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#fineart Lovers of Halo (or of art in the most traditional sense) should dig these images from artist Eddie Smith, who over the years has worked on several games in the epic sci-fi saga. More »

Speaking to PlanetSide Universe, Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley confirmed that the upcoming PlanetSide MMO, codenamed "PlanetSide Next," would not be making its intended first-half of the year launch. SOE is "pulling out all the stops to make it great" when it's released "later in the year." PlanetSide Next will be the beneficiary of "additional resources" from the cancellation of The Agency.

The update on PlanetSide Next is directly tied to last week's mass layoffs within SOE. The company eliminated 205 jobs, shut down The Agency and closed three studios.

News began bubbling yesterday via the Twitter feed of well-informed game developer/frequent employment death knell-sounder George Broussard that publisher Sony Online was cutting a significant chunk of its development staff. That news was sadly confirmed today with SOE's announcement that 205 positions would be terminated across three studios in Seattle, Denver and Tuscon. All of those studios are now shuttered, as a result.
 
Of the projects formerly being worked on by these teams, the frequently delayed MMO spy thriller The Agency proved to be the biggest casualty. Initially announced back in 2007, The Agency made repeated smoke signals regarding continued existence via screenshots and occasional previews, but the game never seemed to get a firm grip on anything resembling a release date. Its cancellation certainly comes as little shock, though is no less tragic, given the hefty number of people now out of work.


In the official statement, as it originally appeared on Game Informer (and appears in its entirety below), Sony cites the need to focus on key upcoming titles in established franchises such as EverQuest and PlanetSide. SOE also states that current MMO projects, such as EverQuest II and DC Universe Online are unaffected by these cuts. 
 

 As part of a strategic decision to reduce costs and streamline its global workforce, SOE announced today that it will eliminate 205 positions and close its Denver, Seattle and Tucson studios.  As part of this restructuring, SOE is discontinuing production of The Agency so it can focus development resources on delivering two new MMOs based on its renowned PlanetSide and EverQuest properties, while also maintaining its current portfolio of online games.  All possible steps are being taken to ensure team members affected by the transition are treated with appropriate concern.
 
This strategic decision will have no impact on SOE’s current portfolio of live games; additionally SOE will transition development efforts for the Denver and Tucson studios’ suite of products to its San Diego headquarters.  This strategic alignment of development resources better positions SOE to remain a global leader in online gaming and deliver on its promise of creating entertaining games for players of all ages, and servicing the 20 million players that visited SOE servers in just the past year.

Following earlier reports of studio closures and mass layoffs, Sony Online Entertainment has issued an official statement regarding its "strategic decision to reduce costs and streamline its global workforce." The company confirmed the closings of its Denver, Seattle and Tucson studios and the elimination of 205 positions.

Additionally, SOE announced the cancellation of The Agency, the long-delayed, cross-platform spy MMO being developed by SOE Seattle. The company said it is discontinuing production of the title to "focus development resources on delivering two new MMOs based on its renowned PlanetSide and EverQuest properties, while also maintaining its current portfolio of online games."

SOE added that the Denver and Tucson studios' projects would be transitioned over to its San Diego headquarters. The company's full statement is posted after the break.

#disturbanceintheworkforce Yesterday's rumors have proven true, as Sony Online Entertainment confirms 205 cut positions, the closure of three studio locations, and puts the final bullet in the head of massively multiplayer online spy game The Agency. More »

Following a series of tweets from George Broussard, co-owner of 3D Realms, which indicated that Sony Online Entertainment would be undergoing layoffs and possible studio closures around its five locations today, Kotaku reports that a source "familiar with the matter" has confirmed the closures of SOE's Denver, Seattle and Tucson studios. Additionally, half of the Austin staff has been reportedly laid off, along with a "sizeable" number of workers at SOE's San Diego headquarters. In all, the layoffs are said to affect one-third of SOE's total workforce.

