12.1. Who are you guys? What is Sigil Games Online, Inc.?
Sigil Games Online, Inc. is a game studio dedicated to the development of massively multiplayer games. Formed in January 2002 by Brad McQuaid and Jeff Butler, both key figures in the development of the massively multiplayer runaway hit EverQuest, Sigil Games plans to play a key role in taking MMOGs into their third generation and beyond.
Currently, Sigil has built a team of experienced developers and is well underway working on their first project, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, an MMORPG funded and to be published by Microsoft Game Studios (MGS).
Sigil’s goals are to remain focused on creating great games, games developed by gamers, and to maintain a culture of passion and dedication. Indeed, everyone here is determined to follow-up our past successes with online games that are nothing less than revolutionary and stunning.
Source: Official FAQ
12.2. What is Sigil’s goal as company?
Our goals are primarily defined by what we love to do. We’re devoted to making massively multiplayer games, so it's unlikely we'd make anything else. We also like smaller company cultures, so it's unlikely we'll grow too big. It's also improbable you'd catch us working on more than 2 or 3 titles at once.
One way we've described our goals in the past is in homage to one of the greatest game development companies out there: Sigil would like to be the 'Id Software' of massively multiplayer gaming.
Source: Official FAQ
12.3. What is Sigil’s goal for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes?
Quite honestly, our goal is to make the next number one massively multiplayer role-playing game. With EverQuest behind us, taking the genre to the next level is really the only thing that could satisfy this team and company.
Source: Official FAQ
12.4.1. I've heard rumors that Sigil staff are super human... is that true?
blush* Hopefully we can meet at a Fanguard or something, have a beer, and you can see that me and the other Sigil folk, while quite an all-star team, are really down to earth guys who just love MMOGs like you all do and simply luckly and blessed with the opportunity to make them. - January 2006
Source: Aradune Mithara
* Editors note: remember that dev's evolve... even though at the time of this writing Brad denies having super human abilities, since then, they could have evolved to demi-god status in the interim. -Orlun *
12.4.2. I've heard rumors that Sigil staff are super human... is that true?
blush* Hopefully we can meet at a Fanguard or something, have a beer, and you can see that me and the other Sigil folk, while quite an all-star team, are really down to earth guys who just love MMOGs like you all do and simply luckly and blessed with the opportunity to make them. - January 2006
Source: Aradune Mithara
* Editors note: remember that dev's evolve... even though at the time of this writing Brad denies having super human abilities, since then, they could have evolved to demi-god status in the interim. -Orlun *
12.4.3. I've heard rumors that Sigil staff are super human... is that true?
blush* Hopefully we can meet at a Fanguard or something, have a beer, and you can see that me and the other Sigil folk, while quite an all-star team, are really down to earth guys who just love MMOGs like you all do and simply luckly and blessed with the opportunity to make them. - January 2006
Source: Aradune Mithara
* Editors note: remember that dev's evolve... even though at the time of this writing Brad denies having super human abilities, since then, they could have evolved to demi-god status in the interim. -Orlun *
12.5. Will the development team be playing Vanguard: Saga of Heroes?
Absolutely. First of all, we're all gamers. We're here first to make games we want to play ourselves, otherwise where would the passion come from?
Not only that, once we near and enter beta, it will actually be mandatory for the team to play, and that includes everyone... producers, designers, programmers, artists... even our office manager.
Source: Official FAQ
12.6. Who is your publisher?
Microsoft Game Studios.
Source: Official FAQ
12.7. What can you tell us about your relationship with Microsoft?
It's fantastic, really. There are only so many big publishers that can fund, host, and support a triple-A massively multiplayer game. These games are not easy to make -- they need a lot of resources in terms of time, money, and people.
By working with Microsoft we have access to the best tools and software, as well as tremendous insight and influence as to the future of technologies like Direct X.
The Microsoft Gaming Group (MGS) is really determined to support key third party developers and they are a pleasure to work with. Sigil is very excited about our partnership and bringing to bear the variety of strengths both companies can provide working together as a team.
Source: Official FAQ
12.8. What sort of creative freedoms do you have?
Pretty much all we need. Both Sigil and Microsoft are determined to do what they each do best. Both companies tend to let their key partners lead the way in terms of development and design.
Our pitch to Microsoft for Vanguard back in early 2002 was received positively, as have been the design documents and the work and milestones we've completed thus far. While Vanguard: Saga of Heroes as a whole is a team effort, the actual development of the game takes place almost entirely at Sigil, including design, art, and programming.
