Cheats-Area.com

   Barely did the rumour mill start treading, and Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) is already putting it to official rest. Earlier this week, news emerged that Sigil Games Online had fired many of its developers all of a sudden, raising serious concerns over the fate of its seriously flawed MMORPG, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. And while we still don't know for sure who is to blame for this sad outcome (some blame Brad McQuaid, the studio's ex-boss), at least we have official conrimation that Sigil - along with Vanguard - was indeed acquired by SOE.

   SOE president John Smedley made the announcement on the Station.com forums, also acknowledging that, while some former devs have been left on the outside, around 50 of them will be hired back by SOE, "in order to insure that Vanguard continues to grow".
"We plan on supporting Vanguard for many years to come", promised Smedley, "and you can expect many content updates as part of your subscription. Down the line we will of course be coming out with new expansion packs, but right now the focus is on making sure Vanguard is running the way it should be."    SOE has also inaugurated the general Vanguard forums (it was about time), and they also promise to listen more closely to what the community has to say in the future, and not make the same mistakes as with the infamous Star Wars Galaxies NGE "upgrade".

   There is one bad news, however, and it's the one we were most afraid of: they hired back Brad McQuaid, as consultant to SOE and creative advisor for Vanguard. They never learn...

   And finally, WarCry has word that Sigil's other co-founder, Jeff Butler, together with a team of five developers is moving to SOE's San Diego office to prototype a potential new MMO project. Note the italics!