Notably, SOE Seattle has been the lead development studio of The Agency, which had been slated to launch in the second half of the year (after a long delay). Neither SOE Denver nor Tucson has been working on anything as high profile as The Agency, though both have continued to operate a number of SOE's titles, including Denver's Legends Of Norrath and other digital card games, and Tucson's PoxNora strategy game.

Sony Online Entertainment just did the impossible and launched an MMO on a console ... and it's got several more on the way in the near future. According to SOE president John Smedley, the long-awaited PS3 release of Free Realms has been submitted to Sony and will be out soon. "If I was a betting man," Smedley told Eurogamer, "I'm betting sometime early February it gets launched on the PS3 in SCEA. And probably, and this is a guess, sometime in March for SCEE. And that will use a free-to-play business model on PS3."

And that's not all! The Planetside sequel currently code-named Planetside Next is on the way to unspecified platforms. "We're looking at late first-quarter, early second-quarter [2011]," Smedley said. He even reaffirmed plans to release The Agency in the second half of 2011. "We're not giving out a specific date yet because we don't know it," he said. In addition to those, "There are [unannounced projects]," Smedley said. "Can't even disclose a number, but a lot."

Despite earlier intentions for a 2010 launch, it seems that Sony Online Entertainment's spy MMO The Agency has been delayed once more, this time being pushed into the second half of 2011. In a recent interview, Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley noted as much, saying the game still "needed a lot of work."

"There was a moment in time in our company where we looked at our own stuff with a clear eye and saw we have to do better," Smedley explained. "DC Universe was held for a year-and-a-half from when we wanted to launch it and now I'm very happy with it." And we don't blame him -- when we last played The Agency it felt a bit underdone. Hopefully the folks at SOE Seattle will take the extra year to make a truly worthwhile multiplayer experience.

Sony cuts 35 employees.

For me, the selling point of MMOs is the huge, open world; a world full of other actual human beings who I can interact with and who can interact with me (almost like real life!). So when I snuck in some time with The Agency at Sony Online Entertainment's E3 booth this year, it was hard for me to shake the feeling that I was playing an Unreal Tournament-style, Ijji.com shooter (one powered by a modified Unreal Engine 3, no less) rather than an MMO. Sure, the Deathmatch trappings of my demo didn't help, but neither did lead designer Rory McGuire's explanation of how the game's Player vs Player works.

Essentially, interactions with other players are instanced into online multiplayer matches (30 players max), as seen here. The results of these battles are said to be reflected in the game's hub world -- locations can be taken by "U.N.I.T.E." or "Paragon" in multiplayer and those locations will show up as belonging to one of the game's two factions. From what I played, however, I'm not confident that what I've come to expect from an MMO -- the feeling of being in one huge world with other human beings -- is present in The Agency.

Busting caps in Venice.

A bloodbath in Venice.

What do prospective agents see? Pictures of The Agency.

The latest trailer for Sony Online Entertainment's espionagetastic MMO, The Agency, shows us a side of the world of counterintelligence that we rarely get to see: Action-packed deathmatches. How else did you expect the game's player vs. player element to pan out? Though eight-hour-long rounds of competitive target surveillance might be more thematically appropriate, we don't think they'd be very entertaining after the first few minutes.

When it's spy versus spy, take the fight online.

Nearly three years after being announced and nearly a full calendar year of radio silence, Sony action MMO The Agency has re-emerged! There are maybe a few slight cosmetic differences - like: now it's free, on Facebook and has no actual action - but otherwise, it's exactly the game we expected lo these many years.

Alright, alright, so The Agency: Covert Ops isn't the same game, though it is related to that long-in-development property. This new iteration is definitely better looking and sounding than most games on Facebook, though the grindy, challenge-free game designs seems -- from our limited experience -- pretty darn similar to a lot of social web games.

However, unlike its big brother, it managed to actually be released, so that's something, right?

Sony Online Entertainment launches new game full of pulse-pounding action and intrigue.