Source: Official FAQ
12.9. Who will host the game’s servers and where will they be located?
Currently, the plan is to have Microsoft host the servers, either directly or indirectly. It is too early to speculate as to their location(s).
Source: Official FAQ
12.10. Give us three reasons to be excited about the collaboration between Microsoft and Sigil Games Online.
Only three reasons? It’s going to be tough to narrow it down … but the three that I’d probably list as most significant are:
1. The Vision™ combined with the resources and dedication to make it happen.
2. Sigil’s experience and MS’ perspective on enabling them to be successful – while the RAT Studio and the team within MGS-Publishing has a good deal of experience within the MMO space, based largely on our experience with Turbine on the ACsd franchise, our primary goal is to be a publishing partner that complements Sigil’s strengths. While we certainly don’t see ourselves as “just an open checkbook” – we also realize that the responsibility for making Vanguard a success lies almost entirely with Sigil. Keeping that level of clarity and division of labor at the forefront of our thinking can prevent unnecessary distractions over turf wars and “he said/she said” situations during the development process.
3. No egos – while Sigil’s team has probably the strongest base of experience in the MMO space, the team here at Microsoft has been very impressed with the distinct lack of egos within that team. Microsoft has a broad base of technology and tools that Sigil can take advantage of – and we’ve been impressed by the specific lack of a “not invented here” attitude. Our relationship is very collaborative – and clearly focused on delivering a game that blows away everyone’s expectations of what a 3rd generation MMO can be -- Jon Grande (Microsoft Employee) @ Okratas.com
Source: Official FAQ
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12.11. This is more of a general question about MMOG developers, publishers, etc., and how those relationships work, how profit and contracts work, etc. Could you give us a summary of what might be typical in this industry?
Specifically, what makes more profit, box sales or subscription revenue? Both really, but the monthly subscriptions in the long run. The initial box sales help pay for the initial development cost, although it typically still takes several months of subscription revenue before the entire development, marketing, etc. costs are paid for.
After that, the revenue comes in the form of the monthly subscriptions and the periodic expansion releases. Every 2 or so expansion releases it's also a good idea to put a 'gold' or 'platinum' version of the main game out that includes the older expansions. This 'freshens' things, and keeps two SKUs (boxes) of your product on the channel/on the shelves simultaneously, which is also good. We've found that a new expansion also renews interest in the game itself and that sales of the original game or the re-packaged game (and therefore overall subscriber numbers) go up as well. I assume this is because existing players are excited about the expansion, the expansions get reviews in magazines, etc., so the word about the game gets out to new players as well.
The costs, however, continue as well. Not only do you have the marketing dollars necessary to put the expansion and refreshed main product out there (both ads as well as channel marketing dollars (end caps, PoP (point of purchase) materials, etc.) but you also have the continued cost of the Live, Expansion, Operations, and CS teams (not to mention the infrastructure costs themselves -- the server farms, the bandwidth costs, etc).
The way a developer/publisher relationship usually works is that the developer is paid advances on the game in order to fund development. The publisher sets up milestones and other metrics to make sure the developer is doing their job (e.g. making the game, preferably on time) and then pays the developer a portion of the agreed upon advances at those milestone dates. This money is then used by the developer to pay salaries, rent, buy computers & software, vast quantities of diet Mountain Dew, etc. Rarely is any money kept around except maybe a small fund for an emergency because a smart developer wants to spend that money on more employees, tools, equipment, etc. so that the game turns out that much better.
The contract the developer usually has with the publisher includes the total advance amount, the milestone schedule, and the royalty percentage.
(The other way, which is more rare, is that the developer raises funds through Venture Capitalist or Angel Investors or the founders themselves were already very affluent and also willing to put their own money on the line).
So when the game comes out, all revenue goes first into paying back the development costs (e.g. nobody is making any money). Once the costs of development are paid, both the publisher and developer make (hopefully) a profit. The developer gets a percentage royalty payment on an agreed to frequency, and the publisher gets the rest. (The Publisher usually gets the majority because they fronted all of or at least the majority of the money and therefore assumed the vast majority of the risk).
The developer can then take that profit (again, assuming the game was successful enough to have paid of its development costs (and MMOGs are VERY expensive, btw) and do any number of things with it. They can pay out royalties to their employees and/or a bonus or some such, or they can put the money away to build up a 'nest egg' hoping to eventually be able to self-fund a game.
