EQ2 failed for the same reason that EQNext died: John Smedley.
The man had no understanding about what made EQ such a success deep down. He flopped like a fish again and again trying to leverage his EQ success into something else...and he just can't do it.
The details matter...but his leadership never produced good results the last decade he was the CEO.
EQ2 has had success, but mostly not from the die-hard EQ folks who flocked to it the first few weeks after launch. The EQ1 players mostly left (either to WoW or back to EQ and later Vanguard)...and eventually some fresh players made their way into EQ2 and liked it for what it is. Most of that generation of players has little or no exposure to EQ1 except on places like p99.
|