actually think the return of cc payment at ProSieben is happening because someone from soe playerbase complained about not having cc options.

I noticed these news are not part of the launchers latest news. It might be relevant for players, old as well as new, to be informed.

Could ANY Dev please answer this often asked question please?
May we EU players still continue to play on Telon or do we have to quit Vanguard?
No way that we leave our longtime friends and community for this terrible mainstream company Pro7Sat1, which only cares for € and doesn't support anything.

Just been sooo happy about the new Vanguard. Now i am totally depressed ..

Aye, its somewhat of a downer, actually.
I'd *just* convinced a bunch of people that SOE would do right by us, that Vanguard was worth playing again, and now this?

P7S1 has about the worst reputation in online gaming in Germany.. if SOE is really going through with that deal, I'll have to think hard what to do about my sub. Even ending up at Gamigo wouldn't have been half that bad..
I couldn't stop laughing at the press statement.. "the players expect us to provide premium TV content, premium online offers, and premium gaming entertainment" - they forgot to quote the last part of the sentence, which continues "and they get none of all that."
Most of their TV content is aimed at the low-IQ customer and maximum revenue generation. Some days I wonder why they even bother to interrupt their advertisements with movie segments.

Siega wrote:

I doubt they will inform the general populace through the launcher or in game messages. Reading the EQ2 thread most of they general populace wasn't inform for around 8 months. If you didn't read the forums you was kept in the dark. Today I received an email from SOE telling me my EQ2 account will have to be transfered over to PSS1 if I want to keep playing, and the transfer will be in the next 30 to 60 days. I imagine a few players are going to receive a bit of a shock today.

If I have to deal with that group of shysters from Germany I am done, the way they handle customer service is atrocious as is their cash shop policy, they will sell anything and everything they think will make money including dmg buff potions, protection from death et al. VG just lost most if not all of its EU player base, if they are forced to deal through PSS.1

Just recieved mail about the EQ2 transfer, as I re subbed yesterday using credit card and was one of those that did not get the orignal mail informing customers of the chang,e one chargeback issued through my credit card company. Have a good day, I wont be buying planetside 2 either until control is removed from PSS.1

Buccaneer wrote:

That email is about 2 months old and was supposed to have been sent to all with an account, but SOE messed up. They have "fixed" the error now but the 30-60 days are pretty much over.