SOE's chief creative officer leaves the company

[section]

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/new...php?story=8677

Raph Koster Leaves Sony Online Entertainment

Sony Online Entertainment chief creative officer Raph Koster has departed the company, according to a consumer site GameSpot. The Austin-based company confirmed the departure, saying that "Although his current interests take him into areas that don't match SOE's strategic goals, we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors."

Before joining SOE, Koster worked on Ultima Online at Origin. While in his current position, he contributed to EverQuest II, but his main project at the MMO developer was Star Wars Galaxies, a game which underwent a radical retooling to make it more action-oriented and simpler to grasp. The move alienated much of the game's longtime fanbase, and Koster's desire to make casual-friendly games may be one of the reasons for friction with SOE management.

Koster has so far not revealed his plans post-SOE; the developer would only say that he is pursuing "development interests outside of the company." Any news on a future gig will likely be posted at Koster's frequently-updated blog when it happens.

Uh huh, I'd say this what somewhat expected after the revealing of PS3 Untold Legends - DK ...

EDIT: Although the man was responsible mostly for Star Wars Galaxies (?) his title is chief creative officer, so you could think he's the overlord of all creative assets within SOE...

This one would anyway belong to Sony General.

[Garfunkel]

it'll be interesting what happens now, who takes over?

[Z]

yeah, I read this before and I wasn't interested in posting it here. I just hope UL had something to do with it.

here, I am making a rap right off my head as I type:

you call UL a game?!
oh man, that's so lame
don't look at me, I'm not to blame
puttin' a damper on SOE's name
I wish I could say it was a shame
but who am I kiddin'? they are freaking insane!

yo, yo , HO!
-

Damn, I'm better than I thought! Eminem has nothing on me!

[wildcardd]

Yeah, Sony general. Raph was instrumental in SWG for the PC. He previously worked on Ultima Online. He is a bright guy who has lots of "out of the box" ideas about online gaming. A lot of what was good with SWG can be attributed to Raph.

Good luck Bro!

[gablar16]

Well I played SWG for a while and IMHO the game was really bad. The best part of the game was the players themselves as most of them were starwars fan and mostly more mature gamers( compared to WOW). The gameplay sucked, the storyline was awefull and all the mechanics of the game were bugged one way or the other. I really dont know what were the good things he did for the game, but that game was definitly not casual gamer friendly. It was an absolute grind fest.

Thats just my opinion after playing for 6 months leaving and then coming back for three months after the JTL expansion. If you ask me SONY is better off without him. He might know a lot about fun in theory, but how to make fun games he doesn't.

Edit: To Wildcardd: I knew a wildcard in SWG in the starsider server was it you?

[LaLiLuLeLo]

SOE hasn't really put out anything that good imo...
They need some redirection or a serious kick in the pants.

[Z]

ditto that.

[Goki]

triple that.