Massively^™

GamesIndustry.biz continues its week of MMO-related features, discussing the role of partnerships in the business. Sony Online Entertainment has obviously had a number of notable relationships, and company president John Smedley offered up some time to comment on their history with business partnerships. As has often been the trend in recent years, Mr. Smedley talked heavily about the lessons the company has learned through hard knocks and rough launches. One of the reoccuring themes in GI's discussion with the CEO is what can be taken away from Vanguard's horrible launch early last year.

Smedley makes no bones about that situation, saying that the company was being "run into the ground", but also noting that the game is now doing very well. He also spends some time talking about their relationship with Perpetual Entertainment and their stillborn collaboration Gods and Heroes. "Behind the scenes ... they were putting on a brave face to customers, but we were giving them advice all the time - which was ignored. At some point you get to this point in development ... in fact with Perpetual that was a direct result of the learnings we got from Vanguard - at one point they wanted to try and put the thing out early, and we said 'Look, we're not interested - we don't care if we lose money, but if you put this thing out there, users are going to hate it, and it's going to be a bad release.'" Also check out the interview for more on the in-development Indian title Ramayan, the changing MMO marketplace, and SOE's role in the future of the genre.

A story at Next Generation hints at new international expansion plans for Sony Online Entertainment. All year they've been planning moves into new markets, with not only 'usual suspects' China and Korea under consideration but locales like Vietnam and the Philippines in the mix as well. This week they've announced one of their first steps along those lines: a new studio in India.

The studio will open early next year and, among other projects, will support Sony's planned release of the Ramayan 3392 A.D MMOG.

"We need to have Indian content for our games and we are looking for local partners," said Dave Christensen, VP of business development and international operations at SOE, speaking during a gaming conference in Mumbai, India. "We will contribute our technology to the joint venture," he added.