SOE won't force existing players to jump to ProSiebenSat.1

Sony Online Entertainment's John Smedley has given an update on a proposed migration of all European users to ProSiebenSat.1, with a result which soothe ruffled feathers all round.

Smedley took to Twitter to advise players that a compromise had been found.

"We've found a way to let existing players of our current games that are migrating over to Prosieben (EQ, EQ II, Planetside 2) keep their SOE accounts and stay with SOE. Down the road we may offer an option to move over to Prosieben," he said.

"Just to be clear after these games launch on Prosieben's service new accounts will be created on their sites. However all US and EU players can still play together no matter which service they are on."

Smedley thanked players for their feedback during the the long process of organising the companies' collaboration; gamers have been voicing concerns since early this year, with SOE promising to do its best to find a solution which wouldn't divide existing communities.

"I want to be clear that Prosieben will have better European CS and payment options IMO. That's why we went with them in the first place," he added.

"Also Prosieben has done a great job of listening and is working on changing some of their CS policies. More to come on that soon."

After further discussion, Smedley was able to confirm that players will be able to migrate their SOE accounts across to ProSieben, but doesn't have a timeframe yet.

As to how this deal affects current and upcoming games, Smedley gave a few details.

"After we launch Planetside 2 new EU accounts can only be created on Prosieben," he said. Alpha Squad purchasers will not have to migrate although we will offer the optional ability to migrate to Prosieben. DCUO customers who have already migrated will NOT be able to transfer back to SOE. Sorry but that ship has sailed."

Thanks, Massively. Twitter links: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12