Brad McQuaid returns to pimp Vanguard
by Shawn Schuster 
Jun 16th 2009 at 12:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, MMO industry, Vanguard
Wait, what? Is he now working for SOE again? Well, no one knows if that's the case or not, but the fact is, Brad seems quite keen on getting back into the industry. After taking a few years off to "ride street bikes and dirt bikes, as well as drive sports cars, as often as possible", Brad wants to start creating games again. So if you're a fan of Brad's work with EverQuest, Vanguard (or even WarWizard), head on over to his newly-revamped blog and show him some support.
[EDIT: Some are speculating that this is an impostor. You be the judge.]
[Via Common Sense Gamer]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
JP said on 12:20PM 6-16-2009
Isn't he the guy that shoulders most of the responsibility as to why Sigil went to shit, and VG was released to early? And then just up and sold it, fired 90% of his company, and walked away?
Now that his hiatus is over, he wants to make a "come back"? LOL. Just what this industry needs.
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UTech said on 12:20PM 6-16-2009
Cool, so we can read how he'll fire more devs in the parking lot after he doesn't actually come to work for weeks on end?
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Draco said on 12:24PM 6-16-2009
I cant believe they are bringing this guy back. He basically ruined what would have been a great game by mis-managing the people who worked for him. These people lost their jobs over this...the little people...remember them?
I hold him and Bill Roper in the same mindset...they took advantage of the people around them and fell short.
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torak said on 12:31PM 6-16-2009
Maybe in a lead creative role but he pretty much demonstrated he can't manage a project worth a sh*t.
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breezer said on 12:44PM 6-16-2009
Most hated man in MMO history returns to ruin some more people's lives.
Awesome!
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Kamokazi said on 12:52AM 6-17-2009
No, McQuaid is 2nd. Very 2nd.
John Smedley is Public Enemy Number One. By far. It's one thing to get people to show distaste with a single game or IP. Smed has managed to make SOE the most hated company by the most people. There are many, many wronged EQ and SWG players who will never, ever touch a SOE title again.
Ada said on 12:45PM 6-16-2009
he is walking fail. vanguard needs someone to pick it up and protect it from this monster.
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BaronJuJu said on 12:46PM 6-16-2009
Eh, I wandered over to his blog and was struck by his very first sentence:
"I knew for a while that Vanguard was going to be pushed out too early (note: not blaming anyone here -- SOE and Microsoft did the best they could). "
WTF?
Brad, man up and take some freakin' responsibility and quit shifting the blame to others. It was your fault the game rolled out as it did. No other blame is needed. Blame it on anxiety, panic attacks or whatever but the Vanguard debacle is your fault.
If you can't even do that, maybe you need to go back to Magic: The Gathering and dirtbikes and stay there.
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Draco said on 1:39PM 6-16-2009
Speaking of that blog, did you notice all the fan bois on there?...They are all welcoming this walking killer of games back like he is agod of some sort...maybe they censor it and only put up positive notes..
LaughingTarget said on 12:51PM 6-16-2009
Lousy designer and worse manager. The MMO genre will lose much if this man comes back.
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starzzareblind said on 1:06PM 6-16-2009
ya'll be nice. what if it's an imposter
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Wjowski said on 1:23PM 6-16-2009
Who the hell would want to pretend to be Brad McQuaid?
Wjowski said on 1:08PM 6-16-2009
Go crawl back to your painkillers, Brad.
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Mr Angry said on 1:08PM 6-16-2009
This guy is such a douche bag, but isn't everyone falliable under such pressure? I absolutely love him now however. To get sooo many people pissed off like this is something I would absolutely love to do hahaha
I did read some very personal information on exact what transpired and it's safe to say, I think personal issues definitely clouded his judgment terribly. He definitely fucked up BIG time.
Still, in a world full of assholes running MMO's (Bill Roper, John Smedley that cock muncher who calls the shots for AoC etc etc) his work in Everquest, does still stand the test of time, at least he's a guy who did get something right once, so for that, I think what he needs a shot. Bottom line was, he stepped into a management role, and that's not where his skills are.
Brad, this is what you have to do :Get back to SOE. Head up the overhaul EQ graphically and structurally to make it the finest hardcore free to play MMO on the market. It's begging for this treatment, and revenues would be absolutely tremendous if only it look a lot better and potentially could be run from a browser.
I do think taking more responsibility is the only way to try and make amends, so Brad, man up a bit and take it on the chin dude!
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Celestian said on 1:14PM 6-16-2009
I will be astonished if people actually buy anything this guy has touched. It makes me sorta chuckle seeing all the hate on his blog for SoE from the comments. They act like the Vanguard problem was SoE... the problem was BRAD guys. SoE just bought the game when he failed.
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Draco said on 4:12PM 6-16-2009
I am not seeing any SOE hate at all, SOE are looking like the good guys imo as they saved the game from certain death.
Celestian said on 4:17PM 6-16-2009
Really? Perhaps he deleted the comments then. All I know is I saw posts saying SoE had ruined VG and that the game was going down hill because of them.
The game was destined for the grave when Brad started.
M said on 4:01PM 6-16-2009
Considering the current "state of the industry" would not be remotely surprised if he'd be welcomed back with open arms. Very pathetic, but no not surprising. How much real creativity, how much true good management, no... It's all easiest, common-denominator (and of course, goes without saying kow-tow to the money-men above all else) out there in MMO-land. There's nothing out there to truly be excited about. There are some possibilities, but given the overwhelming levels of hype, spin and ginormous outright lies in this industry, nah, he'll fit right in!
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FrostPaw said on 5:05PM 6-16-2009
I was a closed tester for Vanguard, from the information I gathered after it was released from former employees I was given the impression he was suffering from some kind of addiction and going around his offices asking people for drugs whenever he turned up so they decided it was better if he didn't turn up. Then Microsoft backed out seeing this and somehow SOE agreed to buy the game off them even though it was clearly unfinished and in serious trouble.
I don't believe its him, if it is however I think its not a good way to announce you are back....by attempting to dodge blame in the first couple of lines.
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Satn said on 6:59PM 6-16-2009
As one of the early Van-fanboys, after meeting him a few times in vegas and some non-official meetings in san diego, I did notice the guy looked like a druggy.
And no, I didn't even buy the game at launch...I was actually in the beta so I knew how bad it was.