Vanguard jumps from Microsoft to… uh… SOE?

Normally I don’t note these sort of dealings, but this is too bizarre not to.

\’e2\’80\’9cAs the development process is ongoing and constantly shifting, it became clear that MGS and Sigil had varying visions and direction for the title\’e2\’80\’99s development,\’e2\’80\’9d said Brad McQuaid, CEO of Sigil Games Online. \’e2\’80\’9cIn the best interest of Vanguard, it was decided that we would buy back the publishing rights from Microsoft.\’e2\’80\’9d

As co-publisher of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Sigil assumes greater control of marketing and PR, while maintaining responsibility for game development, community relations, media relations, customer support, and quality assurance. Under the terms of the agreement, SOE will provide distribution, marketing, hosting and back-end support — including billing and technical support — for the game. Additionally, SOE is tentatively planning on adding Vanguard, upon its release,to SOE\’e2\’80\’99s Station Access\’e2\’84\’a2 subscription plan. Station Access allows players to enjoy all of SOE\’e2\’80\’99s MMO titles for one low monthly price.

In other news, Dick Cheney and Hilary Clinton are running on a combined ticket in 2008. “What the hey, if McQuaid and Smedley can settle their differences, ours simply pale in comparison”, they said.

OK, so I’m a little slow; apparently the entire mass blogosphere exploded in a frenzy of wiis over the news today. Aggro Me, who I’m gonna come out and just call the EQ2 blogger of record, has tons of links and commentary on the subject if you want to read more, including Brad McQuaid’s reaction on the Sigil boards.