Very successful developers (say ID Software, for example) I believe (don't know this for a fact) pay for the majority of the development costs for their games such that they assume the financial risk and therefore receive a much higher royalty. This is atypical, however -- it typically requires a developer that's stayed independent and been around quite a while and has a long history of hit titles behind them.
Developing, launching, and maintaining massively multiplayer games is more complex, however, since MMOGs are not 'fire and forget' like many conventional video or computer games, the costs keep recurring. Money still has to come into the developer to pay for the Live, Expansion, and CS teams. So, typically, the developer also at some point executes a contract (or amendment to the first contract) to receive advances even after the game is launched. This is, of course, a good thing because no one wants to lay off their talented and experienced staff after the MMOG is launched. Royalty percentages, etc. are also figured out then for both the expansions and the overall success of the game in terms of retention and monthly revenue the game generates. Sometimes royalties are not a set number but can go up (or down, but hopefully not) based on how successful the game is (e.g. if the overall revenue or profit reaches a certain point, the developer's royalty could go up).
The profit margin for an MMOG can be very good relative to other games because of the recurring monthly subscription revenue. If the operation of the game is kept lean and mean but also at the level that the customer is satisfied and therefore keeps subscribing, the margin can be very high (up to 40%-50%). This is one of the reasons, especially early on in the UO/EQ days that everyone and their dog wanted to make an MMOG (regardless, unfortunately, of whether they truly had the talent and/or passion for this particular genre).
The fact of the matter, however, is that while those profit margins are indeed attractive, it takes a LOT more to make an MMOG than a typical game. It's a lot harder IMHO, takes a talent pool that is not necessarily the same as what it takes to make a single player games, and that talent pool (since there are far less MMOG experienced developers out there) is much harder to find. Then you need good operations people and a good operations infrastructure to launch the game and maintain it after launch (you all know the struggles many companies have gone through with launching theses games). The development cycle is also typically longer (3-5 years) and many people simply aren't willing to devote that kind of time only working on one title. And, as mentioned, the expense is very high (because of the infrastructure necessary as well as the longer development cycle), so it's often hard to find a publisher/funder willing to assume that level of risk. Bottom line: there are far easier ways to make money in the computer/video game business -- you really need a developer and publisher committed to the genre.
But, of course, if all goes right and the game is a success, in the end a lot of profit can be generated. Again, most of this typically goes to the publisher. The money that goes to the developer, as mentioned above, can be used for royalties, bonuses, or saved (or some combination of the three).
Typically, if the developer is in it for the long haul (and the mentality of the developer who wants to make an MMOG is typically oriented thusly), they try to keep much of that profit to put into future games and endeavors.
The other scenario that can occur if the game is very successful is that the publisher or some other enterprising entity will buy the developer after the game launches and looks like its going to be a success (or even before, if everything looks very promising). An example of this would be SOE buying Verant not long after EQ came out. And if the developer is employee owned (e.g. the employees have stock options), this can be a way to make good money more short term as opposed to staying independent and amassing royalties. There are, of course, downsides to 'selling out' as well, and it's an interesting (but probably overall good) 'problem' to deal with.
I hope this answered your questions -- the short answer would be to say that box sales drive the initial big hit of revenue (and payback of development costs) but the real profit comes from long term subscription revenue that a successful and popular MMOG hopefully generates (and then, of top of that, successful expansions).
Source: Official FAQ
12.12. Many of the current Sigil Games Online developers have previously been involved in the creation of high-profile MMORPGs. What lessons has the development team learned from these experiences?
There are a lot of pitfalls that one can fall into when making an MMOG, from artists making halls too narrow for creatures to pass through to designers not recognizing an exploitable system - and a million things in between. Though we're certainly going to make our share of mistakes, our combined experience will hopefully help us avoid the big ones. – Steve Burke @ Starglade.org
Source: Official FAQ
12.13. Are you hiring now?
Yes, and we are currently in the middle of a significant growth spurt, so get your resumes and demo reels to Sigil Games ASAP. Thanks.
Source: Official FAQ
12.14. Can you address rumors that Sigil is starting a new project before Vanguard is released?
1. We have not started another project yet although we are gearing up to.
2. When we do it will be a seperate team. People like Jeff and I will be responsible for both, but as someone who once managed 5 MMOGs, I think I can handle 2. Especially given they'd be at very different stages. It makes sense to overlap projects. - 23 November 2005
Source: Aradune Mithara